Maragogi
Encyclopedia
Maragogi is a municipality of the Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian state of Alagoas
Alagoas
Alagoas is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco ; Sergipe ; Bahia ; and the Atlantic Ocean . It occupies an area of 27,767 km², being slightly larger than Haiti...
in the 125 km north of Maceió
Maceió
Maceió is the capital and the largest city of the coastal state Alagoas, Brazil. The name "maceió" is of Indian origin, and designates the natural spontaneously courses of water which flow out of the soil...
capital city. Has 25,726 inhabitants, a city situated on the northern coast
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
of Alagoas
Alagoas
Alagoas is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco ; Sergipe ; Bahia ; and the Atlantic Ocean . It occupies an area of 27,767 km², being slightly larger than Haiti...
state, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, being the easternmost city of that state.
As the main destination in the State of Alagoas
Alagoas
Alagoas is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco ; Sergipe ; Bahia ; and the Atlantic Ocean . It occupies an area of 27,767 km², being slightly larger than Haiti...
after its capital city, Maragogi attracts visitors from Maceió
Maceió
Maceió is the capital and the largest city of the coastal state Alagoas, Brazil. The name "maceió" is of Indian origin, and designates the natural spontaneously courses of water which flow out of the soil...
. From Japaratinga beach, on the southern tip, a ferryboat crosses Manguaba River into Porto das Pedras, where visitors find virtually deserted beaches. Maragogi was initially a small village called Gamela. In 1887, it was granted the status of a Town and adopted the name of Isabel, to honor the Brazilian Princess who signed a law ending slavery in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. Later on, in 1892, it was named as Maragogi after the river that baths the city. "Maragogi", according to some historians, comes from “Marahub-gy”, or river of the Marauba tribes.
Climate
Maragogi has a typical tropical climate, with warm to hot temperatures and high relative humidity all throughout the year. However, these conditions are relieved by a near absence of extreme temperatures and trade winds blowing from the ocean. January is the warmest month, with mean maxima of 31°C and minima of 22°C and more sunSun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
; July experiences the coolest temperatures, with means of 26°C and 17°C and more rain
Rain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
.
Vegetation
Maragogi has a tropical forest. Rainforests are characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 2,000 mm (about 78 inches or 2 meters) and 1700 mm (about 67 inches). The soil can be poor because high rainfall tends to leach out soluble nutrients.There are several common characteristics of tropical rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
trees. Tropical rainforest species frequently possess one or more of the following attributes not commonly seen in trees of higher latitudes or trees in drier conditions on the same latitude.
Demographics
Maragogi Ethnic Groups
According to the 2007 census, the racial makeup of the city was:- Majority WhiteWhite peopleWhite people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
and MixedMixedMixed is the past tense of mix. It may also refer to:*Mixed breed, an animal whose parents are from different breeds or species*Mixed anomaly, in theoretical physics, an example of an anomaly*Mixed data sampling, an econometric model developed by Ghysels...
.
- Minority BlackBlack peopleThe term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
.
Maragogi Demographics History
1. Amerindians, Brazil's indigenous population, came from human groups that migrated from SiberiaSiberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
across the Bering Strait
Bering Strait
The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...
around 9000 BC.
2. Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
colonists and settlers, arriving from 1500 onward.
3. Diverse groups of immigrants from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
arriving in Maragogi during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. And now, because of tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
.
4. African slaves brought to the country from 1530 until the end of the slave trade in 1850.
Tourism
Maragogi is located on the Coral Coast – Costa dos Corais – 130 kilometers of continuous living tropical reefs on the coast of Northeast Brazil. The municipality is the second most visited city after Maceio the state capital of Alagoas.Its major attraction is the "Galés", a group of tropical pools formed at low tide about 6 kilometers from the city's beach. They are served by 15 large registered catamarans leaving from various points in the municipal area. Individual tours are also available.
Maragogi's history includes the battles between Dutch and Portuguese colonizers as well as the growth of the sugar cane and coconut plantations that formed the first wealth of the region. Today, it is tourism that provides the most important economic impact in the region. But, its potential remains unexplored. Even so, the busy waterfront in the City of Maragogi has a variety of restaurants, stores and stalls selling local arts and crafts.
Trips to snorkel or scuba dive the reefs can be interspersed by excursions on the reefs themselves or a sail (or even fish) on the local "jangada
Jangada
A Jangada is a traditional fishing boat made of wood used in the northern region of Brazil. Some claim the historical legacy of the jangada dates back to the ancient Greeks and that it was Ulysses' vessel in The Odyssey....
" sailing rafts. The deserted beaches of Maragogi and other rural attractions can be accessed by renting beach buggies readily available at the hotels and pousadas.