Mazagão (Portuguese: Município de Mazagão, [mazɐˈɡɐ̃w]) is a municipality located in the south of the state of Amapá in Brazil. Its population is 22,053[2] and its area is 13,131 square kilometres (5,070 sq mi).[3]Mazagão Velho located in the municipality of Mazagão is known for the Festival of São Tiago which takes place between 16 and 28 July, and re-enacts the war between the Moors and Christians.[1]
Overview
The city was named after the Portuguese colony Mazagão in North Africa, now El Jadida (Morocco), in which the Portuguese got kicked in 1769 after some 250 years of occupation. Many of its inhabitants were evacuated to Brazil, where they founded a new settlement Nova Mazagão, now known as Mazagão Velho.[4]
A total of 340 families arrived in the city of Belém in 1770 and in 1773 went to Nova Mazagão. One of the main theories on the origin of the name of Mazagaon - one of the original Seven Islands of Bombay and still a historic neighborhood of Mumbai, India - derives this name, too, from the Moroccan city, since both were under Portuguese rule in the same time.
Mazagão Velho started to decline and Novo do Anauerapucú started become the bigger town. The town of Anauerapucú became the capital of an independent municipality in 1915, and was renamed Mazagão.[5][1] Mazagão can be reached by the AP-010 from Santana and Macapá.[6]
Mazagão is known for its pottery and ceramics. A major part of the economy is based on livestock in particular cattle and buffalo, and forestry centred around the Brazil nut and rubber tree.[1]
Subdivions
The municipality of Mazagão is subdivided in three districts:[11]
^"Mazagão" (in Portuguese). Macapá, Amapá, Brazil: Governo do Estado do Amapá. 2011. Archived from the original on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
^"Arqueologia de Mazagâo Velho". Site of the Department of Archaeology of the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil. Archived from the original on 18 January 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2013. (in Portuguese; the coordinates are under the image of the map of Brazil on the page; to see them pass your cursor over the image)
