Mundaú is a village in the municipality of

Trairi Trairi is a municipality in the state of Ceará in the Northeast region of Brazil. Trairi has a population of approximately 56000 inhabitants (2020) and is famous for its shoreline stretching from Guajiru to Mundaú Mundaú is a village in the ...

in the state of

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 ...

. It is located 130 or so kilometres from the state capital

Fortaleza Fortaleza ( ; ; ) is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeastern Brazil. It is Brazil's 4th largest city—Fortaleza surpassed Salvador, Bahia, Salvador in 2022 census with a population of slightly over 2.4 mi ...

Nature

Most of Mundaú's original vegetation is still intact. The east and south of the village contain many palm trees, sugar cane, banana plants, castanholas, mango trees, guajiru and cashew trees. In the dunes there is no vegetation, only cows and donkeys walking around. Mundaú is famous for lying by the mouth of the Mundaú River. Besides this river there are dense mangrove forests. The river flows from Trairi.

Fishing

Fishing is the main source of income for the people of Mundaú. All the men sail the sea on

jangada A jangada is a traditional fishing boat (in fact a sailing raft) made of wood used in the North Region, Brazil, northern region of Brazil. The construction of the jangada incorporates some improvements in Neolithic handcraft - better materials ...

s which are rather small and simplistic. These courageous men used to sail 200 kilometres, being away for a week. Nowadays a mere 50 kilometres is travelled to get lobsters and camurupim Despite the small size of the ships (10 by 4 feet) there are hardly any accidents, but if they happen heroic tales are dragged out of them that are to be told for many years. The accidents usually involve the gigantic waves caught by tankers. The tankers couldn't see the fishermen since they didn't carry any lights. These accidents don't really happen anymore because the fishermen don't sail out that far anymore and now can take safe lights. Because of the river, Mundaú has a natural harbour which enables fishermen to also use larger boats that can take more fish.

History

Some people say that in the early 17th century a Portuguese princess was travelling to what was then still a

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. She got on land by a river and went upstream towards the little indigenous settlement of Trairi where she left a

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

. Populated places in Ceará {{Ceará-geo-stub