Posse, Goiás

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Posse is a small town and municipality in northeastern Goiás state, Brazil.

Population (2005): 27,591
Total area (2002): 1,949.6 km²
Elevation: 811 m
Became a city: 1872
Postal code: 73900-000

1 Geography
2 Political information
3 Demographic Information
4 Economy
5 Health and Education
6 Tourism
7 History
8 Human Development Index
9 See also
- 9.1 Sources of data

[edit] Geography

It is located northeast of Brasília, 24 km. from the state boundary with Bahia, on interstate highway BR-020 (Brasília-Salvador). The distance to the state capital, Goiânia, is 513 km. Highway connections are made by BR-153 / Anápolis / BR-060 / Abadiânia / Alexânia / Sobradinho / Planaltina / (DF) / Formosa / BR-020 / BR-030 / Bezerra / BR-020 / Vila Boa / Alvorada do Norte / GO-108.

Posse belongs to the Vão do Paranã Microregion [1], which is composed of 12 municipalities with 88,913 inhabitants in a total area of 17,452.90 km². The population density of this region is very low: 6.09 inhab/km².

It has a privileged location at the foot of the Serra das Araras, with an average temperature of 25 °C and a supply of mineral water taken from the slopes of the mountains.

The eastern part of the municipality is crossed by the Rio Paranã and its tributaries. This corresponds to the so-called gap (vão), an area that stretches from the high valley of the river to the plateaus that surround it. Its lands are fertile, with natural pasture and forests fich in hardwoods. The lands have a natural fertilizer--phosphate--which helps to renew the soil.

[edit] Political information

In January 2005 the Mayor was Stanley Sebastião Valente. The city council had 9 members and there were 20,10 eligible voters in April 2006.

[edit] Demographic Information

In 2005 the population density was 14.15 inhab/km². In 2003 there were 19,817 inhabitants in the urban area and 6,811 inhabitants in the rural area. The population has increased by about 6,000 inhabitants since 1980.

[edit] Economy

The main economic activity of the town is commerce. The preponderance of commerce is due to the strategic location of being on the border between Goiás and Bahia. Besides the inhabitants of the town, the population of the west of Bahia also shops in Posse. The town serves a population of 50,000 people.

Agriculture stimulates the commerce of the town, with farmers coming from the vast agricultural region of the west of Bahia. Machines, seeds, fertilizers, and other products are acquired in Posse. Although they have farms in Bahia, most of the large farmers, who are mainly from the south of the country, live in Posse.

There is an industrial district in the town--Distrito Agroindustrial - DAIP. As of 2005 there were 38 industrial units and 289 commercial units. The sector employing more people was commerce with 1,026 workers, followed by transformation industries, with 176 workers.

In 2005 there were 3 financial institutions: - Banco do Brasil S.A. - BRADESCO S.A. - Banco Itaú S.A .

In 2004 there were 1,092 automobiles in the municipality.

After commerce, cattle raising is the second most important economic activity of the region. There were 87,000 head of cattle in 2004. Other animals raised were poultry, 37,000 head, and swine, 3,200 head.

The main agricultural products were rice, bananas, sugarcane, beans, manioc, and corn (24 km² planted).

[edit] Health and Education

In 2003 there was 1 hospital, with 51 beds, and 6 ambulatory health clinics. There were 26 doctors, 4 nurses, and 6 dentists in 2002. In 2000 the infant mortality rate was 24.55, below the national average of 33.0.

In 2005 the school system had 46 schools, 208 classrooms, 538 teachers, and 10,431 students. There were 4 middle schools with 1,410 students. There was a campus of the State University of Goiás--UEG - Faculdade de Educação, Ciências e Letras de Posse, with 986 students in 2003. In 2000 the adult literacy rate was 79%, below the national average of 86.4%.

[edit] Tourism

There are many waterfalls in the region, the most important being those of Rio Água Quente, on Fazenda Quebradas; Rio Prata, on Fazenda Campo Bonito; Rio Piracanjuba, on Fazenda Santo Antônio; and Rio Buriti, on the ranch of the same name.

[edit] History

The town of Posse arose with the arrival of Northeastern migrants fleeing the drought in search of fertile lands in the mid 1800s. Among the pioneers there were even Argentinians and Portuguese. The settlement was first called Buenos Aires, located below the joining of the Rio Corrente with the Rio Paranã. The town did not progress because it was hit by malaria and the first settlers went to the higher lands at the foot of Serra Geral, where they formed another settlement. The new town received the name "Posse" (possession), due to the fact that the inhabitants had seized the land along the Passagem do Gerais stream, in 1830.