HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Piauí ( ) is one of the
states of Brazil 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 Brazil, Federat ...
, located in the country's Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piauí has the shortest coastline of any coastal Brazilian state at 66 km (41 mi), and the capital,
Teresina Teresina is the capital and most populous municipality in the Brazilian state of Piauí. Being located in north-central Piauí 366 km from the coast, it is the only capital in the Brazilian Northeast that is not located on the shores of th ...
, is the only state capital in the northeast to be located inland. The reason for this is, unlike the rest of the area, Piauí was first colonised inland and slowly expanded towards the ocean, rather than the other way around. In the southeast of the state, the
National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
of Serra da Capivara is a
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Site. The park has more than 400 archaeological sites and the largest concentration of rock paintings in the world, in a landscape dominated by
canyon A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency t ...
s and caatinga.


History

The state has many notable archaeological sites, including Serra de Capivara National Park and Sete Cidades National Park, which are rich in remains of prehistoric Paleo-Indian and sedentary-based Indigenous Brazilian complex cultures. Early settlers in the region included Francisco Dias d'Ávila from state of
Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...
, who brought the first herds of cattle to the area; and Domingos Afonso Mafrense, from
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 ...
, who founded what is today Oeiras. In the 17th century, many impoverished noblemen and
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
priests, as well as black and
Amerindian In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...
slaves, settled there. The first large-scale cattle farming also arrived with these settlers. Large estate owners seeking new pastures for their livestock arrived from neighbouring states such as
Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...
and
Maranhão Maranhão () is a States of Brazil, state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of and it is divided into 217 municipalities. Clockwise from north, it ...
. At the beginning of the 20th century, the principal industry of the state was stock raising, which dates from the first settlement in 1674 by Domingos Afonso Mafrense, who established a number of cattle ranges. A secondary industry was the raising of goats, which were able to stand neglect and a scanty food supply. Agricultural products were cotton, sugar and tobacco. Forest products included rubber,
carnauba Carnauba (; ), also called Brazil wax and palm wax, is a wax of the leaves of the carnauba palm '' Copernicia prunifera'' (synonym: ''Copernicia cerifera''), a plant native to and grown only in the northeastern Brazilian states of Ceará, Pia ...
wax and dyewoods. Exports included hides, skins, rubber, wax, tobacco and cotton. Teresina was the first Brazilian city to be planned. In 1852, an architect designed it, after being inspired by a chessboard. Situated at the confluence of the Parnaíba and Poti Rivers, Teresina was (and still is) known as the Green City because of the countless
mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...
trees that line the city's streets.


Geography

Piauí is bounded on the west by
Maranhão Maranhão () is a States of Brazil, state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of and it is divided into 217 municipalities. Clockwise from north, it ...
, on the east by
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 ...
and
Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...
, to the west by Tocantins, and to the south by
Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...
. It has a short Atlantic coastline on the north. The Parnaíba River forms the boundary with Maranhão throughout its entire length; the state lies almost entirely within the basin of the Parnaíba and its tributaries. Part of the state on the Atlantic coast and along the lower Parnaíba is low, swampy, and historically malarial. South of this the country rises gradually to a plateau with open campos. This plateau region is watered by numerous tributaries of the Parnaíba, chief of which are, from south to north: the
Poti Poti ( ka, ფოთი ; Mingrelian language, Mingrelian: ფუთი; Laz language, Laz: ჶაში/Faşi or ფაში/Paşi) is a port city in Georgia (country), Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the mkhare, region of ...
, which has its source in the state of Ceará; the Longa; the Canindé and its tributary the Piauí, which is navigable for boats of one-meter draft up to Nova Iorque, a few miles above the mouth of the Gurguéia River. The river valleys are separated by flat-topped plateaus called '' chapadas,'' including the Serra Uruçui, which lies between the Uruçui-Preto and the Gurguéia, the Serra da Capivara National Park, which lies between the Gurguéia and the Piauí, and the Chapada das Mangabeiras, which forms the southwestern boundary of the state, separating the upper basin of the Parnaíba from that of the Tocantins.


