Official Name: | Xique-Xique |
Native Name: | Município de Xique-Xique |
Settlement Type: | Municipality |
Pushpin Map: | Brazil |
Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Brazil |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | Brazil |
Subdivision Name1: | Nordeste |
Subdivision Type2: | State |
Subdivision Name2: | Bahia |
Leader Title: | Mayor |
Leader Name: | Alfredo Ricardo Bessa Magalhães (PT, 2013–2016) |
Established Date: | 1832 |
Unit Pref: | Imperial |
Area Total Km2: | 5,502 |
Population As Of: | 2020 [1] |
Population Total: | 46,523 |
Population Density Km2: | 8.76 |
Timezone: | BRT |
Utc Offset: | -3 |
Coordinates: | -10.8303°N -42.7308°W |
Elevation M: | 402 |
Xique-Xique is a municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil. Its estimated population in 2020 was 46,523 inhabitants. It is situated on the right bank of São Francisco River and is a regional economic center. Xique-Xique takes its name from a cactus, Pilosocereus gounellei, common to the region.
The first exploratory expedition to the region was in 1545, and carried out by the administration of Tomé de Souza (1503–1579), the first governor-general of the Portuguese colony of Brazil. A fazenda, or large-scale plantation, was established Cabo da Ipueira in the 17th century by the Portuguese Theobaldo Miranda Pires de Carvalho. Before ending the seventeenth century a gold-mining group called the Sierra Assuruá settled in Belvedere Island created the 1st core population inhabited by Europeans.