User:DAR7/Testes/Geography of Brazil/Paraná (state)

Paraná is one of 27 federal units of Brazil, located at the north of the southern region, which is the only one to have borderline area with states from other regions. Its bordering administrative divisions and body of waters are Mato Grosso do Sul to the northwest, São Paulo to the north and east, Santa Catarina to the south, the Argentinian province of Misiones to the southwest, the Paraguayan departaments of Alto Paraná and Canindeyú west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Its area is 199  307.922 square km, slightly smaller than Romania, a country with similar format. It is divided into 39 microregions and mesoregions 10, subdivided into 399 municipalities. Its capital is the city of Curitiba. Other major cities are Londrina, Maringa, Ponta Grossa, Cascavel, Pinhais and Foz do Iguaçu. It is the 4th richest state in Brazil by GDP, behind only São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro (state) and Minas Gerais.

Its territory covering the entire length of the old Republic of the Guaira at the time of the Spanish Empire, was the youngest province of the Empire of Brazil, dismembered of São Paulo in 1853, being the first president Mr Zacarias de Góis e Vasconcelos. Was created for various reasons, it may be cited a punishment for the participation of São Paulo in the Liberal Revolt of 1842, an agreement for the support offered by the Paraná and profitable cultivation of yerba mate. It is also the newest state in southern Brazil, shortly after the Rio Grande do Sul (1807) and Santa Catarina (1738).

The state is historically known for its great amount of pine forests dotted around the southern plateau portion, where the climate is humid subtropical, as in the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul while the rest of Brazil is tropical. The predominant species in the vegetation is the Araucaria angustifolia. The branches of this tree appear on the flag and coat of arms, symbols adopted in 1947. Today, this ecosystem is very destroyed due to human occupation.

Paraná relief is the highest of Brazil: 52% of the state has altitude of six hundred meters and only 3% of the territory is less than three hundred meters altitude. The most important rivers are the Paraná, the Iguazu, the Ivaí, the Tibagi, the Paranapanema, the Itararé and Piquiri and the state of climate is classified as temperate.

Etimologia
The state's name is derived from "Paraná", a term of general language word paraná, which means "river". It refers to the Paraná River, which borders the western boundary of their territory, where was located of Guaíra Falls (now submerged by the dam of Itaipu Dam) on the border with Mato Grosso do Sul, already in the Central West Region, and with Paraguay. The Parana River is born from the confluence of the Paranaiba and Grande, almost more west of Minas Gerais. The potamonym named the region, which was elevated to the category of autonomous province in 1853, dismembering from the Province of São Paulo, and the category of state in 1889. The pronunciation "Paranã" was found until recently. The Parana state inhabitants are paranaenses.

Colonial period
The region was in the sixteenth century, forgotten by Portugal and a wide variety of expeditions of other countries have made it a visitation, especially looking for hardwood. The most important of these expeditions were the Spanish, bringing the religious of Society of Jesus, who founded population centers in western Parana, state whose territory belonged largely to the Spanish crown. In 1554, Ontiveros, a league jump of Guaíra Falls, was founded by Domingo Martínez de Irala, Paraguay Governor. Subsequently, the three leagues of Ontiveros, was founded Ciudad Real del Guayrá at the mouth of the Rio Piquiri. And in 1576, the Spaniards founded on the left bank of the Paraná River, Vila Rica do Espírito Santo. Three cities and several "cuts" or "pueblos" was named the region with the status of "Royal Province del Guayrá". In the early years of the seventeenth century, after gold was discovered in Paraná land and after the Indians were required to slave labor, the Portuguese Brazilians began the occupation of the region by means of bandeiras which left São Vicente. Already in 1629, the establishment of the Jesuit priests, except Loreto and St. Ignatius, suffered complete destruction of the Paulista pioneers and in 1632, Vila Rica, last Spanish stronghold with oferecedora resistance capacity, suffered siege and destruction by Antonio Raposo Tavares. Only in 1820 the western Paraná territory was handed over to the Portuguese crown becoming politically belonging to the Province of São Paulo, receiving the name "Curitiba County." In Paraná, one gold region was formed before gold was discovered in Minas Gerais. Villagers were thus set on the coast as the first plateau of Paraná. The population was more concentrated in Paranagua, core, for some time, the southernmost society of Portuguese America, Brazil today. In 1693, Curitiba amounted to a town, being transformed into the center which would command the territorial expansion of Parana. It was very difficult to exploit gold, because relatively were not known methods of exploitation and also because the labor was scarce, since the Indian had not been exterminated. Thus, for the discovery of gold in Minas Gerais, Paraná gold ceased to be totally important.