Maués 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' ...

located in the

Brazilian state 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 Federative Repu ...

of Amazonas. Its population was 65,040 (2020) and its area is 39,988 km².

Geography

Maués is known as the "Land of Guaraná". There are sandy beaches, and Maues summer festival and Guarana festival. The Mundurucus and Maues Indians cultivated the guarana fruit, which is the basis for the famous Brazilian soft drink. Maués means "talking parrots" and it is originated from one of the Indian clans in the region. Maués has 22.000 inhabitants with another 20.000 natives spread along 140 river villages. The area's 20.000 people are distributed within 140 villages spread along the rivers. Maués is located on the side of Maués-Açu river and can be reached from Manaus (267 km away) by regional boat (18 hours), fast boat (7 hours) or plane (45 min.). Maués is used as a starting point for adventure trekking including visit to the Amana waterfall, old goldmines, caves, exploration of primary jungle with Indian guides and visit to the Uraira developing reserve. Maués Airport serves the region.

Conservation

The municipality contains all or part of the

Alto Maués Ecological Station Alto Maués Ecological Station () is an Ecological station (Brazil), ecological station, a fully protected area, in the state of Amazonas (Brazilian state), Amazonas, Brazil. It contains about of Amazon rainforest. Location The Alto Maués Ecolo ...

, Amazônia National Park,

Juruena National Park Juruena National Park (), declared in 2006, is the third largest national park of Brazil. It is located along the Juruena River, in the north of Mato Grosso state and the south of Amazonas state. It forms part of a corridor of protected areas t ...

, Pau-Rosa National Forest, Maués State Forest and Andirá Marau Indigenous Territory. It is thought that the area has high gold mining potential. The municipality contains the Urupadi National Forest, a sustainable use conservation unit created in 2016. It includes the Urariá Sustainable Development Reserve, created in 2001.

Cultivation of guaraná

One of the things Maués is known for is guaraná, and every year they celebrate this with the Guaraná festival. The festival typically includes live music, especially the local

pagode Pagode () is a Brazilian style of music that originated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as a subgenre of Samba. Pagode originally meant a celebration with food, music, dance, and party. In 1978, singer Beth Carvalho was introduced to this music, like ...

dance which will involve the whole city in the festivities. The guarana fruit is used in the traditional Brazilian soft drink, sold in several varieties 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 ...

. These soft drinks are now also exported to outside countries, and the guaraná is becoming a known ingredient in drinks for boosting energy.

Notable people

* Homero de Miranda Leão (1913–1987), poet, teacher and politician

References

Municipalities in Amazonas (Brazilian state) {{AmazonasBR-geo-stub