Santa Rita de Cássia is a 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 municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in the state of Bahia

Bahia

Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...

. On July 1, 2008 the town's population was estimated as 27.224 inhabitants.

History

In mid 17th century, a Portuguese couple traveled to the city of Ibipetuba, and when they left the city they forgot a Santa Rita de Cássia's image inside of the plain house where they had lodged. The new colonists, who established in that place, founded a farm called ""Ribeira do Rio Preto"", along the margins of Preto river, later on, its name was changed to Santa Rita Farm, due to the image that was found, and a chapel was built in honor to that saint.. As the settlement grew rapidly, it became primitive village of Santa Rita do Rio Preto, attaining a Parish City Hall, with the creation of Santa Rita de Cássia's parish, in 1804. In 1931, its name was changed to Rio Preto, and later on, in 1943, Ibipetuba, that means ""sand-bank"". In 1957, its name was changed to Santa Rita de Cássia.

Economy

Agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 (6th watermelon

Watermelon

Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...

 producer and 36th of cassava

Cassava

Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...

). According to JUCEB's registers, it has 24 industries, occupying the 117th place in units throughout the State of Bahia, and has 535 commercial businesses, retaining the 30th position. Its hotel park records 90 beds. The residential electricity

Electricity

Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

use amounts to 78,45 kwh/hab - 122nd in ranking within the State.