ABSTRACT

Northeast Brazil comprises all or parts of nine states—Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, Sergipe—with an area covering roughly 20 percent of Brazil. This region can be divided into the following three ecological-geographic zones: the zona da mata, a heavily populated, humid, coastal strip, running from Bahia through Rio Grande do Norte; the agreste, the zone mediating a wet coastal strip and a dry interior; and the sertão, a sparsely populated, drought-prone hinterland.