Ceará

History

The territory of Ceará was originally inhabited by different Indian peoples, such as the Tabajara, Potyguara, Anacés, Kariri, Inhamum, Jucá, Kanindé, Tremembé, Paicaú and others, who had commercial relations with various European people, including the French, before the Portuguese decided to include the area in Brazil. The first Portuguese plan for settling in Ceará dated from 1534, but the first attempts to settle the territory failed, and the earliest Portuguese settlement was made near the mouth of the Ceará River in 1603, by Pero Coelho de Sousa. He established the fort of São Tiago, but one year later he and his family abandoned Ceará because of a period of drought, a natural phenomenon that periodically afflicts the province, which the Portuguese settlers were ill-equipped to endure. Portugal wanted to form a military base in Ceará to support the Portuguese operations in the war against the French. The first attempt with Pero Coelho de Sousa, in 1603, was not successful, and the French continued operating from Maranhão and Ibiapaba, where they had established a base in 1590. The Indians and French formed political and military alliances. In 1607, two Jesuits, Francisco Pinto and Pereira Figueira, arrived in Ceará with a mission to spy in the area of Ibiapaba. In October, that year Francisco Pinto was killed by the Indians and Pereira Filgueira returned with more information about the area and the French and Indian alliance. In 1612, the French were successfully expelled from Ceará and Maranhão by a military expedition under the command of Portuguese Martim Soares Moreno. In the same year he constructed the fortress of São Sebastião on the same site as São Tiago, and one year later he left Ceará for Portugal. It was only in 1618 that Martim Soares Moreno…

Geography

Ceará has an area of . It is bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Paraíba, on the south by Pernambuco state, and on the west by Piauí. Ceará lies partly upon the northeast slope of the Brazilian Highlands, and partly upon the sandy coastal plain. Its surface is a succession of great terraces, facing north and northeast, formed by the denudation of the ancient sandstone plateau which once covered this part of the continent; the terraces are seamed by watercourses, and their valleys are broken by hills and ranges of highlands. The latter are the remains of the ancient plateau, capped with horizontal strata of sandstone, with a uniform altitude of . The flat top of such a range is called a chapada or taboleira, and its width in places is from . The boundary line with Piauí follows one of these ranges, the Serra de Ibiapaba, which unites with another range on the southern boundary of the state, known as the Serra do Araripe. Another range, or escarpment, crosses the state from east to west, but is broken into two principal divisions, each having several local names. These ranges are not continuous, the breaking down of the ancient plateau having been irregular and uneven. The rivers of the state are small and, with one or two exceptions, become completely dry in the dry season. The largest is the Jaguaribe, which flows entirely across the state in a northeast direction. Ceará has a varied environment, with mangroves, caatinga, jungle, scrubland and tropical forest. The higher ranges intercept considerable moisture from the prevailing trade winds, and their flanks and valleys are covered with a tropical forest which is typical of the region, gathering species from tropical forests, caatinga and cerrado. The…

Most-observed species

• Philodendron megalophyllum Schott

  Philodendron megalophyllum Schott · Liliopsida
  4
• mauve parachute

  Marasmius haematocephalus (Mont.) Fr. · Agaricomycetes
  2
• Chelyocarpus ulei Dammer

  Chelyocarpus ulei Dammer · Liliopsida
  2
• Costus guanaiensis Rusby

  Costus guanaiensis Rusby · Liliopsida
  2
• False Bird of Paradise

  Heliconia rostrata Ruiz & Pav. · Liliopsida
  2
• Stromanthe stromanthoides (J.F.Macbr.) L.Andersson

  Stromanthe stromanthoides (J.F.Macbr.) L.Andersson · Liliopsida
  2
• Philodendron ernestii Engl.

  Philodendron ernestii Engl. · Liliopsida
  2
• Mosaic Plant

  Ludwigia sedioides (Bonpl.) H.Hara · Magnoliopsida
  2

Most recent

• M 6.5 — 2024-01-28
  70 km W of Tarauacá, Brazil
• M 4.8 — 2019-04-16
  101 km W of Tarauacá, Brazil
• M 6.8 — 2019-01-05
  90 km W of Tarauacá, Brazil
• M 4.4 — 2015-07-31
  27 km SSE of Porto Walter, Brazil
• M 5.1 — 2014-04-07
  90 km W of Tarauacá, Brazil
• M 5.3 — 2010-09-30
  66 km WNW of Tarauacá, Brazil