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:	Blairo Maggi
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 jungle". Apart from the state capital, Cuiabá, there are few cities. The most important are

• Barra do Bugres
• Barra do Garças
• Cáceres
• Rondonópolis
• Sinop

Geography

The state contains the swamps of the Pantanal. The Transpantaneira is a bare-earth highway which was originally planned to cross the Pantanal, 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. The Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT ) is spread out all over the state with 4 campuses, 5 distance education centres, one experimental farm, one research base at the Pantanal, the University Hospital and 10 teaching posts.

History

In 1977 the state was split into two halfs, with Mato Grosso do Sul becoming a new state. The Bororo Indians live in the Mato Grosso area.

Flag

Br MT.GIF

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

• Brazilian Embassy in London