The State of Amapá is the smallest of the States comprising the Brazilian Legal Amazon region, with a total area of 142,814.6 km2, with about 73% of its territory covered by a thick forest. The former Federal Territory of Amapá became a state in 1988.
Macapá, located on the banks of the Amazon River, is the only Brazilian capital crossed by the line of Equator. All over the world, only another four major cities are cut by this parallel. From Monumento Marco Zero [Mark Zero Monument], located in the city, we can contemplate the natural phenomenon known as "Equinócio" [equinox], a word which comes from Latin (aequus=equal; nox=night) meaning "equal nights", while in fact day and night have the same length, 12 hours each, and where the new season begins.
In Amapá the seasons are defined as Winter (rainy period) and Summer, but the equinox that takes place in March is the Fall Equinox, while the one in September is the Spring Equinox (named as Summer or Vernal). The opposite happens in the Northern hemisphere.
Behind the Marco Zero obelisk is the State Stadium Milton de Souza Corrêa, popularly known as "Zerão" [Big Zero], with capacity for 8 thousand people and besides the line that divides the field, this is also divided by the line of Equator, allowing the teams to play both in the Northern and Southern hemispheres at the same time, during a football match.
Besides that, archaeologists found in Amapá, in 2006, what seems to have been the largest astronomical observatory in the pre-colonial Brazil. Formed by 127 granite blocks separated in regular intervals by a clearing, 16 km far from the city of Calçoene and 390 km far from Macapá. For researchers, the monument of Amapá is the "Stonehenge" of the Amazon region - an allusion to the monolithic complex of Stonehenge, located in Salisbury, South England.
