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Petrolina is a municipality located in the southernmost point of the state of
Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the ...
, in
Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, in the valley of the
São Francisco River The São Francisco River (, ) is a large river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon, the Paraná and t ...
. The population was 354,317 in 2020, and the total area is  km², making it the largest municipality in the state by area. The municipality is closely integrated with
Juazeiro Juazeiro, formerly also known as Joazeiro, is a municipality in the state of Bahia, in the northeastern region of Brazil. The city is twinned with Petrolina, in the state of Pernambuco. The two cities are connected by a modern bridge crossing ...
,
Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-larges ...
, located on the opposite bank of the São Francisco.


Etymology

Formerly called (), there is no single story explaining the origin of the name Petrolina. One theory is that the name was in tribute of Brazilian emperor Pedro I and his consort Leopoldina, while another asserts that Petrolina was named for a 'beautiful rock' () found on the banks of the São Francisco.


History

The growth of Petrolina and its twin city
Juazeiro Juazeiro, formerly also known as Joazeiro, is a municipality in the state of Bahia, in the northeastern region of Brazil. The city is twinned with Petrolina, in the state of Pernambuco. The two cities are connected by a modern bridge crossing ...
in the late 20th century is the result of the construction of the
Sobradinho Dam The Sobradinho Dam is a large hydroelectric dam built on the São Francisco River in Sobradinho, in the state of Bahia of Brazil. Completed in 1982, the dam generates power by utilizing six Francis turbine-generators, totalling the installed ca ...
and the abundant availability of water for irrigation in these otherwise semi-arid soils. The region is perhaps the only one in the interior of the Northeast that has gained population through in-migration. While the population in the states of Pernambuco and Bahia as a whole increased by 50.1% between 1970 and 1990, it more than doubled in Petrolina-Juazeiro. For many years the economy of the Valley of the São Francisco was based on extensive
cattle ranching A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most ofte ...
and
subsistence farming Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...
. Starting in the 1960s with the development policies implemented by the government, the valley soon became the beneficiary of important investments for economic development, translated into the construction of highways, increasing electrical energy, improvement in sanitation systems etc. Investments made in the agricultural sector with the implantation of the irrigated sections of Bebedouro and Senador Nilo Coelho, in turn brought in the installation of factories connected to the regional agriculture base, especially producers of tomato paste, juices, textiles etc. Agriculture has grown by leaps and bounds with irrigated farming being the main source of income and jobs in Petrolina. The Petrolina-Juazeiro nucleus has turned into a producer of a wide range of irrigated high-value crops, including table grapes and mangos that are sold fresh by cargo aircraft to
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and the United States, and other crops for the domestic market, including bananas, coconuts, guavas, passion fruit, melons, industrial tomatoes, watermelons and onions, among others. Due to irrigation, growers in Petrolina-Juazeiro produce 90% of the country's exports of mangos and 30% of table grapes, displacing the states of São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul as the most important exporters of these products.


Geography

Petrolina is situated on the left (northern) bank of the
São Francisco River The São Francisco River (, ) is a large river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon, the Paraná and t ...
, in the interior semi-arid ''
Sertão The ''sertão'' (, plural ''sertões'') is the "hinterland" or "backcountry". In Brazil, it refers both to one of the four sub-regions of the Northeast Region of Brazil (similar to the specific association of " outback" with Australia in Englis ...
'' subregion, at an elevation of 376 m. On the other side of the river sits
Juazeiro Juazeiro, formerly also known as Joazeiro, is a municipality in the state of Bahia, in the northeastern region of Brazil. The city is twinned with Petrolina, in the state of Pernambuco. The two cities are connected by a modern bridge crossing ...
, in
state of Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest by ...
, and together the cities form an integrated metropolitan area. The two cities, making up an urban area of almost 700,000 people, are connected by the President Dutra Bridge. The
Sobradinho Dam The Sobradinho Dam is a large hydroelectric dam built on the São Francisco River in Sobradinho, in the state of Bahia of Brazil. Completed in 1982, the dam generates power by utilizing six Francis turbine-generators, totalling the installed ca ...
is located 26 km up river, and creates the
Sobradinho Reservoir __NOTOC__ The Sobradinho Reservoir () is a large reservoir located in Sobradinho, north of the Brazilian state of Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It ...
, the 34th largest reservoir by volume in the world. The municipality was designated a priority area for conservation and sustainable use when the
Caatinga Ecological Corridor The Caatinga Ecological Corridor ( pt, Corredor Ecológico da Caatinga) is an ecological corridor in the caatinga biome of northeast Brazil. History The decree creating the Caatinga Ecological Corridor was signed on 28 April 2006 by the Ministe ...
was created in 2006.


Distances to other Brazilian cities

*
Salvador Salvador, meaning " salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...
*
Recife That it may shine on all (Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South Am ...
(state capital) *
Brasília Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...
*
Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...
*
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
*
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...


Climate

Petrolina's climate is very hot and dry, being classified as hot
semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi- ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
'' ''BSh''''). Petrolina is located in the semi-arid ''Sertão'' belt of the Northeastern Region of Brazil that has a distinctively erratic and seasonal rainfall. The rainy season begins in November and ends in April. After that, the climate is still dry until October, and in many years there is very little rain even during the rainy season.


Demographics


Population

As of the last census conducted in 2010, the population was 293,962, of which 219,215 lived in an urban area, with the remaining 74,747 lived in rural areas. As of 2020, the estimated population is 354,317. Of the population in 2010, 83,360 inhabitants (28.36%) were under the age of 15, 196,957 people were aged between 15 and 64 years (67.00%), 13,645 people were over 65 years of age (4.64%). Life expectancy in the municipality was 73 years and the total fertility rate was 2.2 children per woman. The
Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, w ...
(HDI) of Petrolina was 0.697, classified as "medium" by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), sixth highest among the municipalities of the state and the highest in the interior of Pernambuco. Petrolina and Juazeiro, in Bahia, are part of a metropolitan area called a "Region of Integrated Development" (), with a population of 686,410 in 2010.


