Carajás (proposed Brazilian state)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Carajás (proposed Brazilian state)

What it was
Carajás was a plan to form a new state from the southeast part of Pará, Brazil. It would have been created alongside another proposed state, Tapajós, by splitting Pará. The idea was put to a national referendum in 2011 and was defeated. Since then, no new proposal to create Carajás has been made (as of 2018).

Where and how big
- Area: about 289,799 square kilometers (111,892 square miles)
- Population: around 1.6 million
- Municipalities: 39 of Pará’s 144 municipalities
- Economy: in 2011, the proposed state would have had a GDP of about BRL 19.5 billion (about one-third of Pará’s total GDP)

Capital and main cities
- The largest city and proposed capital would have been Marabá.
- Other major cities would include Parauapebas.

Municipalities (highlights)
The 39 municipalities would have included Marabá, Parauapebas, Altamira, Redenção, Tucuruí, Canaã dos Carajás, Conceição do Araguaia, Eldorado dos Carajás, Paragominas, Tucuruí, Xinguara, and several others.

2011 referendum
Voters across Pará were asked to decide whether to divide the state into three parts: Carajás (southeast), Tapajós (west), and a rump Pará (northeast). Results varied by region:
- More than 90% of voters in Marabá supported division.
- More than 90% of voters in Belém opposed division.
Since Belém holds a large share of Pará’s population, the proposal did not pass.

See also
Tapajós (the other proposed state to be carved from Pará).