Tauá is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...

in the Northeast region of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. In 2020 it had an estimated population of 59,062 people. It is one of the largest municipalities in the state, with an area of .

History

The

toponymy Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

of Tauá refers to an indigenous word meaning "yellow clay and loam" in the

Tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi (also spelled as Tupí) is an extinct Tupian language which was spoken by the aboriginal Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. It belongs to the ...

. Its origins date from at least the early 18th century. On December 14, 1801, Ouvidor Gregório José da Silva went to the small settlement of Tauá to raise the site to a town. On May 3, 1802, it became a formal settlement. On August 17, 1832, it was given ''freguesia'' status. On December 2, 1889, the site was renamed São João do Príncipe dos Inhamuns. It received the classification of city on August 2, 1929, returning to its former name.

Geography

The city is located away from the capital of Ceará State,

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

. The town lies along

BR-020 BR-020 is a federal highway of Brazil. The 2038 kilometre road connects Fortaleza in Ceará to the federal capital Brasília. It was inaugurated in the government of the president Juscelino Kubitschek. In the states of Bahía and Piauí, there ...

, by road northeast of

Parambu Parambu, Ceará () is a municipality in the state of Ceará in the Northeast region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Ceará This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Ceará (CE), located in the Northeast Region of Br ...

. Districts of the municipality include Marrecas, Barra Nova, Trici, Marruás, Carrapateiras, Inhamuns, and Santa Tereza. The Jaguaribe River's headwaters are located in the Tauá districts of Trici and Carrapateiras. At Tauá, the Jaguaribe is sandy and rather narrow, in width. The course of the river between Tauá to the mouth of the Salgado River is approximately . The biggest natural landmark is the mountain range, Serrote Quinamuiú. It became protected by municipal law in 2005. In 2011, the unauthorized extraction of precious stones, such as

amethyst Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz. The name comes from the Koine Greek αμέθυστος ''amethystos'' from α- ''a-'', "not" and μεθύσκω (Ancient Greek) / μεθώ (Modern Greek), "intoxicate", a reference to the belief that t ...

, became a matter of concern to environmentalists and the local government as the use of

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

caused serious damage to the mountain's physical structure.

Economy

According to the government statistics in 1996, the per capita income in Tauá was far below the minimum established income. Carrapateiras suffers from

overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature res ...

and poor market accessibility. The municipality contains the first solar photovoltaic power plant to generate electricity on a commercial scale in Brazil,

MPX Tauá MPX may refer to: Technology * MPX filter, a function found in cassette decks * Multiplexing, the process of combining multiple analog or digital signals into one ** Multiplexer, an electronic device which accomplishes this task Computing * ...

, inaugurated in August 2011. Tauá has three local radio stations, Rádio Difusora dos Inhamuns, Rádio Trici FM, and Cultura dos Inhamuns 960.

Transportation

The city is served by Pedro Teixeira Castelo Airport.

Landmarks

The municipality has three paleontological and archeological sites which can be visited but can only be explored by researchers and professionals with a permit. A donation by Sergeant Major José Rodrigues de Matos enabled the construction of a chapel dedicated to Nossa Senhora do Rosário (Our Lady of the Rosary), located in the municipal cemetery. Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário (Church of Our Lady of the Rosary) was inaugurated on October 17, 1762. Originally constructed with a cylindrical domed roof, it was expanded in 1906. The structure is listed as a protected cultural monument by the Brazilian government. The Igreja de Jesus (Church of Jesus) in the Tauá district of Marrecas was built in the early eighteenth century, around 1717. The first

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

priest was Father Fructuoso Ribeiro Dias.

Culture

The feast of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

and

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

is held every year in April, one of the biggest religious events in the state of Ceará. Our Lady of the Rosary, whose day is celebrated on October 7, is the town's

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

Notable people

* Fausto Barreto - philologist, journalist, teacher and Brazilian politician * Jovita Feitosa - Feitosa, considered to be a martyr of feminism, was born in Tauá. Though she attempted to fight in the

Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War, also known as the War of the Triple Alliance, was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It was the deadlies ...

, she was denied permission to join the battlefront. * Vicente Fialho - Minister of Mines and Energy and mayor of Fortaleza * Joaquim Pimenta - Lawyer and Minister of Labour

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taua Municipalities in Ceará Populated places established in 1802