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| Statistics | |
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| Capital: | Porto Velho |
| Area: | 238,512.8 km² |
| Inhabitants: | 1,241,276 (?) |
| Pop. density: | 5.2 inh./km² |
| Timezone: | GMT-4 |
| ISO 3166-2: | BR-RO |
| Governor: | Ivo Narciso Cassol |
| Map | |
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Rondônia is a state of Brazil, located in the northern-western part of the country. To the west is a short border with the state of Acre, to the north is the state of Amazonas, in the east is Mato Grosso, and in the south is Bolivia. Its capital is Porto Velho.
Other cities include:
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Geography
The state has a territory covered mostly by jungle of the Amazon Rainforest, but about one-fifth of the state has been deforested since intensive settlement began in the 1970s. A majority of its citizens now live in urban areas. It is a main exporter of wood, as well as a significant producer of both coffee and an important cattle breeder.
History
Rondônia is named after Cândido Rondon, who made several exploration expeditions through Brazilian borderlines in the early 20th century, including one mission to rescue former American president Teddy Roosevelt, after the latter failed to return from a canoeing expedition. The territory was set apart from Mato Grosso in 1943, under the name Guaporé, as a part of Getulio Vargas' policies to secure frontiers. The initial beginnings of the development of cattle-breeding and coffee production was possible thanks to the Pólo-Noroeste project implemented by the federal government in the 1970s which was designed to encourage emigration to the undeveloped area.
The Pólo-Noroeste programme increased Rondônia's population by nearly one-hundredfold from 1970 to 2004, from an original 10,000 to today's 1.5 million. Every city in the state except for Porto Velho and Guajará-Mirim were built by Pólo-Noroeste settlers. After implementing the Pólo-Noroeste project, the federal government put into place the Planaforo programme, to deal with environment and Amerindian issues, notably the defining of Amerindian reserve borders.
In 1980, the Samuel Hydroelectric Plant was built, allowing a massive upswing in the production of timber, minerals, civil construction and foodstuffs to occur.
Rondônia was upgraded to a state in 1988, making it Brazil's youngest state. In 1993, another upswing occurred when the Guajará-Mirim free trade area was established. Bordering on Bolivia, this free trade area increased trade between Rondônia and Bolivia by a substantial degree.
Since the late 1990s, Rondônia has begun to exploit its natural beauty in order to attract tourists. Porto Velho is situated on the Madeira River, a tributary of the Amazon, and the Lago do Cuniã is located in the state.
Flag
The flag was designed by Silvio Carvalho Feitosa and adopted with complementary Law No. 41 of December 22, 1981. The flag uses the same colors as the flag of Brazil, with the big star in the middle symbolizing the new state. The star is displayed rising into the blue sky, stretching over Brazil (the yellow and green areas in the lower half of the flag).
External links
- Brazilian Embassy in London (http://www.brazil.org.uk/page.php?cid=357)
- Rondonia Web (http://webhost.bridgew.edu/jhayesboh/rondonia.htm)
| States of Brazil | 
|
|---|---|
| Acre | Alagoas | Amapá | Amazonas | Bahia | Ceará | Espírito Santo | Goiás | Maranhão | Mato Grosso | Mato Grosso do Sul | Minas Gerais | Pará | Paraíba | Paraná | Pernambuco | Piauí | Rio de Janeiro | Rio Grande do Norte | Rio Grande do Sul | Rondônia | Roraima | Santa Catarina | São Paulo | Sergipe | Tocantins | |
| Federal District: Brazilian Federal District | |