Rondônia () is one of the 26

states of Brazil The federative units of Brazil () are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy (self-government, self-regulation, and self-collection) and endowed with their own government and constitution, which together form the Brazil, Federat ...

, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). It is bordered by

Acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

in the west, Amazonas in the north,

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...

in the east, and

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

in the south. Rondônia has a population of 1,815,000 as of 2021. It is the fifth least populated state. Its capital and largest city is

Porto Velho Porto Velho (, ''Old Port'') is the capital (political), capital of the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of Rondônia, in the upper Amazon River basin. The population is 460,434 people (as of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, ...

, bathed by the

Madeira River The Madeira River ( ) is a major waterway in South America. It is estimated to be in length, while the Madeira-Mamoré is estimated near or in length depending on the measuring party and their methods. The Madeira is the biggest tributary of ...

. The state was named after Cândido Rondon, who explored the north of the country during the 1910s. The state, which is home to c. 0.7% of the Brazilian population, is responsible for c. 0.3% of the Brazilian GDP. The state has 52 municipalities and occupies an area of 237,590.547 km², equivalent to the territory of

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and almost five times larger than

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. In addition to this, there are other important cities such as

Ariquemes Ariquemes is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality located in the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Rondônia. Its population was 109,523 (2020 est.) and its area is 4,427 km2. - Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE It i ...

, Cacoal, Guajará-Mirim, Ji-Paraná, Rolim de Moura and Vilhena.

Geography

Rondonia used to be home to over 200,000 km² of

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

, but has become one of the most

deforested Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

places in the Amazon. By 2003 around 70,000 km² of rainforest had been cleared. The area around the Guaporé River is part of the

Beni savanna The Llanos de Moxos, also known as the Beni savanna or Moxos plains, is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, tropical savanna ecoregion of the Beni Department of northern Bolivia. Setting The Llanos de Moxos covers a ...

ecoregion. The Samuel Dam is located in the state, on the

Jamari River The Jamari River is a river of Rondônia state in western Brazil. Part of the river's watershed is covered by the Jacundá National Forest, a sustainable use conservation unit. The Jamari river is dammed by the Samuel Hydroelectric Dam near Po ...

History

Pre-colonial

Before the Portuguese discovery of Brazil, the region where the present state of Rondônia is situated was populated by

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

, who are known to have included the following:

Tupian speaking peoples

''It is generally accepted by linguists that the area of modern Rondônia is the origin of the

Tupian languages The Tupi or Tupian language family comprises some 70 languages spoken in South America, of which the best known are Tupi proper and Guarani. Homeland and ''urheimat'' Rodrigues (2007) considers the Proto-Tupian urheimat to be somewhere betwee ...

.'' * Cinta Larga * Gavião * Paiter * Amondauas * Macurap * Sakurabiat * Caritianas * Araras-caros

Isolated peoples

* Kanoê * Kwazá

Colonial Period

The Spaniard Ñuflo de Chávez was the first European explorer to reach the valley of the Guaporé River between 1541 and 1542, although he only passed through.

Bandeirantes ''Bandeirantes'' (; ; singular: ''bandeirante'') were settlers in colonial Brazil who participated in expeditions to expand the colony's borders and subjugate Indigenous peoples in Brazil, indigenous peoples during the early modern period. T ...

arrived in the region around 1650, with the goal of exploiting the gold and other minerals of the territory. In the same period,

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priests came to the region and founded the first village. As a consequence of the discovery of gold on the right bank of the Guaporé River, the Portuguese Crown founded the Captaincy of Mato Grosso in 1748 with as governor. On March 19, 1752, the governor designated Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade as the capital, from where he commanded the border demarcation following the Treaty of Madrid (1750). In 1753, he installed a surveillance post in the village of Santa Rosa Velha, built by the Spanish on the right bank of the Guaporé, and thus in Brazilian lands. In 1759, the Spanish governor of

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; ), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia), Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River (Bolivia), Pirai River in the eastern Tropical ...

requested that the post be evacuated. Instead, Rolim de Moura built a fort to replace it, which became known as the . Due to the climate and the incursions of the Spanish, the Presidio was soon in ruins. It was rebuilt in 1769 by Governor Luís Pinto de Sousa Coutinho, and renamed as Forte de Bragança. Ruined again, in 1776 the Forte Príncipe da Beira was built in its place. In 1772, led an expedition from

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará), often called Belém of Pará, is the capital and largest city of the state of Pará in the north of B ...

which reached the

, the Mamoré River and the Guaporé River, reaching Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The decline of mining and the proclamation of the First Brazilian Republic caused the region to lose its economic importance until the end of the nineteenth century, when the exploitation of rubber entered its peak.