Ecoregions

The sandy soils along the Atlantic coast are home to the Northeastern Brazil restingas, low evergreen forests adapted to the nutrient-poor conditions. The lower basin of the Parnaíba is home to the Maranhão Babaçu forests, which extend westward into Maranhão. This ecoregion is dominated by stands of the Babaçu palm. The eastern portion of the state is dominated by the dry Caatingas shrublands, which extend across much of northeastern Brazil. The
Cerrado The Cerrado () is a vast ecoregion of Tropics, tropical savanna in central Brazil, being present in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Paraná ...
savannas extend across the southwestern portion of the state, in the basins of the upper Parnaíba and Gurguéia rivers. Enclaves of Atlantic dry forests lie in basin of the Gurguéia, forming a transition between the Cerrado and Caatinga. Serra da Capivara National Park is located in the Caatinga of the south-central part of the state, and protects numerous caves with ancient cave paintings.


Climate

The climate is hot and humid in the lowlands and along the lower Parnaíba, but in the uplands it is dry with high day-time temperatures and cool nights.


Demographics

According to the 2022 census, there were 3,271,199 people residing in the state. The population density was 13 inhabitants/km2.
Urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...
: 60.7% (2006);
Population growth Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The World population, global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to aroun ...
: 1.1% (1991–2000);
House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...
s: 791,000 (2006). The last census in 2022 revealed the following numbers: 2,120,880
Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...
(
Multiracial The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races (human categorization), races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicity, ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used ...
) people (64.8%), 740,322
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 (22.6%), 400,662
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 (12.2%), 6,198
Amerindian In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...
people (0.2%), 3.078 Asian people (0.1%).


Largest cities


Religion

The population of Piauí is mostly
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
. 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 ...
, it is the state with the lowest proportion of
Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
, and the highest proportion of Catholics in the country. There is a great diversity of religious manifestations in Piauí, expressing the multicultural identity of the Piauí people. According to a survey conducted via an app developed by the
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' ...
of
Teresina Teresina is the capital and most populous municipality in the Brazilian state of Piauí. Being located in north-central Piauí 366 km from the coast, it is the only capital in the Brazilian Northeast that is not located on the shores of th ...
, there are more than 800 adherents of Afro-Brazilian religions in the capital. Considering that there are 800 thousand inhabitants in the municipality, there is practically one adherent for every thousand inhabitants. In addition to Christianity and other monotheistic religions, Piauí also has followers of polytheistic spiritualities, such as Piaganismo, who is considered the first neo-pagan religion created in Brazil.


Education

Portuguese is the official national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools, but English and Spanish are part of the official high school curriculum.


Educational institutions

Educational institutions in Piauí include: * Universidade Federal do Piauí (UFPI) ( Federal University of Piauí) * Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco (UNIVASF) * Universidade Estadual do Piauí (Uespi) (State University of Piauí) * Instituto Federal do Piauí (IFPI) * Faculdade Santo Agostinho * Centro de Ensino Superior do Vale do Parnaíba (Cesvale) * Instituto de Ciências Jurídicas e Sociais Professor Camillo Filho * Faculdade de Saúde, Ciências Humanas e Tecnológicas do Piauí * Faculdade Integral Differencial (Facid)


