São Gabriel da Cachoeira ( Portuguese: ''Saint Gabriel of the Waterfall'') is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

located on the northern shore of the Rio Negro River, in the region of Cabeça do Cachorro, Amazonas state,

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 ...

History

The city was founded in 1668 as an aldea by Franciscan Friar Teodósio da Veiga and Captain Pedro da Costa Favela on the Rio Negro, near the mouth of the Rio Aruím. In 1761, a fort was built on the location, and the settlement became the town of São Gabriel da Cachoeira. Between 1952 and 1966, it was officially called Uaupés, after the nearby

Vaupés River Vaupés River (Uaupés River) is a tributary of the Rio Negro (Amazon), Rio Negro in South America. It rises in the Vaupes Department of Colombia, flowing east through Vaupés Department. It forms part of the international border between the Depart ...

. In 2003, Nheengatu became an official language, with Baníwa, Yepá-masã, and Portuguese in São Gabriel da Cachoeira.

Demography

Most of the inhabitants of São Gabriel da Cachoeira are

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

. The city's population is somewhere around 13,000, but the entire region has 46,303 people (2020), scattered over 109,185 km², mostly indigenous peoples in surrounding tribes and villages. Most of the non-indigenous residents of the city are affiliated with the Brazilian army, usually serving a term of two years or more. ''Source: Census 2010''

Geography

São Gabriel da Cachoeira is the third largest municipality in Brazil by territorial area, and the second largest in Amazonas. It is also the northernmost city of Amazonas, and part of its territory is within the Pico da Neblina National Park. However, the

peak Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-d ...

itself is located in Santa Isabel do Rio Negro, and São Gabriel da Cachoeira is in the lowlands. It is not far from the

equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

, and the climate is correspondingly hot and humid. The city is served by São Gabriel da Cachoeira Airport. The municipality contains the Morro dos Seis Lagos Biological Reserve, created in 1990. The reserve is within the

Balaio Indigenous Territory The Balaio Indigenous Territory () is an Indigenous territory (Brazil), indigenous territory in the northwest of the state of Amazonas (Brazilian state), Amazonas, Brazil. The territory is home to small numbers of people from several different eth ...

, approved in 2009. The municipality also contains the Cué-cué/Marabitanas Indigenous Territory, declared in 2013. It contains the greater part of the Alto Rio Negro Indigenous Territory, created in 1998.

Climate

References

External links