Bahia - Geography

Geography

The state's geographical regions comprise the Atlantic Forest. The Recôncavo region radiating from the Bay (the largest in Brazil), the site of sugar and tobacco cultivation. And the Planalto, which includes the fabled sertão region of Bahia's far interior. Bahia is bordered, in counterclockwise fashion, by Sergipe, Alagoas, Pernambuco and Piauí to the north, Goiás and Tocantins to the west, and Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo to the south. The State of Bahia is crossed from north to south by a mountain chain which is marked, in the map, as Chapada Diamantina. This same chain receives other names, like Serra do Espinhaço, in Minas Gerais, and Borborema, in Pernambuco and Paraíba.

In some parts, the chain has the shape of "Chapadões", plateaus with abrupt edges, the most visited of such chapadões are in the National Park of Chapada Diamantina, in the middle of the State. The chain divides Bahia in two clearly distinct geographical zones. To the east, where once existed the exuberant Atlantic Forest, the soil is fertile and, despite high temperatures, rainy seasons are regular.

The predominant vegetation in the west is "cerrado". These tough conditions caused the interior to be much less developed than the coast. The state is also crossed by the river São Francisco, the most important of Brazilian northeast. São Francisco River is a permanent river, which continuously supplies water to this arid region when many other smaller rivers dry out. The São Francisco starts in Minas Gerais and goes on until the Atlantic, making borders between Bahia and Alagoas. There are short stretches of the river which are navigable, but mainly for cargoes. The large blue spot at the north is a huge dam built to hold water for the hydroelectric plant of Itaparica.