The city of Boa Vista do Rio Branco, which formerly belonged to the state of Amazonas, became the Federal Territory of Rio Branco on September 13, 1943, on that occasion being created jointly with another four areas by the then President of the Republic, Getúlio Vargas. In 1962 it was named as Federal Territory of Roraima, and on October 5, 1988 it became one of the 26 states of the Brazilian federation, upon the publication of the new Country constitution.
The name of the state is originated from the words roro, rora, that mean "green", and "imã", which means ridge, mountain, in the ianomâni indigenous dialect, forming "green ridge", that stands for the type of natural scenery existing in the region.
For many and many years, the extreme point at North Brazil was thought to be the Oiapoque, in the state of Amapá, where the expression "from Oiapoque to Chuí" comes from. However, in 1998, after a joint expedition involving different federal and state agencies, it was confirmed that the Most Northern Point of Brazil is located in Roraima, and not in Amapá, more precisely, on Mount Caburaí, 1,456 m high, in the city of Uiramutã, at the border with the Guiana.
In this expedition, Mount Caburaí was found to be a further 84 km, approximately, up north than Cape Orange, in the Oiapoque, which means that the correct expression should be "from Caburaí to Chuí", which is expected to be corrected.
The mining industry is one of the promising development sectors in the state. Researches conducted by the RADAM [Amazon Radar] Project identified gold, diamond, cassiterite and uranium beds in Roraima, the latter having been found with a high degree of purity, in the region of Serra dos Surucucus, besides the following minerals: agate, amethyst, barite, copper, calcareous, diatomite, iron, molybdenum, kaolin, thorium, topaz, turf, zinc, niobium and tantalum.
The state occupies an area of 224,298.980 Km² with a population of 391,317 inhabitants, according to the 2005 census by IBGE.
