Caatinga

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Caatinga

Caatinga denotes the spiny, stunted, predominantly xerophytic vegetation of the most arid zones of northeastern Brazil's Sertão, a region extending from the interior of Minas Gerais and Bahia to the interior of Piauí and Maranhão. Caatinga, literally "the white forest" in the Tupi language, it also refers to areas featuring such vegetation. Characteristic of the driest regions of the Sertão catingueras (a general term for the hardy plants of the caatinga) can withstand droughts lasting as long as three years.

The expansion of cattle ranching in the 1700s prompted European settlement of the inhospitable caatinga. During the 1800s cotton strains suited to the harsh climate were developed and cultivated. The population in the caatinga remained small, impoverished, and vulnerable to drought and disease.

See alsoBrazil, Geography .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

De La Rüe, Edgar Aubert. Brésil Aride: La vie dans la Caatinga. Paris: Gallimard, 1957.

Emperaire, Laure. La Caatinga du sud-est du Piauí: Étude ethnobotanique. Paris: Editions Recherche sur les civilizations, 1983.

Nemesio, Vitorino. Caatinga e terra caída: Viagens no nordeste e no Amazonas, 2nd edition. Lisbon: Imprensa. Nacional, Casa da Moeda, 1998.

Vitt, Laurie J. The Ecology of Tropical Lizards in the Caatinga of Northeast Brazil. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.

                                               Cara Shelly