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:Dante de Oliveira
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 grass".

Geography

The state is covered by the jungles of the Pantanal. The Transpantaneira is a bare-earth highway which was originally planned to cross the state, 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.

History

In 1977 the state was split into two halfs, with Mato Grosso do Sul becoming a new state.

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 created on January 31, 1890, just few days after the adoption of the national flag. It became the official flag of the state by state law 1046 of October 8, 1929, and was reinstated by article 140 of the July 11, 1947.

External links