CAMPO GRANDE

'Campo Grande' (lit. ''Big Field'') is the capital of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in center-western Brazil. It is located at .
The region where the city is located was in the past a mandatory way for travellers who wanted to go through land from São Paulo or Minas Gerais to the northern Mato Grosso. During the early 1900s the railway was completed connecting Campo Grande to Corumbá, in the northwest region of the state, and to Bauru, São Paulo. Also in the beginning of the 20th century, Campo Grande became the Western Brazilian Army Headquarters, making it an important military center.
The increasing market made the city an important trade center, with a populatinal growth of 140,000 people in 1970 up to 800,000 people in 2007.
In 1977, the State of Mato Grosso was split in two, and Campo Grande was made the capital of the new state, that consists of the southern portion of the original Mato Grosso. Today, the city has its own culture, which is a mixture of several ethinic groups, most notably immigrants from the Japanese island of Okinawa, Lebanon and Portugal, people from the Brazilian South and Southeastern Regions and natives.
Campo Grande is one of the 18 remaining candidates to host games of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, for which Brazil is the only South American bidder.

Contents

History

Geography

Climate

Vegetation

Population

Curiosity

Economy

Education

Colleges and universities

Infrastructure

International airport

Railroad

Highways

Events

Campo Grande Film Festival

City tour

Twin towns

Gallery

External links

History

Campo Grande started as a small village founded in 1877 by farmers José Antônio Pereira and Manoel Vieira de Sousa (a.k.a. Manoel Olivério) who came from Minas Gerais just after the end of the War of the Triple Alliance. They founded the village, known as Santo Antônio de Campo Grande at that time, near the Serra de Maracaju cliffs, at the confluence of two streams. These streams were named Prosa and Segredo (Portuguese for conversation and secret respectively) and today their wetted perimeters are two of the most important avenues of the city.
In the end of 1877 the founder built the first church of the village. The houses roughly aligned formed the first street, known as Rua Velha (Old Street), today Rua 26 de Agosto (August 26 Street). This street ended where today is a square in honor of the immigrants that came to the city later.
It started to develop relatively fast because its privileged climate and location. These factors drew people from other regions of the country, especially the South, the Southeast and the Northeast regions. It was officially recognized as a municipality by the State Government in August 26, 1899 and it was renamed Campo Grande.

Geography

Climate

This climate is tropical of altitude ,semi-humid, hot, and notedly seasonal, with a dry winter season from May through September or October. The annual rainfall is 1.500 mm. January is the warmest month, with mean maxima of 28°C and minima of 20°C and more rain; July experiences the coldest temperatures, with mean maxima of 26°C and minima of 14°C and sun.

Vegetation

The "cerrado" landscape is characterized by extensive savanna formations crossed by gallery forests and stream valleys. Cerrado includes various types of vegetation. Humid fields and "buriti" palm paths are found where the water table is near the surface. Alpine pastures occur at higher altitudes and mesophytic forests on more fertile soils.The "cerrado" trees have characteristic twisted trunks covered by a thick bark, and leaves which are usually broad and rigid. Many herbaceous plants have extensive roots to store water and nutrients. The plant's thick bark and roots serve as adaptations for the periodic fires which sweep the cerrado landscape. The adaptations protect the plants from destruction and make them capable of sprouting again after the fire.

Population

Population growth
1960	74.249
1970	140.140
1975	180.300
1980	291.777
1991	526.126
1996	600.069
2000	663.621
2003	705.975
2005	749.768
2006	765.247

Curiosity

Vehicles: 269.021 (jun./2006);
Daily newspapers: 5 (jul./2006);
Foundation day: 26/08/1899.

Economy

Most of the city's active labor is absorbed by the tertiary sector (commerce and service). Despite that, the juncture of the secondary and primary sectors, especially in the agro-industry, have an important role in the local economy. The farming of bovine livestock supplies the local refrigerators, which in turn allows Campo Grande to export meat to others states in Brazil. Beyond the sustenances industry branch, there are others active sectors, including the processing of non-metallic minerals and civil construction. The main agricultural cultures are soy, rice and manioc. According to the IBGE, Campo Grande has a total of 11,657 commercial establishments and 1,300 industries of transformation.

Education

Portuguese language is the official language of schools. But English language and Spanish language are part of the official high school curriculum.

Colleges and universities

;Public universities

★ UFMS - Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul;
;Private universities

★ UCDB - Universidade Católica Dom Bosco;

★ UNAES - Centro Universitário de Campo Grande;

★ UNIDERP - Universidade para o Desenvolvimento do Estado e da Região do Pantanal.
;Superior colleges

★ Faculdade Estácio de Sá;

★ Instituto de Ensino Superior da Funlec;

★ Instituto MS de Educação e Cultura;

★ Instituto Campo Grande de Ensino Superior - ICG.

Infrastructure

International airport

The operation of 'Campo Grande International Airport' is shared with the Campo Grande Air Base. The airport has two runways.
Construction of the main runway, made of concrete, began in 1950 and was finished in 1953. The passenger terminal was concluded in 1964, and in 1967 concrete aprons were built for both military and civilian aircraft.
As commercial aviation demand grew, it became necessary to widen the civil aircraft apron, which was completed 12 years after its construction. The airport has been administered by Inferaero since 1975.

Railroad

Railroad: the town is attended by a system of railway transport under administration of Novoeste, which interconnects with other cities in the state, in a line that traverses Bauru and São Paulo state all the way to Corumbá. This means of transport has had significant effects on transport infrastructure, permitting export of important parts of the production in Mato Grosso to others centers of consumption.

Highways

BR-060, BR-163 and BR-262 beyond other state highways.

Events

Campo Grande Film Festival

It's a film festival held annually in the months of January and February and has been arranged since 2004. It focuses on the independent cinema presenting Brazilian films and foreign films as well. It also presents regional films and short films.

City tour

It is the tourist bus that takes care of the city. The drawing of the collective one is the great prominence and was developed by the Marcopolo company. The model is a Viale Double Decker SUNNY of two floors, being the opened superior floor, what it makes possible to the passengers a reasonable sight of all the tourist points. With capacity for 74 places, it possesss banks with security belts, internal camera in the superior floor, microphone with loudspeakers, electronic itinerary, slope of access and space reserved for deficient physicists.
Bureau was idealized with the partnership between the Campo Grande Pantanal Convention & Visitors and the City hall of Campo Grande. Its passage is concluded in about 2 hours and 30 minutes, in 48 a total passage of km. It passes in 46 tourist points.
During the stroll a guide counts a little of the history of Campo Grande. More information here

Twin towns

★ 'Turin', Italy

Gallery

External links

★ Photos

★ Informations of Campo Grande

★ Wikimapia.org