Rio Branco (lit. White River) is the biggest city and the capital of the Brazilian state of Acre. The city of Rio Branco has gone by a number of names throughout its history. It originated when the seringalista Neutel Maia arrived with his family and workers in the region of Acre in end of 1882 in order to produce rubber. It established its first seringal at the right edge of the Rio Acre, initiating there the constructions of large cabins and tents, giving the name of Seringal Volta da Empresa. After that, Maia opened another seringal at the left edge of the Rio Acre, where today sits the Palace of the Government of the Acre, with the name of Seringal Empresa. Rio Branco has a strategic location, about 2 hours from Manaus by air and has borders with Peru and is the only Brazilian city (State) close to the important Peruvian touristic centers of Cuzco, Pucallpa and Puerto Maldonado.

The Rio Branco International Airport connects Rio Branco with many Brazilian cities and also operates some international flights.

The city is home to the Federal University of Acre.

Geography

Acre has a territory covered mostly by jungle of the Amazon Rainforest. The state is a well-known producer and exporter of rubber. The Acre River runs along the southern boundary of the state, forming the border with Bolivia.

Climate

An equatorial climate is a type of tropical climate in which there is no dry season – all months have mean precipitation values of at least 60 mm. It is usually found at latitudes within five degrees of the equator – which are dominated by the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The equatorial climate is denoted Af in the Köppen climate classification. Tropical rainforest is the natural vegetation in equatorial regions.

Vegetation

The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests and comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world. Wet tropical forests are the most species-rich biome, and tropical forests in the Americas are consistently more species rich than the wet forests in Africa and Asia. As the largest tract of tropical rainforest in the Americas, the Amazonian rainforests have unparalleled biodiversity. More than 1/3 of all species in the world live in the Amazon Rainforest.

Economy

The GDP for the city was R$ 2,371,307,000 (2005).

The per capita income for the city was R$ 7,756 (2005).

Education

Portuguese is the official national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools. But English and Spanish are part of the official high school curriculum.

Colleges and Universities

• Universidade Federal do Acre (Ufac);
• Faculdade da Amazônia Ocidental (Faao);
• Faculdade de Ciências Jurídicas e Sociais Aplicadas Rio Branco (Firb);
• Instituto de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Vale do Juruá (Ieval);
• Instituto de Ensino Superior do Acre (Iesacre);
• União Educacional do Norte (Uninorte).

Infrastructure

International Airport

Rio Branco International Airport is located in a rural zone of the municipality of Rio Branco, in the state of Acre. It was opened on November 2, 1999 with a unique characteristic: it moved 22 kilometers from the previous airport site into a site northwest of the city.

Rio Branco Airport serves domestic and international flights (by scheduled carriers and air taxi firms) along with general and military aviation.

The terminal can receive 270 thousand passengers a year and serves an average of 14 daily operations.

Sports

Rio Branco provides visitors and residents with various sport activities.

• Stadiums
• Arena da Floresta stadium;
• José de Melo stadium;
• Federação Acreana de Futebol stadium;
• Dom Giocondo Maria Grotti stadium;
• Adauto de Brito stadium;
• and many others.

Rio Branco is one of the 18 remaining candidates to host games of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, for which Brazil is the only South American bidder.

References

External links