THE CORUMBIARA CASE
With an area of 238,512.8 Square Kilometer - a little smaller than the State
of São Paulo - - it corresponds to 2,8% of the surface of Brazil. Rondônia has
an estimated population, in 1996 by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and
Statistics –IBGE, of 1,231,007 inhabitants, distributed in 52 municipal
districts. The capital, Porto Velho, is located to the North of the State, on
the right bank of the Madeira River. This privileged location will, in the future,
facilitate for the State to become a great crossroad for the integration of
Brazil with Amazônia and the Andean countries.
Climate
The climate is tropical and humid, with temperatures varying between 18 and
33ºC, with the lowest temperature occurring in the municipal district of Vilhena,
which is located at the extreme south of the State.
The altitudes vary from 90 m (Porto Velho) to 500 m (Vilhena). The relief is
not very uneven, with small depressions and elevations. The soil, with incidence
of rocky lands, can be utilized for agriculture (186,442 Km), of cultivated
pasture and also (6,549 Km) with the possibility of use for reforestation and
natural pasture, according to research carried out and presented by the Brazilian
Company of Agricultural Research - EMBRAPA.
The vegetation is a transition of savanna lands to tropical forest, with meadow forests, swamplands and clean fields. It is the first Brazilian State to have a policy for environmental preservation.
The Madeira River – the largest tributary of the Amazon River – extends for 1,700 km and it cuts across Rondônia toward the northwest. It is navigable the whole year round between Porto Velho and the State of Amazonas. It is used for shipping goods from the Free Zone in Manaus and for supplying of the capital of the state of Amazon – Manaus. Due to its 18 waterfalls between Porto Velho and Guajará Mirim, the construction of the Madeira-Mamoré Railways was necessary early this century.
The economy of the State of Rondônia is based on agriculture, cattle-rearing and on the industrialization of the wood, strong commercial trade, and the gold fields, which have already represented an important factor, and is residual today. Presently one of the main economic matters in the State is auto-sustainable tourism (ecological tourism). The mining of tin is stabilized due to the fall of prices on the international market.
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