User:DAR7/Testes/Geography of Brazil/Paraná (state)
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Paraná is one of 27 federal units of Brazil, located at the north of the southern region, which is the only one to have borderline area with states from other regions. Its bordering administrative divisions and body of waters are Mato Grosso do Sul to the northwest, São Paulo to the north and east, Santa Catarina to the south, the Argentinian province of Misiones to the southwest, the Paraguayan departaments of Alto Paraná and Canindeyú west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Its area is 199 307.922 square km, slightly smaller than Romania, a country with similar format. It is divided into 39 microregions and mesoregions 10, subdivided into 399 municipalities. Its capital is the city of Curitiba. Other major cities are Londrina, Maringa, Ponta Grossa, Cascavel, Pinhais and Foz do Iguaçu. It is the 4th richest state in Brazil by GDP, behind only São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro (state) and Minas Gerais.[1]
Its territory covering the entire length of the old Republic of the Guaira at the time of the Spanish Empire, was the youngest province of the Empire of Brazil, dismembered of São Paulo in 1853, being the first president Mr Zacarias de Góis e Vasconcelos. Was created for various reasons, it may be cited a punishment for the participation of São Paulo in the Liberal Revolt of 1842, an agreement for the support offered by the Paraná and profitable cultivation of yerba mate. It is also the newest state in southern Brazil, shortly after the Rio Grande do Sul (1807) and Santa Catarina (1738).
The state is historically known for its great amount of pine forests dotted around the southern plateau portion, where the climate is humid subtropical, as in the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul while the rest of Brazil is tropical. The predominant species in the vegetation is the Araucaria angustifolia. The branches of this tree appear on the flag and coat of arms, symbols adopted in 1947. Today, this ecosystem is very destroyed due to human occupation.
Paraná relief is the highest of Brazil: 52% of the state has altitude of six hundred meters and only 3% of the territory is less than three hundred meters altitude. The most important rivers are the Paraná, the Iguazu, the Ivaí, the Tibagi, the Paranapanema, the Itararé and Piquiri and the state of climate is classified as temperate.