Economy

Piauí is one of the poorest states of Brazil. The
service sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...
is the largest component of GDP at 60.1%, followed by the
industrial sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in construc ...
at 27.3%. Agriculture represents 12.6% of GDP (2004). Piauí exports include
essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the ...
s 19.5%, soybeans 17.1%, woven cotton 15.1%, cashews 12.6%, crustaceans 12.4%, and leather 8.3% (2002). Grupo Claudino is the largest industrial company with headquarters in the state. They have annual sales of around R$700 million. Transfers from the Federal government are estimated to represent around a third of state GDP. The state government has been involved in a number of initiatives to develop aspects of the state's economy. 10,000-18,000 hectares of land worth a reported R$50 million was given to Brasil Biodiesel, a green energy company.FSC Watch: http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2009/07/23/Local_organisations_ The company suffered a number of setbacks and in 2009 said it was selling the land. A second biodiesel company, Piauí Ecodiesel Ltda, is reported to be receiving up to R$81.1 million of investment. The state has offered substantial tax benefits to agro-industrial companies. Bunge, Cargill and Algar now grow soy in the state. Suzano is to grow eucalyptus for pulp. These projects have been criticised by state environmental activists. According to research commissioned by SETUR, the state tourism authority, over one million tourists would visit Piauí in 2010. Estimates based on by CEPRO, the state statistics agency, suggest the actual figure is likely to fractional of this figure. The construction of an international airport at São Raimundo Nonato (Aeroporto Internacional Serra da Capivara) was criticised on the grounds that it could not function as an international airport because the runway was too short and because ANAC (the Federal aviation authority) was not involved in monitoring the project, so were unable to certify it as safe for international flights. There is some mining in the state, including South America's only opal mines at Pedro Segundo. Diamonds are mined by Gema do Piauí Mineração Ltda (Gemapi) and processed in the neighbouring state of Pernambuco in a joint-venture with Gitanjali Group (India). The state has significant deposits of nickel and iron ore. João Carlos Cavalcanti, a mining entrepreneur, and GME4 own the rights to the 800 million tonne PI4 iron ore deposit. A new railway bisecting the state may make this deposit economically viable. Share of the Brazilian economy: 0.5% (2004).


Culture


Festa Junina (Saint John Festival)

Festa Junina is a cultural festival inspired by Portuguese traditions, in which St John's day, on the June 24, is one of the oldest and most popular celebrations of the year. Unlike the European Midsummer's Day, the festivities in Brazil do not take place at the
summer solstice The summer solstice or estival solstice occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). The summer solstice is the day with the longest peri ...
but during the southern hemisphere's
winter solstice The winter solstice, or hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's geographical pole, poles reaches its maximum axial tilt, tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern Hemisphere, Northern and So ...
. The festivities traditionally begin after the 12th of June, on the eve of St Anthony's day, and last until the 29th, which is St Peter's day. During these fifteen days, there are bonfires, fireworks, and folk dancing in the streets (step names are in French, which shows the mutual influences between court life and peasant culture in the 17th, 18th, and 19th-century Europe). Once exclusively a rural festival, today in Brazil it is largely a city festival during which people mimic peasant stereotypes and clichés and consume typical refreshments and dishes. As in Carnival, these festivities involve costumes (in this case, peasant garb), dancing, heavy drinking, and visual spectacles (fireworks display and folk dancing). As on Midsummer and St John's Day in Europe, bonfires are a central part of the festivities.


Carnival

The four-day period before Lent leading up to Ash Wednesday is carnival time 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 ...
.


Infrastructure


National Airport

Teresina/Senador Petrônio Portella Airport is located four kilometers () from downtown Teresina. Opened in 1967, it has been administered by
Infraero Empresa Brasileira de Infraestrutura Aeroportuária (abr. Infraero) is a Brazilian government corporation founded in 1973, authorized by Law 5,862, that is responsible for operating the main List of the busiest airports in Brazil, Brazilian com ...
since 1975. There are no international flights to this airport.


Highways

* BR-020 * BR-135 * BR-222 * BR-226 * BR-230 * BR-235 * BR-316 * BR-324 * BR-330 * BR-343 * BR-402 * BR-404 * BR-407


Flag

The flag of Piauí was unveiled on 24 July 1922. The blue canton and a star represents the state itself and the green and yellow bars represent Piauí's union with Brazil. In 2005 the words "13 DE MARÇO DE 1823" were added below the star to commemorate the date of the Battle of Jenipapo, an engagement in Brazil's war of independence.


Cities

The state is divided into 224 municipalities. Some cities in Piauí include: *
Teresina Teresina is the capital and most populous municipality in the Brazilian state of Piauí. Being located in north-central Piauí 366 km from the coast, it is the only capital in the Brazilian Northeast that is not located on the shores of th ...
* Parnaíba * Picos * Oeiras * Avelino Lopes * Curimata


See also

* USS ''Lewis Hancock'' * Ceará-Piauí border dispute


References


External links


Official Website

Piauí Tourism Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piaui Federative units of Brazil *