Map of Maranhão

History

The etymology of Maranhão is uncertain; the name probably originates from Portuguese settlers from Maranhão in Avis, Alentejo. The word was first used to refer to the Amazon River, which is today used to refer to the Peruvian part of the river (Marañón).

The first known European to explore Maranhão was the Spanish explorer Vicente Yáñez Pinzón in 1500, but it was granted to João de Barros in 1534 as a Portuguese hereditary captaincy. The first European settlement, however, was made by a French trading expedition under Jacques Riffault, of Dieppe, in 1594, who lost two of his three vessels in the vicinity of São Luís Island, and left a part of his men on that island when he returned home.

Geography

The northern portion of the state is a heavily forested plain traversed by numerous rivers, occupied by the eastern extension of the tropical moist forests of Amazonia. The Tocantins–Araguaia–Maranhão moist forests occupy the northwestern portion of the state, extending from the Pindaré River west into neighboring Pará state. The north-central and northeastern portion of the state, extending eastward into northern Piauí, is home to the Maranhão Babaçu forests, a tropical moist forest ecoregion dominated by the Babaçu palm. The Babaçu palm produces oil which is extracted commercially and used for a variety of purposes including food and beauty products.

The southern portion of the state belong to the lower terraces of the great Brazilian Highlands, occupied by the Cerrado savannas.

Economy

Maranhão is one of the poorest states of Brazil. The state has 3.4% of the Brazilian population and produces only 1.3% of the Brazilian GDP.

The service sector is the largest component of GDP at 70%, followed by the industrial sector at 19.6%. Agriculture represents 10.4% of GDP (2015). Maranhão is the fourth-largest economy in the Northeast region and the 17th-largest in Brazil.

Maranhão exports: aluminium 50%, iron 23.7%, soybean 13.1% (2002). Share of the Brazilian economy: 0.9% (2004).

Maranhão is also known as the land of the palm trees, as the various species of this tree provide its major source of income. The most important of them, from an economic point of view, is the babassu.

Demographics

According to the IBGE, there were 6,776,699 people residing in the state in 2022. The population density was 20.6 inhabitants/km2.

Urbanization: 68.1% (2004); Population growth: 1.5% (1991–2000); Houses: 1,442,500 (2005).

The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 4,499,018 Brown (Multiracial) people (66.4%), 1,361,865 White people (20.1%), 854,424 Black people (12.6%), 54,682 Amerindian people (0.8%), 6,541 Asian people (0.1%).