Rio Quente (; "Hot River") is a municipality in the south of the state of

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. It is the site of a hot water spa known all over the country.

Location

Rio Quente is 178 km. south of the state capital Goiânia and 360 km. southwest of Brasília. Nearby cities are Morrinhos, 53 km. to the west, and

Caldas Novas Caldas Novas () is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Goiás. It is the largest hydro-thermal resort in the world. Location Caldas Novas is located 170 km south of state capital, Goiânia. It belongs to the Meia Ponte Microregion, ...

, 28 km. to the east. Connections with

Goiânia Goiânia ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian federative units of Brazil, state of Goiás. With a population of 1,536,097, it is the second-largest city in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West Region and the 10th-larges ...

are made by BR-352 /

Bela Vista de Goiás Bela Vista de Goiás is a city located in central Goiás state in Brazil. Location It is 45 kilometers from the state capital of Goiânia The municipality has boundaries with Hidrolândia, Caldazinha, Aparecida de Goiânia, Senador Canedo, an ...

/ GO-147 /

Piracanjuba Piracanjuba () is a municipality in southeastern Goiás state, Brazil. It is a big producer of orchids, milk products, and soybeans. ''Piracanjuba is also the name of a fish (Brycon orbignyanus) common to the waters of the Plata River basin.'' ...

/ GO-217 / GO-139 / GO-213 / GO-507. For a complete list of distances se
Seplan
It became a municipality in 1989, dismembering itself from

. Rio Quente is in the

Meia Ponte Microregion The Meia Ponte Microregion is a statistical region of Goiás state, Brazil created by the IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística). It is located south of the state capital, Goiânia, and includes 21 municipalities with a total popu ...

. Neighboring municipalities are: *North:

*South: Água Limpa *East:

and

Mairipotaba Mairipotaba is a municipality, in south Goiás state, Brazil. Location and Municipal boundaries Mairipotaba is located in the Meia Ponte Microregion about 85 kilometers directly south of the state capital, Goiânia. It has highway connections with ...

*West: Morrinhos Rio Quente is famous for its hot water springs, which were discovered by

Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva, also known as Anhanguera (a transliteration from the Tupi language, Tupi word for "old devil" (1672 – 19 September 1740)) was a Bandeirantes, bandeirante from the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. At 12 years ...

(son), in 1722 and received the name of Caldas Velhas. It is situated in a region of tropical climate—hot and humid—with rains in the months of November to March. The average annual temperature is 23 °C. Rio Quente is served by Nelson Ribeiro Guimarães airport located in the adjoining municipality of Caldas Novas.

Demographics

*Population density: 11.24 inhabitants/km² (2007) *Urban population: 2,473(2007) *Rural population: 486 (2007) *Population growth or loss: 5.04% from 2000/2007

The economy

Economic activity is almost exclusively based on tourism, especially with the attraction of th
Rio Quente Resorts
but there is some agriculture, cattle raising, small transformation industries, and government employment Economic Data *Industrial units: 3 (06/2007) *Retail units: 57 *Banking establishments: Itaú (01/06/2005) *Cattle: 18,310 (2006) *Main agricultural crops: rice, sugarcane, oranges, beans, manioc, corn, and soybeans. *Farms: 203 *Area of the farms: 8,763 ha. *Area of crops: 370 ha. *Area of natural pasture: 5,438 ha. *Farms with tractors: 3
IBGE

Education (2006)

*Schools: 2 with 886 students *Higher education: none *Adult literacy rate: 93.3% (2000) (national average was 86.4%)

Health (2007)

*Hospitals: none (Caldas Novas is nearby) *Hospital beds: none *Ambulatory clinics: 1 *Infant mortality rate: 23.4 (2000) (national average was 33.0).

Profile of the City

Despite the small territorial dimension of the municipality (257.6 km²) there is a developed agriculture with production of rice and corn and raising of dairy cattle. Nevertheless, the main source of income is in the touristic complex calle
Rio Quente Resorts
which attracts thousands of tourists all year round. It has 7 hotels, including the famous Hotel Pousada, the first to be built. The municipality contains part of the Caldas Novas State Park which protects a plateau region that is the main source of water for the geothermal aquifers of the region. One of the attractions of the resort is the constant renewal of all the water of the pools due to the great volume that springs from its main thermal springs. The volume of water produced by the springs results in a constant flow of 6,228,000 liters per hour, reaching a figure over 149 million liters every 24 hours. Attractions are the hotel complex and the only river with hot-water rapids in the Americas. This river is called the Ribeirão das Aguas Quentes. Rio Quente has one of the highest standards of living in the state of

. The United Nations

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...

of 2000 ranks it in 7th place in the state (out of a total of 242 municipalities) and 460 nationally out of a total of 5,507 municipalities. On a scale of 0.000 to 1.000 it had a rating of 0.806. For the complete list se
Frigoletto.com

References

Frigoletto
{{Authority control Municipalities in Goiás