Campina Grande

Brazil

Also known as: Porta do Sertão, Sertão, Porta do

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Article History

Campina Grande, city, eastern Paraíba estado (state), northeastern Brazil. It is situated in the Bacamarte Mountains at 1,804 feet (550 metres) above sea level.

Located on the site of an Ariú Indian village, it was originally called Porta do Sertão (“Gateway to the Desert”). Made a village in 1766, it was elevated to city status in 1864 and renamed Campina Grande (“Great Plain”).

An important commercial and industrial centre in the northeastern interior of Brazil, the city is a distribution centre for sisal, feijáo (beans), cassava (manioc), and leather products. Factories manufacture textiles, clothing, metallurgical products, plastics, and pharmaceuticals. The city is the seat of a regional university and has mineral and agricultural research stations and an art museum. Goods are transported by road, rail, river, and air to João Pessoa (the state capital) 80 miles (129 km) to the east, Recife, and other communities in Paraíba and neighbouring Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte states, most notably Caruaru, some 70 miles (110 km) to the south. Pop. (2010) 385,213.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Jeff Wallenfeldt.