Piauí

Lore & Background

Piauí was first settled inland, with early settlers including Francisco Dias d'Ávila from Bahia, who brought the first herds of cattle, and Domingos Afonso Mafrense from Portugal, who founded what is today Oeiras. In the 17th century, impoverished noblemen, Jesuit priests, and black and Amerindian slaves settled there. Large estate owners seeking pastures arrived from Bahia and Maranhão. Secondary industry included goat raising. Agricultural products were cotton, sugar, and tobacco; forest products included rubber, carnauba wax, and dyewoods. Exports included hides, skins, rubber, wax, tobacco, and cotton.

Reader's Guide

Piauí is significant as a state with a unique colonization history—expanding inland to coast rather than the reverse. Piauí is one of the poorest states of Brazil, with the service sector contributing 60.1% of GDP, industry 27.3%, and agriculture 12.6%. Exports include essential oils, soybeans, woven cotton, cashews, crustaceans, and leather. The state has South America's only opal mines at Pedro Segundo and significant deposits of nickel and iron ore. Transfers from the federal government are estimated to represent around a third of state GDP. The state has offered substantial tax benefits to agro-industrial companies, and projects by Bunge, Cargill, Algar, and Suzano have been criticised by environmental activists.

Did You Know?

• Piauí has the shortest coastline of any coastal Brazilian state, at 66 km.
• Piauí is the state with the highest proportion of Catholics and the lowest proportion of Protestants in Brazil.