Porto Velho is the capital and the largest municipal district, so much in extension as in population, of the state of Rondônia. With an area of 34.068,50 km², the municipal district is larger than the states of Sergipe and Alagoas, in spite of that its population is of 373.917 hab, being like this only the third largest capital of the North area losing for the cities of Manaus and Belém. It is located to the right margin of the river Wood. Made official on October 2, 1914, Porto Velho was created by desbravadores about 1907, during the construction of the Railroad Wood-Mamoré. In full Amazon Forest, and inserted in the largest basin hidrográfica of the world, where the rivers still govern the men's life, it is the Capital of the state of Rondônia. It is in the ravines of the right margin of the river Wood, the largest tributary of the right margin of the river Amazonas.
From middles of the century XIX, in the first movements to build a ferrovia that facilitated to overcome the space encachoeirado of the river Wood (about 380km) and to give vazão to the rubber produced in Bolivia and in the area of Guajará-Mirim, the place chosen for construction of the port where the rubber would be overflown for the ships proceeding then for Europe and the USA, it was Santo Antônio of the Wood, county of Mato Grosso.
The construction difficulties and operation of a fluvial port, in front of the rochedos of Santo Antonio's waterfall, they did with that manufacturers and trappers used the small located amazon port below 7km, in local much more favorable.
On January 15, 1873, Emperor Dom Pedro II signed it Ordinance-law no. 5.024, authorizing merchant ships of all the nations go up Rio Madeira. In consequence, modern atracação means were built in Santo Antônio, that became denominated New Porto.
The old port of the military ones continued to be used by its largest safety, in spite of the operational difficulties and of the distance to Santo Antônio, initial point of EFMM.
Percival Farquhar, proprietor of the company that after all got to conclude the ferrovia in 1912, since 1907 it used the old port to discharge materials for the work and, when he/she decided that the initial point of the ferrovia would be that (already in the county of Amazonas), he/she became the true founder of the city that, when it was made official after all by the Assembly of Amazonas, it received the name Porto Velho. Today, the capital of Rondônia.
The city was born and it grew of the rail facilities of the Railroad Wood-Mamoré, through the rubber exploration and later on of cassiterita and of gold. They lived about a thousand people when the work of the construction of the Railroad was ended, its residents were generally employees of the building company. He/she became municipal district in 1914, when it still belonged to the State of Mato Grosso. In 1943, with the municipal district of Guajará-Mirim it started to constitute the Federal Territory of Guaporé, that became denominated Rondônia in 1956, and it came to be elevated to the category of State on January 4, 1982.
Geography THE capital rondoniense is located at the part west of the North Area of Brazil, the municipal district of Porto Velho meets in area embraced by Western Amazônia in the South-amazon Plateau, one of the portions of the Brazilian Central Plateau.
I raise THE relief of the municipal district it is not very uneven, not presenting great elevations or depressions, with variations of altitudes that are going not very more than 500 meters of 70 meters the. The area belonging to the great Amazon Plain, locates in it is worth it of the river Wood and it presents area of low and sedimentary lands. Climate Equatorial, hot and humid.
Temperatures: Maxim = 40ºC; Minimum = 16ºC; Average of the maxims = 31,8ºC; Average of the minimum ones = 27,7ºC.
To example of the amazon area, Porto Velho is formed by plains, with mountains relatively low. The medium temperature is high, above the 28 degrees, with high relative humidity of the air and abundant rains.
Hidrografia Rio Madeira takes a bath Porto Velho Sunset in Old MadeiraPorto it is located in the Basin of the river Amazonas, the main river that takes a bath the municipal district it comes from the south, of Bolivia, Rio Madeira. The main rivers are: Rio Madeira, (main right arm of the river Amazonas), that he/she takes a bath Porto Velho, it was already big producing of gold, sheltering 30 thousand garimpeiros annually. Its course is divided in three levels: High Wood; space of the Waterfalls and Rapidses and the Low Wood. They are outstanding two lakes for its biological importance: Lake of Cuniã, with 104 thousand hectares, in the biological reservation of Cuniã, and Lago Belmont, in the river Wood. The river has abundant fishing, dentre the found fish it is the piraíba, jaú, gold, caparari, surubim, pirara, piramutaba, tambaqui, tucunaré, jatuarana, pacu, pirapitinga, curimatá, the black piranha and besides the terrible candiru.
Flowing of the left margin: Rio Abunã, (flowing of the right margin of the river Wood), that he/she makes the delimitação of the border between Brazil and Bolivia, he/she takes a bath the district of Fortaleza of Abunã and he/she is born in Acre.
Flowing of the right margin: Rio Mutum-Paraná.
Rio Jacy-Paraná.
Rio Candeias of Jamari.
Rio Ji-Paraná (Rio Machado).