Cantagallo is an inland town in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, about 100 miles by rail northeast of the port of Rio de Janeiro, with which it is connected by the Cantagallo railway. Cantagallo is situated in the fertile Parahyba Valley and is the commercial centre of a rich coffee-producing district. There are exhausted gold placer mines in its vicinity, but they were not rich enough to cause any considerable development in mining. Coffee production is the principal industry, but sugar-cane is grown to a limited extent, and some attention is given to the raising of cattle and swine. The district is an excellent fruit region.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.