Cabeça do Cachorro

The region known as Cabeça do Cachorro (Dog‘s head) is the area comprising the northwesternmost end of the state of Amazonas, Brazil, bordering on Colombia and Venezuela.

Cabeça do Cachorro
Anthem: Hino Nacional Brasileiro
(in Portuguese)
"National Anthem of Brazil"
Largest citySão Gabriel da Cachoeira
00°07′48″S 67°05′20″W
Official languagesPortuguese
Nheengatu
Ethnic groups
Amerindian and
mixed White-Amerindian
Demonym(s)Amazonense (individual from Amazonas state);
Brasileiro (Brazilian)
Establishment
• Brazilian-Colombian Treaty of Bogotá
April 21, 1907
• Brazilian-Colombian Treaty of Limits and Navigation
November 15, 1928
Area
• Total
160,000 km2 (62,000 sq mi)
Population
• 2008 estimate
50,000
• Density
0.3/km2 (0.8/sq mi)
CurrencyReal (R$) (BRL)
Time zoneUTC-4.
• Summer (DST)
no DST
Calling code+55-97
Internet TLD.br
  1. Northernmost point (2°14′46″N 67°24′42″W).
  2. Westernmost point (0°11′13″S 70°3′27″W).
  3. Rough Eastern boundary (about 0°38′56″N 65°32′23″W).
  4. Rough Southern boundary (about 3°8′46″S 68°0′56″W).

This region roughly coincides with the Brazilian municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira and parts of Japurá, and shares international borders with the Venezuelan state of Amazonas (to the northeast), and the Colombian departments of Guainía (to north), Vaupés (to west) and Amazonas (to southwest). The Brazilian Army maintains a border platoon next to the border tripoint, at the village of Cucuí, where there is also a Brazilian Air Force base.

Cabeça do Cachorro means, literally, "Dog's Head" in Portuguese. The name was given after the shape of this region's map, that resembles the head of a dog with its mouth wide open. This picturesque geographical shape was defined by the Treaty of Bogotá, which was signed by Colombia and Brazil in 1907 and defined the borders between the two countries according to the uti possidetis criterium. These borders were later confirmed by a supplementary Colombian-Brazilian treaty in 1928.

The area has several Amerindian reservations. The municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, in Cabeça do Cachorro, is the first in Brazil to adopt an Amerindian language, Nheengatu, as co-official with Portuguese.

The region also has one of the largest niobium reserves in the world.

A famous landscape of Cabeça do Cachorro: The Bela Adormecida ("Sleeping Beauty") ridge near São Gabriel da Cachoeira
The Triple Border: at top left, Colombia; at top right, Venezuela. Picture taken from the Brazilian side of the border at Cucuí, in the north of Cabeça do Cachorro

See also
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