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Statistics
Capital:	Cuiabá
Area:	906,806.9 km²
Inhabitants:	2,375,549 (2000)
Pop. density:	2.6 inh./km²
Timezone:	GMT-4
ISO 3166-2:	BR-MT
Governor:	Blairo Maggi
Map

Mato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, located in the western part of the country. Neighboring states are (from west clockwise) Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. It also borders Bolivia to the southwest.

The name literally means "thick jungle". Apart from the state capital, Cuiabá, there are few cities. The most important are

• Alta Floresta
• Barra do Garças
• Cáceres
• Rondonópolis
• Sinop

See also:

• List of cities in Brazil (all cities and municipalities)

Mato Grosso is the site of some of the worst deforestation in the world.

Contents 1 Geography 2 History 3 Flag 4 External links

Geography

The state contains the swamps of the Pantanal and the Planalto do Mato Grosso. The Transpantaneira is a bare-earth highway which was originally planned to cross the Pantanal, but built in the 1970s it was never finished and is now mostly used for touristic tours. Mato Grosso is an essentially agrarian state, with economy based on cattle-raising. The Chapada do Guimarães National Park is located in the state. The Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (UFMT) is spread out all over the state with 4 campuses, 5 distance education centres, one experimental farm, one research base at the Pantanal, the University Hospital and 10 teaching advanced posts. The University is led by Rector Paulo Speller since 2000, who should stay in office up to 2008.

History

In 1977 the state was split into two halfs, with Mato Grosso do Sul becoming a new state. The Bororo Indians live in the Mato Grosso area.

Mato Grosso is also the state in Brazil in which the most deforestation of Brazil's portion of the Amazon Rainforest has taken place.

Flag

The flag has the same colors as the national flag, with blue symbolizing the sky, green the vegetation, and white standing for peace. The star is yellow to symbolize the gold which attracted the first settlers. The flag was adopted by Decree No. 2 of January 31, 1890, just few days after the adoption of the national flag. The Mato Grosso state flag was abolished by Law No. 1.046 of October 8, 1929, but reinstated by article 140 of the Constitution of the State of Mato Grosso on July 11, 1947.

External links

• Brazilian Embassy in London
• Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso

States of Brazil
Acre | Alagoas | Amapá | Amazonas | Bahia | Ceará | Espírito Santo | Goiás | Maranhão | Mato Grosso | Mato Grosso do Sul | Minas Gerais | Pará | Paraíba | Paraná | Pernambuco | Piauí | Rio de Janeiro | Rio Grande do Norte | Rio Grande do Sul | Rondônia | Roraima | Santa Catarina | São Paulo | Sergipe | Tocantins
Federal District: Brazilian Federal District

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