Goiás

The Goyaz, the Indigenous people who gave the town and the state their name, lived here before the Portuguese arrived. In 1727 the bandeirante Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva, known as the Anhanguera, founded a settlement here, the Arraial de Sant'Anna, which in 1736 became the town of Vila Boa de Goyaz. Expeditions from São Paulo seized the mines of the Goyaz people, who disappeared faster than the gold itself.

In 1748 the Captaincy of Goiás was created, and its first governor, Marcos de Noronha, Count of Arcos, built a foundry house in 1750 and the palace that bears his name in 1751. The town's first jail, now the Museu das Bandeiras, dates from 1761, and many of the centre's houses, chapels and churches date from the 18th century. When the gold ran out towards the end of the 18th century, the population fell and the town turned to cattle and farming, though it remained the capital and the cultural centre of Goiás.

In the 1930s the state government, led by Pedro Ludovico Teixeira, built a new planned capital, Goiânia, begun in 1933, and the seat of government moved there in 1937. Many residents left, but the loss of status helped preserve the colonial centre, which UNESCO listed as a World Heritage Site in 2001. The same year a flood carried away an old cross in the town; it was later found and is now kept in the Boa Morte museum, with a replica in its place.

Goiás is best known as the home of Cora Coralina, born Ana Lins dos Guimarães Peixoto Bretas in 1889. She began writing at 14 but published her first book at 75, having earned her living by making and selling crystallised sweets. Her riverside house, dating from 1782, is now a museum and a symbol of the town.

Holy Week is the high point of the year. The Procession of the Fogaréu, introduced in 1745, takes place at midnight on the Wednesday before Easter, when hooded farricocos run through the darkened streets with torches to the sound of drums, re-enacting the arrest of Jesus. It is one of the town's most popular festivals, part of a cycle of scenes from the Passion performed in the streets for a little over 200 years, and thousands of visitors come to watch.

The town also hosts FICA, the International Environmental Film and Video Festival, held every year since 1999, and at one point residents also organised an independent festival of their own, the Festival Goyaz. Each 25 July the state governor returns to the Palácio Conde dos Arcos, and Carnival opens with the Bloco do Zé Pereira. African and Indigenous roots remain visible in the town's cultural life, and the sculptures of Veiga Valle fill its sacred art museum.

The municipality of Goiás had an estimated 22,000 inhabitants in 2021, well below the 43,000 of 1980, as people have moved to Goiânia and other growing cities. It covers a large rural area of more than 3,000 square kilometres, with small districts and villages scattered among farms.

The economy depends on tourism, cattle raising and agriculture. Farmers raise cattle and grow rice, maize, soya, bananas, oranges and hearts of palm, while the historic centre lives on visitors, with inns, restaurants, craft shops and museums. Campuses of the state and federal universities of Goiás give the town a student population. The municipality has one hospital and around fifty schools, and its literacy rate is about 85 per cent. Beyond the town, the municipality includes the rural districts of Calcilândia, Buenolândia, Davidópolis, São João and Uvá.

Life in the centre is quiet and close-knit. The churches set the calendar of feasts, and the town fills with visitors at Holy Week, during the film festival and on long weekends.

The town eats the cooking of Goiás. Its best-known dish is the empadão goiano, a large pie filled with chicken, pork sausage, cheese and hearts of palm, which travellers seek out in the restaurants of the historic centre. Pequi, the pungent yellow fruit of the cerrado, flavours rice and chicken, and pamonha, fresh maize paste cooked in its husk, is eaten sweet or savoury. Galinhada, rice cooked with chicken and turmeric, is another regional staple, and arroz com pequi, rice cooked with the fruit, is described as the traditional dish of Goiás.

Sweets have a special place because of Cora Coralina, who supported herself for decades by making crystallised fruit sweets. Her house museum keeps the memory of her life as both poet and sweet-maker.

The surrounding farms supply rice, beans, maize and bananas to local kitchens, and beef is common on the table in cattle country. Small restaurants in the old houses of the centre serve both à la carte meals and regional dishes.