Cuiabá |
The origin of the word palavra “Cuiabá” is the indian word "Ikuiapá",
which means "arrow’s place”. The reason the city received this name is because it’s exactly located in the place where the bororó indians
fished, with arrows and harpoons. The tribe lived at next to the river that flows throuthgf the city, actually known as Cuiabá River, and also
its afluent Córrego da Prainha.
Cuiabá started to be populated due to the gold mining at Coxipó River, which
attracted several settlers in search of richness. For the heavy duties, the indians were used as slaves. It started to grow when, in 1719,
"Arraial de Forquilha" was founded. In 1722, the settlement was promoted to village with "Vila Real do Senhor Bom Jesus de Cuiabá" as
its name.
At that time, the gold exploitation was beginning to decay. So, the agriculture
occupied the first place in Cuiabá’s economy. Only in 1818 Cuiabá was considered as a city and, almost two decades later, in 1835, assumed the
position of capital of the State of Mato Grosso. A few years later, with the end of “Paraguay’s War”, Cuiabá turned into a center of the farming
and cattle raising commerce, becoming a meeting point of the countryside farmers.
In the beginning of the 20th century, the international investments for
the rubber plant cultivation and rubber industrialization in the North of Brazil influenced directly in Cuiabá’s development, which also became
economically fortified. Before World War 1st, in 1914, it had around 22000 residents, public illumination and cleaning, water, schools and even
library.
After the war, the State of Mato Grosso went through a complicated period, with
political instability up to 1937, when governor Julio Strubing Mullerwas elected. He invested in Cuiabá’s look improvement by opening new streets
and roads, inclusively by building the bridge that connects Cuiabá to Várzea Grande.
The State of Mato Grosso had a different development on its north, which bet on
the cattle raising as the main economic activity, and in the south, which earned paved roads and improved commercially for being next to greater
centers like São Paulo an Rio de Janeiro. In 1977, the State is finally divided, resulting in the creation of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul,
with Campo Grande as its capital. After the division, Cuiabá became a real metropolis, with modern buildings, industrial complexes, commercial
centers and roads connecting to Brazil’s main cities. |
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