Juazeiro

 city, municipality

Juazeiro is a city and municipality in eastern Brazil in the state of Bahia (9°25′S 40°30′W / -9.42, -40.50). It had a population of 198,065, according to the 2004 census, and an area of 6,415.4 km². The population density was 31.34 hab/km² (2000). The elevation is 373 meters. It became a city in 1833.

Although it lies on the São Francisco River and the Curaçá River, the climate of the city is semi-arid and it gets an annual precipitation of only 399 mm. For more detailed information on the climate see Petrolina

There are highway connections with several capitals of the Northeast and railroad connections to the coast are made by the Ferrovia Centro-Atlântic. The railroad connection ends at the fluvial port of Juazeiro.

The name comes from the juazeiro tree (Ziziphus joazeiro) which grows in the region.

There is a campus of the Federal University of Bahia in the city.

Juazeiro is in reality part of a twin city called Petrolina-Juazeiro making an urban conglomerate of close to 500,000 inhabitants. The two cities are connected by a modern bridge crossing the São Francisco River.

It was founded in 1833 and became a city on July 15, 1878. The annual average temperature is 24.2 °C. Its city districts are Abóbora, Carnaíba, Itamotinga, Junco, Juremal, Massaroca, and Pinhões.

Like its sister city Petrolina, Juazeiro has experienced great growth in the last decade due to the irrigation of the semi-arid soils with water from the São Francisco River. Fruit cultivation is important to such extent that Juazeiro entitles itself "Capital of Irrigated Fruit." For more detailed information on the development of this fertile valley see the article on Petrolina.

Main agricultural products in planted area (2003):

bananas: 18 km²
coconut: 2.72 km²
guava: 2.5 km²
lemon: 2 km²
papaya: 0.45 km²
mango: 60 km²
passion fruit: 0.9 km²
grapes: 21 km²
sugarcane: 152.53 km²
onions: 3.4 km²
beans: 4.04 km²
manioc: 4.2 km²
watermelon: 4.5 km²
melon: 1.95 km²
tomato: 0.32 km²
Data is from IBGE