Campo Grande (capital)

Campo Grande (lit. Big Field) is the capital of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in center-western Brazil. It is located at 20°28′06″S, 54°37′21″W. The region where the city is located was in ancient times mandatory way for travellers who wanted to go by land from São Paulo or Minas Gerais to northern Mato Grosso. During the early 1900s the railway was completed connecting Campo Grande to Corumbá, in the northwest region of the state, and Bauru, São Paulo. Also in the beginning of the 20th century, Campo Grande became the Western Brazilian Army Headquarters, making it an important military center. The increasing market made the city an important trade center, making the population increase from 140,000 people in 1970 up to 800,000 people in 2006. In 1977, the State of Mato Grosso was divided in two, and Campo Grande was made the capital of Mato Grosso do Sul, (the southern portion of the original Mato Grosso). Today, the city has its own culture, which is a mix of those ancient travellers' cultures, with its songs (main local rhythms: vanerão, chamamé - with diverse characteristics from other places), food (sobá, a version of the traditional soba from Okinawa), churrasco - the State is the largest producer of beef in Brazil). Its people are unique, made of mixes from all parts of Brazil and of the world, with many Japanese (we have to consider that most of them are from the island of Okinawa, that has significant cultural/historical differences from the mainland Japan), Portuguese, Lebanese immigrants. Area code: XXX