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Paraíba
Paraíba
is located in the northeastern part of Brazil, at the Atlantic
ocean. It contains the easternmost land of South America.
Paraíba has seawater which is clear, calm, with natural
reefs and -pools. Perhaps the beaches of João Pessoa,
the capital, are the best known. There it is the Praia do
Seixas, the top east point of South America.
João Pessoa has a singular characteristic, romantic
to know it is the Brazilian city where the sun raises first.
In the interior of the State, another great city is Campina
Grande. It is one of the Brazilian capitals of forró,
and during the month of June receives more than one million
tourists for the festivities.
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Jao Pessoa Hotels >>
History
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In
the mid of 1500, Portuguese settlers from Pernambuco
founded Filipéia de Nossa Senhora das Neves (today
João Pessoa) at the mouth of the Paraíba
do Norte River.
The
area soon proved perfect for sugar production, with
the French, the Dutch and the Portuguese all constantly
fighting to control the Paraíba region to grow
the lucrative sugarcane in. The fortress of Santa Catarina,
near João Pessoa, was built to protect the city
from the Dutch, who soon became a threat to Portuguese
supremacy in Brazil.
In
late 1989 a team led by gemstone prospector Heitor Dimas
Barbosa uncovered in a small mountain range what some
consider to be the finest tourmaline crystals ever found.
A trace of copper gives the tourmalines a vivid turquoise
color that had never been seen before in the gems, and
is sometimes referred to as "neon".
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The
"neon" paraiba tourmaline, a vivid blue and blue
green, has also been found in other deposits close to the
Batalha mine of Barbosa, and also in the neighboring state
of Rio
Grande do Norte. The bright colors of this tourmaline
are due to the presence of copper. Around 2000, a similar
copper-containing tourmaline was found in Nigeria, although
the colors are not as intense. Around 2005, beautiful crystals
of copper-containing tourmaline were found in Mozambique.
Initially, the nomenclature for this tourmaline
was "Paraíba tourmaline". Note the capitalization
and the accent on the "i". In 2006, the LMHC (Laboratory
Manual Harmonization Committee) agreed that "paraiba"
should refer to a variety of tourmaline, and not indicate
a geographic origin. Note "paraiba" is not capitalized,
and does not have an accent on the "i". For more
information on paraiba tourmaline, see article on tourmaline.
The term "paraiba tourmaline" may now refer to gems
found in Brazil, Nigeria, and Mozambique that contain copper
and have the characteristic blue-green color.
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