Postcolonial history

In April 1878, following to the Treaty of Ayacucho, the border between Bolivia and Brazil was mapped by cartographic teams and agreed in 1879. The Treaty of Petrópolis in 1903 led to the construction of the

Madeira-Mamoré Railroad The Madeira-Mamoré Railroad is an abandoned railroad built in the Brazilian state of Rondônia between 1907 and 1912, during the rubber boom. The railroad links the cities of Porto Velho and Guajará-Mirim. It became known as the "Devil's Railro ...

, leading to increased settlement. Decree-Law No. 5812 (13 of September 1943) established the was created from parts of the states of Amazonas and

. By the law of February 17, 1956, the region became known as the Federal Territory of Rondônia, in honor of Marshal Cândido Rondon. The exploitation of brazil nuts and rubber was the main economic activity until the discovery of

cassiterite Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but it is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem. Cassiterite was the chief tin ore throughout ancient history and remains ...

deposits, which accelerated the development and settlement of the region. This development led to the territory achieving the status of a state in 1982, with 13 constituent municipalities, including the capital,

. These are: Guajará-Mirim, Ji-Paraná, Vilhena,

, Jaru, Pimenta Bueno, Colorado do Oeste, Cacoal, Ouro Preto do Oeste, Presidente Médici, Espigão d'Oeste and Costa Marques.

Demographics

It is the third most populous state in the North Region with 1,815,278 inhabitants, according to an estimate by

IBGE The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil. IBGE performs a decennial national cen ...

for 2021, being surpassed only by

Pará Pará () is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian st ...

and Amazonas. The population density was 6.6 inhabitants/km².

Urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...

: 66.8% (2004);

Population growth Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The World population, global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to aroun ...

: 2.2% (1991–2000);

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

s: 430,747 (2005). Four of its municipalities have a population above 100,000 inhabitants, these being Porto Velho, Ji-Paraná, Ariquemes and Vilhena. The 2022 census revealed the following numbers: 936,708

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

(

Multiracial The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races (human categorization), races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicity, ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used ...

) people (59.2%), 486,123

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

people (30.7%), 136,793

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

people (8.7%), 17,278

Amerindian In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

people (1.1%), 4,257 Asian people (0.3%). The population of Rondônia is one of the most diverse in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, composed of migrants from all regions of the country, among whom stand out the Paraná,

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

, and

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

, who settled in the capital, still preserving the strong Amazonian traits of the native population in cities bathed by large rivers, especially in Porto Velho and Guajará-Mirim, the two oldest cities in the state.

Religion

47.6% Roman Catholic in the Archdiocese of Porto Velho (1925 as a Territorial Prelature) with 30 parishes under Archbishop Roque Paloschi (2015), and the two suffragan dioceses of Guajará-Mirim (1929 as a Territorial Prelature) with 13 parishes under Bishop Benedito Araújo (2011), and Ji-Paraná (1978 as the Territorial Prelature of Vila Rondônia) with 24 parishes under Bishop Norbert Hans Christoph Foerster (2020); 33.8% Protestant, 0.6% Spiritism, 3.7% other religion, 14.3% non-religious.

Indigenous peoples

there were 21 Indigenous Territories in Rondônia, with two more in process of being demarcated. The largest of these, the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous Territory, covers over 1.8 million hectares. Another, the Rio Omerê Indigenous Territory, is home to the Kanoê and Akuntsu people. Both tribes were the victims of massacres by cattle ranchers in the 1970s and 1980s and currently number just four and five individuals respectively. Over 20 indigenous languages are spoken in Rondônia. Below is a list of indigenous languages spoken in the state:

Economy

The economy of the state of Rondônia has, as main activities, agriculture, livestock, food industry and vegetal and mineral extraction. In 2016, the state's GDP reached R$39.451 billion. Its export basket is mainly composed of frozen beef (43.43%), soy (32.77%), raw tin (7.08%), sawn wood (2.36%) and edible giblets (2.02%). Beginning in the 1970s, the state attracted farmers from the south-central part of the country, stimulated by the federal government's colonization projects and the availability of cheap and fertile land. The development of agricultural activities has transformed the area into one of the main agricultural frontiers in the country and one of the most prosperous and productive regions in northern Brazil. The state stands out in the production of

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

(largest producer in the North and 5th largest in Brazil), cocoa (2nd largest producer in the North and 3rd largest in Brazil),

beans A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are tradition ...

(2nd largest producer in the North),

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

(2nd largest producer in the North region),

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed. Soy is a key source o ...

