Juazeiro

Juazeiro, formerly also known as Joazeiro, is a municipality in the state of Bahia, in the northeastern region of Brazil.

The city is twinned with Petrolina, in the state of Pernambuco. The two cities are connected by a modern bridge crossing the São Francisco River. Together they form the metropolitan region of Petrolina-Juazeiro, an urban conglomerate of close to 500,000 inhabitants.

History
It was founded in 1833 and became a city on July 15, 1878. Its name comes from the tree which grows in the region.

Organization
Its city districts are Abóbora, Carnaíba, Itamotinga, Junco, Juremal, Massaroca, and Pinhões.

Climate
The annual average temperature is 26 °C. Although it lies on the São Francisco River and the Curaçá River, Juazeiro is one of the driest places in Brazil, with a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh) that is very close to being classified as a hot arid climate (BWh).

Transport


There are highway connections with several capitals of the Northeast and railroad connections to the coast are made by the Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica. The railroad connection ends at the fluvial port of Juazeiro.

Economy
Like its sister city Petrolina, Juazeiro has experienced great growth in the last decade due to the irrigation of the semi-arid soils with water from the São Francisco River. Fruit cultivation is important to such an extent that Juazeiro entitles itself "Capital of Irrigated Fruit", which is exported between the Petrolina Airport to United States and/or Europe. For more detailed information on the development of this fertile valley see the article on Petrolina.

The main agricultural products in planted area according to the IBGE in 2003:


 * bananas: 18 km2
 * coconut: 2.72 km2
 * guava: 2.5 km2
 * lemon: 2 km2
 * papaya: 0.45 km2
 * mango: 60 km2
 * passion fruit: 0.9 km2
 * grapes: 21 km2
 * sugarcane: 152.53 km2
 * onions: 3.4 km2
 * beans: 4.04 km2
 * manioc: 4.2 km2
 * watermelon: 4.5 km2
 * melon: 1.95 km2
 * tomato: 0.32 km2

Sport
Both the city's professional football teams play at the Estádio Adauto Moraes: Juazeiro SC founded 1995, and SD Juazeirense founded in 2006.

Notable people
Juazeiro is the birthplace of the following famous people:


 * Joāo Gilberto: Singer-guitarist, one of the most prominent Brazilian musicians, popular internationally as the father of bossa nova.
 * Dani Alves: convicted rapist and right back footballer of the Brazilian national team, formerly of Bahia, FC Barcelona, and Sevilla, Pumas of UNAM Mexico City, Juventus, PSG and São Paulo FC.
 * Luís Pereira: Brazilian former professional footballer, winner of three national championships
 * Nixon, Brazilian former professional footballer.
 * Petros, Brazilian football player.