Campo Mourão

Campo Mourão is a municipality in the state of Paraná in Brazil, with 99,432 inhabitants at the 2022 census; its people are called Mourãoenses. The area was visited by Spanish Jesuits between 1524 and 1541 and belonged to the former Guairá Province before militias from the captaincy of São Paulo began raiding it in 1765. They named the valley Campos do Mourão in honour of the captaincy governor Luís António de Sousa Botelho Mourão, known as Morgado de Mateus. Settlers of German, Ukrainian, Polish, Italian and Japanese origin arrived in the early twentieth century. Campo Mourão belonged to Guarapuava until 1943 and became a separate municipality in 1947. The economy is mainly agricultural, centred on soybeans and corn, and the city is home to Coamo, described as the largest cooperative in Brazil. Several highways meet here, carrying traffic toward Foz do Iguaçu. The climate is classified Cfa, humid subtropical, with frequent frosts. Local attractions include St. Joseph Cathedral, Lago Azul State Park and the dish carneiro no buraco, celebrated at a yearly July festival.