GEOGRAPHIC DATA

LOCALIZATION AND URBANISTIC ASPECTS

The municipality of Campina Grande covers an área of 970 km². The city is at an altitude of approximately 550 meters above sea level, on the western área of the Borborema plateau, distant 130 km from the state's capital, João Pessoa.

The municipality is divided in 6 districts: Campina Grande, Boa Vista, Catolé, São José da Mata, Santa Terezinha and Galante. The city of Campina Grande occupies the highest part of the plateau. It's center mark is situated at 7°13'11" South Latitude and 35°52'31" West Longitude. Local time is the same as Brasília (GMT-03) except during summer, when it counts one hour less, due to daylight saving programs.

Campina Grande is the second largest city in population and the most important polítical and econômical centre of the state of Paraíba. Its influence covers an extense area of 23.960 km², (42,5% of the state), comprehending 57 cities and towns.

The city is situated in an área of high plains and pleasant climate. Smooth hills are present mainly in the northern side of the city, where the city's center is one of the highest areas. It's architecture is varied. Modern buildings appear in many parts of the city. The old downtown area features a homogeneous collection of buildings in Art Deco style, currently being restored by public administration. Two urbanized artificial lakes, as well as many parks and squares improve Campina Grade's urban landscape.

Within the 75 km² that comprehend the urbanized area of the city, there are around 1460 streets and 85 thousand buildings, in 48 sub-districts. See the map of the Urban Area and of the Central Area of the city.

The city has many leisure and cultural equipments such as theatres, museums, libraries, convention centres, culture centre, movie theatres, rádios, TV, social clubs, gimnasiums, soccer stadiums, bars, restaurants, dance and show clubs, offering many leisure options during the day or the night. During the year, there are also many cultural events like "Vaquejadas" (kind of rodeo), the "Micarande" (Carnival in April), The Winter Theatre Festival and the famous Saint John's Feast called "O Maior São João do Mundo", which is a traditional popular catholic celebration that brings to Campina Grande, each year, thousands of tourists from all over Brazil, during the month of June.

CLIMATE AND VEGETATION

The city of Campina Grande is situated in a climatic region called "Agreste Paraibano", between the coast and the backlands, enjoying a pleasant climate which is not as arid as the climate that predominates in the backlands and western area of the municipality. Since it is situated in an area of hills, it also benefits from lower temperatures and great ventilation, which results in a mild and pleasant climate all year. Medium annual temperatures anual oscilate near 22 degrees Celsius, reaching 30°C during the hottest days and 15°C during the coldest nights of the year. Relative humidity, in the urban zone, varies between 75 to 83%.

The city is situated on the frontier of different climatic areas. At northeast, the landscape is green and forested, típical of the Brejo Paraibano area, common in the higher regions of the plateau. Southeast features a landscape common in the "Agreste", with sparse trees and grasslands.The southern and western areas of the municipality are dominated by the climate and vegetation of the "Cariri" climatic region, with vast áreas of low vegetation (Caatinga) and dry climate.

DEMOGRAPHY

Population estimated by IBGE (01/07/95) states that over 359 thousand people reside in Campina Grande, which has a demographic density of 371 inhabitants per square kilometer. From this total, about 339 thousand people live in the main district (94%), while 20 thousand live in the other, smaller districts of the municipality (6%).

From the 970km² that totalize the geographical area of the municipality, 35% belong to the district of Campina Grande, which owns an area of 340 km².

ECONOMY

The main economic activities of Campina Grande are: mineral extractivistm; agriculture; cattle raising; transformation and processing factories, software industry; commerce (retail and wholesaler) and services.

Agriculture constitutes an activity of great importance since it supports the sugar processing industry, traditional activity that pioneered industrialization during the end of the last century. Other main agricultural products are cotton, beans, manioc, corn, jute and several fruits and vegetables that represent approximately 6 thousand tons commercialized monthly. Cattle raising is mostly aimed at milk production, not only derived from cattle, but also from goat and sheep. A local commodities stock market negotiates these products and other goods.