Poverty and inequality

The poverty line in Brazil is defined in federal government programs as R$140 per month. In 2010, 20.9% of the population lived with an income below the poverty line. Despite a large reduction in this proportion since the year 2000, there were still approximately 60,123 people living in poverty. 79.2% of the population was above the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, 12.5% were between the poverty line and "indigence line" of extreme poverty, defined as monthly income under R$70, and 8.3% were below the indigence line. The Gini coefficient was 0.6253 in 2010.


Religion

The vast majority of Petrolina is
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...
, and in particular, Catholic. According to the 2010 population census, the 73.09% of Petrolina's population identified as
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, while 0.69% practiced
Spiritism Spiritism (French: ''spiritisme''; Portuguese: ''espiritismo'') is a spiritualist, religious, and philosophical doctrine established in France in the 1850s by the French teacher, educational writer, and translator Hippolyte Léon Denizard R ...
.
Evangelicals Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
represent 15.89%, combining all denominations. About 7.92% declared no religion, including atheists and agnostics. Those who claimed not to have a specific religion or to feel multiple belonging were equivalent to 0.24%. All other religions were fairly rare: followers of religions of African origin, such as
Umbanda Umbanda () is a syncretic Afro-Brazilian religion that blends traditional African religions with Roman Catholicism, Spiritism, and Indigenous American beliefs. Although some of its beliefs and most of its practices existed in the late 19th ce ...
and
Candomblé Candomblé () is an African diasporic religion that developed in Brazil during the 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between several of the traditional religions of West Africa, especially that of the Yoruba, and the Roman ...
, accounted for 0.01% and 0.06% respectively, while 0.01% of the population identified as Buddhist, while no one identified as Muslim or Hindu. Practitioners of esoteric traditions accounted for 0.01% of the population, while only 12 people declared themselves adepts of
spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase ...
. The Sacred Heart Cathedral in Petrolina was dedicated in 1929, and is the seat of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Petrolina The Diocese of Petrolina ( la, Dioecesis Petrolinensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Souther Brazil. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolis (religious jurisdict ...
, in the ecclesiastical province of Olinda and Recife.


Politics and government

The municipality is headed by a
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
(), overseen by a city council (''Câmara Municipal'') that passes laws. The current mayor is Miguel Coelho of the
Brazilian Socialist Party The Brazilian Socialist Party ( pt-BR, Partido Socialista Brasileiro, PSB) is a political party in Brazil. It was founded in 1947, before being abolished by the military regime in 1965 and re-organised in 1989 after the re-democratisation of Br ...
, first elected in 2016, and re-elected in 2020.


Economy

The main economic activities in Petrolina are
irrigated Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been develo ...
agriculture and its related industries. Main crops in tonsPE State site - City by city profile
/ref> (2007) * Mangos - *
Grapes A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...
- *
Guava Guava () is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava ''Psidium guajava'' (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family ( Myrtaceae), native to Mexico, Central America, t ...
- *
Banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", disting ...
- *
Coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the f ...
- in thousands There is also a substantial number of animals as of 2007, as follows: *
Goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...
s - *
Sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...
- *
Cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...
- * Pigs - *
Donkey The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as ...
s - *
Mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two po ...
s - *
Horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...
s -


Economic indicators

Economy by Sector 2006


Infrastructure


Education

As of 2014, there were 185 elementary schools, and 56 high schools. Petrolina hosts campuses of the Federal University of Vale do São Francisco and the University of Pernambuco, as well as private universities.


Health

Health indicators Health indicators are quantifiable characteristics of a population which researchers use as supporting evidence for describing the health of a population. Typically, researchers will use a survey methodology to gather information about a populati ...
are as follows:


Transport

Petrolina is on
national highway National highway or National Highway may refer to: * National Highways (England) * National Highway (Australia) * List of National Roads in Belgium * Brunei National Roads System * National Highway System (Canada) * Trans ...
BR-407, connecting
Feira de Santana Feira de Santana (; Portuguese for "Saint Anne's Fair") is a city in Bahia, Brazil. It is the second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 619,609 according to IBGE's estimate in 2020. It is located 100 km northwest of Salva ...
, near
Salvador Salvador, meaning " salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...
, and Picos located in the state of
Piauí Piaui (, ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piaui has the shortest coastline of any coastal Brazilian state at 66& ...
.
Juazeiro Juazeiro, formerly also known as Joazeiro, is a municipality in the state of Bahia, in the northeastern region of Brazil. The city is twinned with Petrolina, in the state of Pernambuco. The two cities are connected by a modern bridge crossing ...
, across the São Francisco River, is served by the Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica rail line, which is used only for freight.
Petrolina Airport Petrolina–Senador Nilo Coelho Airport is the airport serving Petrolina, Pernambuco and Juazeiro, Bahia, Brazil. It is named after the Petrolina-born Senator Nilo de Sousa Coelho (1920–1983). It is operated by CCR. History Petrolina Airpo ...
serves mainly regional flights (with flights to
Recife That it may shine on all (Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South Am ...
,
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...
, and Salvador) and international cargo flights of fresh fruit.


References


External links


''Prefeitura'' (city hall) of Petrolina''Câmara Municipal'' (city council) of Petrolina
* Video Petrolin

* Photo-Video Petrolina, Pernambuc


Portal Petrolina
With photos of the city
Petrolina´s major hotel


{{Authority control Petrolina, Municipalities in Pernambuco Populated places established in 1870 1870 establishments in Brazil