Guide to Brazil
Midwest
The Midwest Region of Brazil comprises three states — Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Goiás — and the Federal District. It is where nature displays some of its most unique landscapes. The Pantanal, a plain that stretches across more than 200,000km2 of land, is flooded every year by the rivers that cross the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. The region offers a unique biodiversity, which led Unesco to consider it a Natural World Heritage site and a Biosphere Reserve.
Natural attractions of the Midwest Region include two less-explored treasures: the Chapada dos Veadeiros, in Goiás state, which boasts hundreds of waterfalls; and the Chapada dos Guimarães, 70km from Cuiabá, capital city of Mato Grosso, which has impressive geological formations in the midst of ‘Cerrado’ (savannah) vegetation.
Fourteen million Brazilians live in this region, where Brasília, the capital founded in 1960 to bring development to the countryside of Brazil, is located. Its monumental buildings designed by Oscar Niemeyer and its urban plan by Lucio Costa form an unparalleled modernist masterpiece.