São José de Espinharas
Encyclopedia
São José de Espinharas is a town in the state of Paraíba
, Northeastern Brazil
. Area: 763 km², Population: approx 5700 (in 2005), about 50% living in the rural area.
Located on the banks of the lower Espinharas river, about 30 km to the North of Patos, this small town has its economy based on extensive cattle and goat raising and subsistence agriculture. Its relief is somewhat irregular, with large igneous rock outcrops and small mountains and granite inselbergs. The soil is generally poor ("tabuleiros") and covered by the caatinga
vegetation, insterspersed with small valleys ("baixios") with fertile soils that support agricultural activities and are propicious to the building of small and medium-sized dams that store rain-water flowing in temporary creeks. The natural vegetation on the "tabuleiros" is well-preserved as of 2005.
Once a prosperous region, the lower Espinharas valley had cotton production as its main agricultural activity until about 1980. This culture was however decimated by plagues and by low prices as a result of the introduction of international competition. This caused a massive migration of the population from the rural area ("fazendas") to urban areas - mainly to Patos, São Jose de Espinharas itself and São Paulo
. Competition with more favorable areas like Maranhão
and Goiás
, not subject to draugths, further lowered the value of the cattle assets. Further reduction in the size of the "fazendas", mostly caused by inheritance transmission, and a series of rainless years in the 1980s and 1990s contributed to the economic decline of São Jose de Espinharas - just like it did for most of the "Sertão" - the peculiar hinterlands of Northeastern Brazil.
Points of interest: casa velha (old house) of Miguel Sátyro, Serra do Tronco, Fazenda Arara, Fazenda Maria Paz, Fazenda Suécia, Fazenda Tronco, Fazenda Flores.
Paraíba
Paraíba Paraíba Paraíba (Tupi: pa'ra a'íba: "bad to navigation"; Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: is a state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east...
, Northeastern 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...
. Area: 763 km², Population: approx 5700 (in 2005), about 50% living in the rural area.
Located on the banks of the lower Espinharas river, about 30 km to the North of Patos, this small town has its economy based on extensive cattle and goat raising and subsistence agriculture. Its relief is somewhat irregular, with large igneous rock outcrops and small mountains and granite inselbergs. The soil is generally poor ("tabuleiros") and covered by the caatinga
Caatinga
Caatinga is a type of vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in the northeastern part of Brazil. The name "Caatinga" is a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation"...
vegetation, insterspersed with small valleys ("baixios") with fertile soils that support agricultural activities and are propicious to the building of small and medium-sized dams that store rain-water flowing in temporary creeks. The natural vegetation on the "tabuleiros" is well-preserved as of 2005.
Once a prosperous region, the lower Espinharas valley had cotton production as its main agricultural activity until about 1980. This culture was however decimated by plagues and by low prices as a result of the introduction of international competition. This caused a massive migration of the population from the rural area ("fazendas") to urban areas - mainly to Patos, São Jose de Espinharas itself and São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
. Competition with more favorable areas like Maranhão
Maranhão
Maranhão is a northeastern state of Brazil. To the north lies the Atlantic Ocean. Maranhão is neighbored by the states of Piauí, Tocantins and Pará. The people of Maranhão have a distinctive accent...
and Goiás
Goiás
Goiás is a state of Brazil, located in the central part of the country. The name Goiás comes from the name of an indigenous community...
, not subject to draugths, further lowered the value of the cattle assets. Further reduction in the size of the "fazendas", mostly caused by inheritance transmission, and a series of rainless years in the 1980s and 1990s contributed to the economic decline of São Jose de Espinharas - just like it did for most of the "Sertão" - the peculiar hinterlands of Northeastern Brazil.
Points of interest: casa velha (old house) of Miguel Sátyro, Serra do Tronco, Fazenda Arara, Fazenda Maria Paz, Fazenda Suécia, Fazenda Tronco, Fazenda Flores.