Arara is a municipality in the state of

Paraíba Paraíba ( , ; ) is a states of Brazil, state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba i ...

in northeastern

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 ...

. It is located in the mesoregion of Agreste Paraibano and the microregion of Western Curimataú, 155 km from the state capital, João Pessoa. It is located on the high plain of Borborema at an altitude of 467 m above sea level.

History

Originally, the area was occupied by the Cariri people. The countryside was covered in ''Schinopsis brasiliensis'' trees, whose wood was black, known in the local indigenous language as Baraúna. The trees served as shelter for people traveling to the nearby areas of Brejo and Curimataú to buy flour,

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 ...

and

rapadura Panela () or rapadura (Portuguese pronunciation: ) is an unrefined whole cane sugar, typical of Latin America. It is a solid form of sucrose derived from the boiling and evaporation of sugarcane juice. Panela is known by other names in Lati ...

, basic foods available in those areas. The area was known as "Baraúnas das Araras" because of the large number of

macaw Macaws are a group of Neotropical parrot, New World parrots that are long-tailed and often colorful, in the Tribe (biology), tribe Arini (tribe), Arini. They are popular in aviculture or as companion parrots, although there are conservation con ...

s (Portuguese ''arara'') that could be found there as late as 1860, when the priest José Antônio Maria Ibiapina arrived in the area from

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 ...

. He had greatly influenced the civilizing of the Curimataú area. He founded the Santa Fé sanitarium near the site of today's city, on land donated by Major Antônio José da Cunha, owner of lime deposits in the area. Major Antônio José da Cunha also built the first house in the future village of Arara, and contributed much to its development up to 1881, when he died at the age of 94. Padre Ibiapina also founded the Mother Church of Arara, under the name of Nossa Senhora da Piedade (Our Lady of Piety), and provided services to the forming community. By 1876, the village had about 80 houses and 500 inhabitants. In 1937 and 1938, in the administrative division of Brazil, Arara was mentioned as part of the municipality of Serraria. On 1 December 1961, the town was separated from Serraria and incorporated as a separate municipality. Many people worked toward this goal, including Dr. Marinésio Moreno, Dr. Mário Moreno, and Marísio da Cunha Moreno.

Climate

Located on a high plain, the city has a

Semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

, with average annual temperatures in the range of 22 °C. The rainy season begins in January or February, and continues to September or October.

Demographics

According to the

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 ...

(Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) of 2020, there were 13,542 people residing in the municipality. The population density was 127.66 inhabitants/km². The last census the

of 2000, revealed the following numbers: 7,109

Pardo In the former Portuguese and Spanish colonies in the Americas, ''pardos'' (feminine ''pardas'') are triracial descendants of Europeans, Indigenous Americans and Africans. History In some places they were defined as neither exclusively ...

(Brown) people (61.66%), 4,033

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 (34.98%), 350

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 (3,03%).

List of mayors

References

External links

Brazilian government data sheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arara, Paraiba Municipalities in Paraíba