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'Macapá' (mekepä´) is the capital of the state of Amapá in Brazil, (2005 pop. 339,500), on the Amazon River. Mining is central to its economy. It exports tin iron, gold, and manganese, as well as lumber, oil, animal pelts, and fish. Manufactures include rubber products and automobiles. Founded in 1688 by military men in the vicinity of a fortress protecting access to the mouth of the Amazon, Macapá grew very slowly until it became the capital of Amapá, which was created (as a federal territory) in 1943. The old fortress is now a regional museum.
The city lies exactly on the Equator, at 0º N, and hosts a monument to this, known as ''Marco Zero'' ("Zero Mark"). Next to it there are both a sambadrome and a football stadium (the Zerão), proud to be the only one in the world where each half of the field is located in opposite hemispheres.

Contents

History

Geography

Notes

External links

History

Macapá is a corruption of the Tupi word ''macapaba'', or place of many bacabas. A bacaba is the fruit of the local palm. The Spanish called it Adelantado de Nueva Andalusia when it was claimed for Spain by Francisco de Orellana in 1544.^[1] In 1738 a Portugese military detachment was stationed in Macapá, and on 4 February 1758 Sebastião Veiga Cabral, the illegitimate child of the military governor of Trás-os-Montes, Sebastião Veiga Cabral, founded the town of São José de Macapá, under the authority of the governor of Pará, Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado.
The fortress of São José de Macapá was first laid out in 1764, but it took 18 years to complete, due to illness among the Indian workers, and flight among the Black workers.

Geography

Macapá is located 345 km from Belém, but is accessible only by boat or airplane. There are no through roads.

Notes

1. História de Macapá in Portuguese

External links

★ Cidade de Macapá in Portuguese