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sertão

(Encyclopedia)sertão sərˈtouN [key] [Port.,=backlands], semiarid hinterland of NE Brazil; c.250,000 sq mi (647,500 sq km). Its characteristic landscape is the caatinga, or thorny scrub forest. The chief occupati...

Xingu

(Encyclopedia)Xingu zĭng-go͞oˈ, Port. shēng-go͞oˈ [key], river, 1,230 mi (1,979 km) long, rising in central Mato Grosso state, Brazil, and winding north across Pará state into the Amazon River at the head of...

Araguaía

(Encyclopedia)Araguaía ärägwīˈə [key], river, c.1,600 mi (2,575 km) long, rising in the Serra des Araras, at the border of Goiás and Mato Grosso states, S central Brazil. It flows generally northward into th...

Jiquié

(Encyclopedia)Jiquié or Jequié both: zhəko͞oēĕˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 144,772), Bahia state, E Brazil, on the Contas River. Iron deposits are nearby. Tobacco, cacao, sugar, coffee, and livestock are shipped...

sanction

(Encyclopedia)sanction, in law and ethics, any inducement to individuals or groups to follow or refrain from following a particular course of conduct. All societies impose sanctions on their members in order to enc...

Governador Valadares

(Encyclopedia)Governador Valadares go͝ovərnədo͞orˈ vələᵺäˈrəs [key], city, Minas Gerais...

Dutch West India Company

(Encyclopedia)Dutch West India Company, trading and colonizing company, chartered by the States-General of the Dutch republic in 1621 and organized in 1623. Through its agency New Netherland was founded. The phenom...

Jundiaí

(Encyclopedia)Jundiaí zho͞ondyīˈ [key], city (1996 pop. 293,237), São Paulo state, S Brazil, on the Jundiaí River. It is an agricultural and industrial center. Among its products are textiles, ceramics, furni...

Paranaíba

(Encyclopedia)Paranaíba pərənīēˈbə [key], river, c.500 mi (800 km) long, rising in W Minas Gerais state, Brazil. It flows generally westward through an agricultural region before joining the Rio Grande to fo...

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