Barreiras

Municipality

Flag

Seal

Barreiras

Coordinates: 12°08′54″S 44°59′33″W / 12.14833°S 44.99250°W

Brazil

Founded

1891

Area

• Total

7,985.421 km² (3,083.188 sq mi)

Elevation

454 m (1,490 ft)

Population (2012)

• Total

141,081

• Density

18/km² (46/sq mi)

Demonym(s)

Barreirense

Time zone

UTC-3 (UTC-3)

• Summer (DST)

UTC-2 (UTC-2)

Postal Code

47800

Area code(s)

+55 77

Website

http://barreiras.ba.gov.br (Portuguese)

Barreiras is a city located in the west of the state of Bahia, Brazil. It is the most important urban, political, technological and economic center of the western region of the state. Its economy is based on raising and agriculture. In recent years it has experienced an economic boom and is one of the fastest growing cities in the state of Bahia if not in Brazil.

Barreiras is located 853 kilometers from Salvador, the state capital, and 622 kilometers from Brasília, the federal capital. With a population of approximately 120 thousand inhabitants distributed over an area of 7,989 km², it is an important highway crossroads between the North, Northeast, and the Centerwest of the country. The main highway linking Brasília with Salvador – called BR 020 from Brasília to Barreiras and BR 242 from Barreiras to Salvador – passes through Barreiras. There is also an airport with daily flights to Brasília, Salvador da Bahia and São Paulo. There are no railway connections.

Geographically it is located in the basin of the Rio Grande, which flows north-east into the São Francisco River. Several other large rivers – the Rio de Janeiro, the Rio das Fêmeas, and the Rio Boa Sorte – pass through the municipality.

It is not known who founded Barreiras. There is no register of the first inhabitants, either European or Amerindian. The Acroás and Chacriabás were the tribes that lived along the banks of the Iassua, the name they gave to the Rio Grande. They soon disappeared either by disease or war. What is known is that there were some ranches, some as large as districts in Portugal.

Cattle caused the first settlers to penetrate these hostile regions, as the great herds began to advance into unexplored lands, bathed by rivers with clear waters. It was the São Francisco River that first brought explorers up to the vast interior. At the point where the Rio Grande flows into the São Francisco a small settlement called Barras took root. By 1600 adventurers had made their way up the Rio Grande as far as rocks that impeded their further passage. Below these rocks, "barreiras" in Portuguese, a small community began. The Rio Grande was navigable by small boats, and traders soon arrived in the region to support the cattle industry and the ranches. The village became an agricultural center producing tobacco, beans, corn and manioc. These were exported together with molasses, rum, manioc meal, and leather while European articles, kerosene and coffee were imported – all commerce being conducted by river.

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Wikipedia