Brazil: Mato Grosso State

Situation and Characteristics

The state of Mato Grosso (the name means "primeval forest") in central Brazil is surrounded (in clockwise order) by Rondonia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins and Goiás (beyond the Rio Araguaia) and Mato Grosso do Sul. On the south-west it is bordered by Bolivia. The northern part of the state is in the Amazonian rain forest belt; the south merges gradually into savannah