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Rio Grande do Norte is one of the states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the edge of the South American continent.

1 Geography

Rio Grande do Norte is dominated by its coastline. The state is famed for its beaches and sand dunes, and the air is, according to NASA, the cleanest in South America.

Two climates predominate: humid tropical, in the oriental littoral, and semi-arid, in the remaining (most part) of the State (including the setentrional coast). It is worthy noticing that, unlike other States of the Brazilian northeast (namely: Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe and Bahia), there is not in Rio Grande do Norte the transition zone called agreste; the main reason for this is that those other States are cut across by a large mountain chain called Serra da Borborema (which goes parallel to the coast and physically separates the humid coast from the dry sertao), and this chain enters just a few dozen miles into Rio Grande do Norte.

The rainforest which once covered most of Brazil´s coast had its northern end in the south of Rio Grande do Norte; the north of Natal, the capital, is taken by dunes, a kind of formation associated with the semi-arid climate.

The semi-arid is characterized not only by low levels of pluviosity, but also by its irregularity; not rarely, years go by with no or very little rain; most of the interior of the State is included in the Polygon of Droughts (an area which receives special attention from the federal government).

There are also many mangroves in the state, and the interior is dominated by rainforest.

2 History

What is today Rio Grande do Norte was originally settled by the French, probably sometime between 1535 and 1598Events January 7 Boris Godunov seizes the throne of Russia following the death of his brother-in-law, Tsar Feodor I April 13 Edict of Nantes Henry IV of France grants French Huguenots equal rights with Catholics. Considered the end of the French Wars of R. However, this colonisation project was soon abandoned and during the 1600sCenturies: 16th century 17th century 18th century Decades: 1550s 1560s 1570s 1580s 1590s 1600s 1610s 1620s 1630s 1640s 1650s Years: 1600 1601 1602 1603 1604 1605 1606 1607 1608 1609 Events and Trends November 5, 1605 The Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Brit, the area became a battleground between the expansionistic PortugueseRepublica Portuguesa ( In Detail) National motto: None Official language Portuguese 3 Capital Lisbon President Jorge Sampaio Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes Area Total % water World ranking: 109th 92,391 km²0. 5 % Population Total ( 2004) Density World, seeking to take more land for their Brazilian territories, and the DutchDutch redirects here. For other uses, see Dutch (disambiguation). The Netherlands ( Dutch: Nederland is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a constitutional monarchy. It is located in northwestern Europe and borders the North Sea, Belgium, who were attempting to gain a foothold in South America.

For a long time starting in 1633Events February 13 Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition. March 1 Samuel de Champlain reclaims his role as commander of New France on behalf of Cardinal Richelieu. Galileo Galilei is forced to recant his heliocentric views., Rio Grande do Norte was under Dutch control, and under this colonial master, the economy flourished, with vast sugarcanespontaneum ''S. robustum ''S. officinarum ''S. barberi ''S. sinense ''S. edule Ref: as of 2004-05-05 Sugarcane is one of six species of a tall tropical southeast Asian grass (Family Poaceae) having stout fibrous jointed stalks whose sap at one time was th fields being planted and many cattleCattle are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat (called beef and veal), dairy products ( milk), leather and as draught animals (pulling carts, plows and the like). In some c being raised. It is largely thanks to this development that the state is as prosperous as it is today.

During World War II, Rio Grande do Norte was used as an Allied airbase from which to launch air raids on German-occupied North Africa.

In 1964, Latin America's first space launch site was constructed in Rio Grande do Norte; Barreira do Inferno ( Hell's Barrier), which is often referred to as the "Brazilian NASA".