Floresta is a city in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. It is situated at latitude 08º36'04" south and at longitude 38º34'07" west, at an altitude of 316 metres. Its population was estimated in 2009 to be 28,100 inhabitants, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. It has an area of 3690.3 km².
History
Floresta traces its origins to the 18th-century farms of Curralinho and Paus Pretos, but it was the Fazenda Grande, on the right bank of the rio Pajeú, that saw the first inhabitants of Floresta. In the second half of the 18th century, the farm served as a temporary shelter for the cattle that came from Bahia to supply Pernambuco sugar devices with animal power. Around the particular oratory raised in 1777 that would later come to be the chapel of the Bom Jesus dos Aflitos, the town appeared, named as Fazenda Grande. The proprietors of the Fazenda Grande, captain Jose Maciel Pear tree and his wife D. Joana de Souza Silveira, had donated their lands to the Bom Jesus dos Aflitos, in 1778, in the notary's office of the Farm Riacho do Navio. The easy access to water and the spirit of Christianity had attracted people to the place. After a few years, the town of Fazenda Grande was raised to the category of Village on 31 March 1846, by means of a project that became Provincial Law no. 153, presented for the representative of Flores, city also bathed by the Pajeú River, of which was unlinked. In 1849, as a punishment for its active participation in Revolução Praieira, the Vila de Floresta was incorporated to the town of Tacaratu. However, in 1864, the term of the judicial district was restored. As a village, and with the advent of the republic, Floresta had as its first mayor Mr. Cel. Fausto Serafim de Souza Ferraz, who assumed the role in 1892. On 20 June 1907, through State Law no. 867, it was raised to the category of city. After four days the "Sociedade Progressista Arborizadora" was created for the florestanos João Gomes Barbosa and Alfredo Barros, being the first one called by Álvaro Ferraz, in its book Floresta, Pai dos Tamarindos. The city of Floresta is classified in first place in Pernambuco, as the greatest rearing facility of caprinos, and also one of the greatest tomato-producing regions. Since the early 1990s, Floresta has been home to violent feuding between two influential families, which has caused the deaths of more than 50 people.
The main economic activities in Floresta are based in commerce and agribusiness, especially the raising of goats, cattle, sheep, and plantations of tomatoes, melons, water melons and onions. Floresta is one of the largest producers of goats in all state, with more than 110 thousand heads in 2007.
