Boa Vista's Planned City: The Amazon's Radial Capital
Boa Vista is Brazil's only city with a completely radial street plan — laid out in 1944 — making it unique among Amazon cities; the planned capital of Brazil's most sparsely populated state has a character unlike any other
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Radial city plan
Boa Vista's radial plan—designed in 1944 by architect Darcy Aleixo Derenusson—has streets radiating from the central Civic Center like wheel spokes; the plan is best seen from the air and creates unusual city navigation
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Centro Cívico architecture
The Civic Center buildings – government palace, court and cultural buildings designed in a mid-century modern style – give Boa Vista a distinctly governmental character unusual for a border town on the Amazon
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Roraima State History
Roraima only became Brazil's newest state in 1988 — formerly a federal territory; the state's short history, its indigenous population and its position on the border between Venezuela and Guyana create a border identity
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Museu Integrado de Roraima
The state museum documents Roraima's indigenous cultures, natural history, and the colonial and frontier history of Brazil's northernmost state; the archaeological collection has significant pre-Columbian objects
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Venezuelan Migration
The 2015-present Venezuelan migration crisis brought hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans through Boa Vista – the city has proportionally seen the largest Venezuelan immigrant group in Brazil, changing its character
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Boa Vista Frontier Economy
The Boa Vista economy – a mix of public services, livestock, soy farming and the informal economy on the Venezuelan border – represents a frontier capitalism unique to Brazil's Amazonian states