Imperatriz is a Brazilian municipality in the state of

Maranhão Maranhão () is a States of Brazil, state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of and it is divided into 217 municipalities. Clockwise from north, it ...

. The city extends along the northeastern bank of the Tocantins River and is crossed by the Belém-Brasília Highway, standing on the border with the state of

Tocantins Tocantins () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is the newest state, formed in 1988 and encompassing what had formerly been the northern two-fifths of the state of Goiás. Tocantins covers and had an estimated population of 1,496,880 in 2014 ...

Economy

Most of the city's active labor is absorbed by the commerce and services. In spite of that, the primary and secondary sectors, specially

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit ...

, still play an important role in the local economy. The farming of livestock supplies local slaughterhouses, which in turn allows Imperatriz to export meat to other states in Brazil and abroad. In addition to food processing and agribusiness, construction and non-metallic mineral processing are important. The area's most important crops are soy, rice and cassava. Recently, sugar cane has become important as well. According to

IBGE The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil. IBGE performs a decennial national cen ...

, Imperatriz has a total of 5,657 commercial and 730 industrial enterprises. The city is served by Prefeito Renato Moreira Airport.

Demographics

*Total Population: 236,691 *Urban Population: 218,555 *Rural Population: 11,895 *Males: 110,739 *Females: 119,711 *Population Density: 150.52 people/km² (389.9 people/mi² *Population Growth: 0.5% (from 1996-03-01 to 2000-08-01) *Urbanization Rate: 94.84%

Geography

Western Maranhão forms the boundary between the

Amazon Rainforest The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin ...

and the vast

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

region, known as the

Cerrado The Cerrado () is a vast ecoregion of Tropics, tropical savanna in central Brazil, being present in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Paraná ...

. Imperatriz is the place of intersection of many major roads and waterways. The landscape is characterized by gallery forests and stream valleys. Humid fields and palm paths are found where the water table is near the surface.

Climate

Imperatriz has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...

, with a wet season during spring and summer months (November to April), and a dry one during fall and winter months (May to November). July and August are the hottest and coolest months at once, when temperatures can range from 13 °C (55.4 °F) to over 40 °C (104 °F) within a single day. "Feels like" temperatures are always over 36–42 °C (96.8–107.6 °F). In rare occasions, cold snaps can make temperatures drop to as low as 12 °C (53.6 °F).

References

{{Coord, 5, 32, S, 47, 29, W, type:city, display=title Municipalities in Maranhão 1856 establishments in Brazil