The city has three industrial districts, in an area of 235 ha., all equiped with the necessary infrastructure for installation of medium and large factories. Shoes, textile, mining, food processing and metallurgy, are the lines of production of the largest factories. 10 new factories currently being installed (January 1997), totalize investments of more than US$360 million and should create 3700 new jobs.

The Parque Tecnologico da Paraíba, installed in Campina Grande, also stimulates the development of new businesses through the business incubation program. The program aims the creation of new companies, helping to transform research developed at universities and research centers into new products. There is also a national program that helps quality software development, called Softex2000. Campina Grande is one of the most productive cities where that program is installed. It is also one of the country's leading cities in exportation of software products.

Campina Grande is recognized as the most important commercial center within medium sized cities of Northeastern Brazil.

EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Campina Grande has schools which offer all levels of education: from kindergarten to doctorate courses. There are 393 primary level, 34 secondary level and 5 professionalizing secondary level schools that attend around 122 thousand students (1995). It also has two universities: The Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), with many graduate and post-graduate courses, at specialization, masters and doctorate levels; and the Universidade Estadual da Paraíba (UEPB).

UFPB has 4320 students enrolled in 39 graduate and post-graduate courses, which attract students from all over the country. The university maintains cooperation programs with other universities, research centres and companies from Brazil and other countries. UEPB features 22 graduate courses with 8170 students enrolled.

Professionalization schools are maintained by government-industry organizations and private organizations, and teach agricultural techniques, mechanics, electronics, telecommunications, computer science, accounting, etc.

There is a Culture Centre with many independent courses of music and arts. The city also has four theatres and four museums. The city's free market is famous nationwide and is a true live museum where one can encounter many pure examples of local culture. The market is also an important center for commercialization of agricultural products by farmers from a wide area.

SPORTS AND HEALTH

Campina Grande offers many options for practicing sports, from health clubs to amateur and professional soccer teams. Sports Clubs, the Army, schools and universities promote every year, together with local administration, tournees which feature swimming competitions, track and field, tennis, biking, martial arts and team sports. Two professional soccer teams divide local preference: Campinense (mascot: fox), and Treze (mascot: rooster). There are three soccer stadiums. The largest one can hold up to 40 thousand people.

There are 21 hospitals.

TRANSPORTATION

There are two airports. The larger one, administered by Infraero (Aeroporto João Suassuna), receives daily two commercial airline flights, from Varig/Rio Sul and Nordeste Linhas Aéreas. Annual air traffic is of 3700 landings and take-offs. Annually 13800 passengers depart and an other 14500 arrive (1995). The smaller airport belongs to the Air Club of Campina Grande, and serves as an alternate field. It is located in the district of São José da Mata.

A great part of cargo is transported by railroad. There railroad consists of one public rail station and crosses the main industrial districts of the city. The nearest port is the port of Cabedelo, located 147 km away (coast).

The bus terminal operates in one of the busiest traffic circuits of Northeastern Brazil, with bus lines to all states and main cities of Brazil. Three federal highways cross the city: BR 230, BR 104 and BR 412. Within the urban perimeter, the city is served by 176 buses, which transport, annually, more than 50 million passengers.

Local population also make use of ports, bus stations and airports from nearby cities like João Pessoa, Natal and Recife, since they are not very far away. The table below shows the distances from Campina Grande to other important cities in Northeastern Brazil:

COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA

Communications in Campina Grande is managed by Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos - EBCT, Telecomunicações da Paraíba - TELPA and Empresa Brasileira de Telecomunicações - EMBRATEL. In 1995, there were 32 thousand conventional telephone lines and 5300 mobile cellular telephone lines. The area code for Campina Grande is 83 (within Brazil, use 083).

Newspapers: 2 daily records (Diário da Borborema e Jornal da Paraíba) and one weekly; Radio: 4 AM e 3 FM (1996); Públic TV: 2 stations (Globo and SBT) e 3 repeaters (Cultura, Bandeirantes and Manchete).

Photos: Brejo and FIEP - Tadeu Lubambo; Agreste - Octávio Uchôa;
Airport and Partial View - Jornal da Paraíba
UEPB and city skyline (below) - Helder da Rocha;
Text by: Helder da Rocha;
Sources: information from
SEPLAN/PMCG and Rotary Clubs