Itatiaia National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional do Itatiaia), established in 1937, is the oldest

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

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 ...

. It is located on the border between the states of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

and

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

Location

The Itatiaia National Park is the oldest national park of Brazil, created on 14 June 1937 by President

Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...

. The park is in the

Mantiqueira Mountains The Mantiqueira Mountains (Portuguese: ''Serra da Mantiqueira iterally: Mantiqueira Mountains Chain') are a mountain range in Southeastern Brazil, with parts in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. It rises abruptly from the ...

. It covers parts of the municipalities of

Itatiaia Itatiaia () is a Brazilian municipality of the state of Rio de Janeiro. It is located at an altitude of . Its population was 32,064 in 2020 and its area is . The oldest Brazilian national park, Itatiaia National Park (Parque Nacional do Itatiaia, ...

and Resende in Rio de Janeiro state, and

Bocaina de Minas Bocaina de Minas is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Minas Gerais This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Minas Gerais (MG), located in the Southea ...

and Itamonte in Minas Gerais state. It is mountainous and rocky with altitudes ranging from . The highest point is the Black Needles peak ( Pico das Agulhas Negras). The higher part of the park contains the origins of 12 river basins that supply the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

(Grand River), a tributary of the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...

, and the

Paraíba do Sul The Paraíba do Sul (), or simply termed Paraíba, is a river in southeast Brazil. It flows west to northeast from its farthest source at the source of the river Paraitinga to the sea near Campos dos Goytacazes. The river receives its name when ...

, the most important river in Rio de Janeiro state. The lower part of the park has lush

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

vegetation and wide rivers with natural pools and waterfalls. The Pico das Agulhas Negras is the state' third highest mountain at . The park attracts bird watchers from all over the world with its 350 species of birds. Other attractions include hiking and rock climbing. The park is surrounded by the

Serra da Mantiqueira Environmental Protection Area Serra da Mantiqueira Environmental Protection Area ( pt, Área de Proteção Ambiental da Serra da Mantiqueira is a protected area of Brazil that includes parts of the states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Location The environmen ...

which provides an ecological buffer zone for the park. The high area of the park is accessible through an entrance about 35 km from the main entrance and gives access to the Pico das Agulhas Negras and Prateleiras complex. The low area of the park is much closer to the city of

and has many waterfalls, such as Véu da Noiva with 45 meters. The low area has also a Natural History museum. Itatiaia means "many-pointed rock" in the

Tupi Tupi may refer to: * Tupi people of Brazil * Tupi or Tupian languages, spoken in South America ** Tupi language, an extinct Tupian language spoken by the Tupi people * Tupi oil field off the coast of Brazil * Tupi Paulista, a Brazilian municipalit ...

language.

Gallery

File:Itatiaia national park.JPG, Itatiaia National Park Overview File:Agulhasnegras.JPG, Pico das Agulhas Negras, the highest peak in the National Park File:Parque Nacional do Itatiaia floresta.jpg, Itatiaia National Park File:Cachoeira Véu da Noiva.jpg, Véu de Noiva waterfall File:Melanophryniscus moreirae flamenguinho.jpg, Melanophryniscus frog, symbol species of the park Parque Nacional do Itatiaia Reinaldo de Medeiros (03).jpg,

Frilled coquette The frilled coquette (''Lophornis magnificus'') is a species of hummingbird in the "coquettes", tribe Lesbiini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It is endemic to Brazil.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLi ...

Location

Gallery

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Further reading