Acaraú (also Acarahú) is a

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

in the

Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...

state of

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 ...

. The city lies on the

Acaraú River The Acaraú River is a river of Ceará state in eastern Brazil. See also *List of rivers of Ceará A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list m ...

near the northern

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

coast. In 2020 the population was estimated at 63,104. The municipality is a major producer of Brazilian

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

and its economy depends heavily on

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and

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 ...

breeding.

Etimology

The origin of the toponym "Acaraú" is indigenous, with at least two hypotheses regarding its meaning: It may be the result of the fusion of acará (heron) and hu (water), thus meaning "river of herons" (according to Paulinho Nogueira); however, Silveira Bueno translates acará as cará or cascudo (a type of fish) and u or y as water or river, therefore "river of the cará." This interpretation also seems to align with Navarro.

Climate

References

Populated coastal places in Ceará Municipalities in Ceará {{Ceará-geo-stub