Rondônia

Federal unit (state) of northwest Brazil, within the drainage basin of the Amazon River, and bordered on the southwest by Bolivia; the centre of Amazonian tin and gold mining and a frontier region of agricultural colonization; area 238,400 sq km/92,000 sq mi; population (2000 est) 1,377,800; capital Pôrto Velho. Its principal products are rubber and brazil nuts; the rearing of beef cattle, formerly an important industry, was largely abandoned as uneconomic after it resulted in extensive deforestation. Known as the Federal Territory of Guaporé until 1956, Rondônia became a state in 1981.

It was aided by the construction in 1984 of the major BR-364 highway between Cuiabá and Porto Velmo, which was funded by the World Bank.