Mato Grosso

Mato Grosso State

Area: 881,000sq.km/340,000sq.mi

Population: 1,480,000

Capital: Cuiabá

Situation and Characteristics

The state of Mato Grosso (the name means "primeval forest") in central Brazil is surrounded (in clockwise order) by Rondìnia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins and Goiás (beyond the Rio Araguaia) and Mato Grosso do Sul. On the south-west it is bordered by Bolivia. The northern part of the state is in the Amazonian rain forest belt; the south merges gradually into savannah and finally into the swampland of the Pantanal.

History

The first settlers and founders of towns in the Mato Grosso, in the early 18th century, were gold prospectors from eastern Brazil. Soon afterwards