(3rd largest producer in the North region),

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

(3rd largest producer in the North region) and

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

(4th largest producer in the North region). Despite the large volume of production and the small territory by the region's standards (7 times smaller than Amazonas and 6 times smaller than Pará), Rondônia still has more than 60% of its territory fully preserved. In

production, Rondônia was, in 2019, the 5th largest producer in the country, being the 2nd largest producer of

Coffea canephora ''Coffea canephora'' (especially ''C. canephora var. robusta'', so predominantly cultivated that it is often simply termed ''Coffea robusta'', or commonly robusta coffee) is a species of coffee plant that has its origins in central and weste ...

, getting a total of 2.3 million bags of 60 kg of coffee (near 138 thousand tons) this year. In

soy The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed. Soy is a key source of f ...

, in the 2019 Brazilian harvest, Rondônia harvested 1.2 million tons, 3rd in the North Region. In 2019, the state produced 805 thousand tons of

, second largest production in the northern region, losing only to Tocantins. In

production, Brazil produced a total of 17.6 million tons in 2018. Rondônia was the 11th largest producer in the country, with 583 thousand tons. In 2018, Rondônia produced 124 thousand tons of

. In the production of cocoa, Pará has been competing with

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

for the leadership of Brazilian production. In 2019, Pará harvested 135 thousand tons of cocoa, and Bahians harvested 130 thousand tons. Rondônia is the 3rd largest cocoa producer in the country, with 18 thousand tons harvested in 2017. In 2017, the state had a

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

herd of 14,098,031 head of cattle (73,37% for beef and the rest for dairy), second largest herd in the North, second only to Pará, being the 6th largest in the country, 5th in meat exports and 8th in

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

production. The state's milk production in 2018 was around 800 million liters, the largest producer in the North. In 2017, Rondônia had 0.62% of the national mineral participation (8th place in the country). Rondônia had production of tin (10,9 thousand tons at a value of R$333 million),

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

(1 ton at a value of R$125 million),

niobium Niobium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Nb (formerly columbium, Cb) and atomic number 41. It is a light grey, crystalline, and Ductility, ductile transition metal. Pure niobium has a Mohs scale of mineral hardness, Mohs h ...

(in the form of columbita-tantalita) (3.5 thousand tons at R$24 million), and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

in gross form (26 thousand tons at R$27 million) In addition, in gemstones, the state has some production of

garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. Garnet minerals, while sharing similar physical and crystallographic properties, exhibit a wide range of chemical compositions, de ...

. In industry, Rondônia had an industrial GDP of R$8.2 billion in 2017, equivalent to 0.7% of the national industry. It employs 49,944 workers in the industry. The main industrial sectors are: Industrial Services of Public Utility, such as Electricity and Water (54.4%), Construction (19.2%), Food (17.6%), Wood (1.8%) and Non-metallic minerals (1.2%). These 5 sectors concentrate 94.2% of the state's industry.

Transport

Governador Jorge Teixeira de Oliveira International Airport is located in the state capital of Porto Velho. Domestic airports at Ji-Paraná,

, Pimenta Bueno, Guajará-Mirim, Vilhena and Principe da Beira. Waterways: Pôrto Velho is an Amazon River port. The state of Rondônia has 24,000 kilometers of highways, of which only 7% are paved. The

BR-364 BR-364 is an inter-state highway in Brazil connecting the southeast state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo to the western state of Acre (state), Acre. The highway was opened in the 1960s and paved in the 1980s. It has brought economic development ...

, fully paved in the Rondônia section, crosses the state from the border with Mato Grosso to the border with Acre. It is the main route for the outflow of grain production (especially

) from the south of Rondônia and the west of Mato Grosso to the city of Porto Velho, where the grain port is located. A bridge is being built over the Madeira River (the first over this river), which aims to consolidate road transport between Brazil and Peru. One road to Bolivia: * from Principe da Beira along the Rio Blanco to Orobayaya, * a ferry from Guajará-Mirim to Guayaramerín. One road to Acre: * BR-364. One road to Amazonas: * BR-319. Six roads to Mato Grosso: * RO-205 to MT-206, * Linha 86 from RO-133 to MT-313, * RO-472 to MT-313, * MT-313 north from Min Andreazza, * BR-174, * BR-364.

Education

The quality of Education in Rondônia is considered the fourteenth best in the country, compared to other Brazilian states. In the list of Brazilian states by HDI, with data from 2010, the "Education" factor reached an index of 0.557, an increase of more than 67% compared to 2000, when the state reached only 0.345. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (

), in 2021 there were 244,815 enrollments in primary education in Rondônia.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rondonia Federative units of Brazil *