Brazil's hottest city — between two rivers in the Cerrado, capital of the forgotten Piauí
Teresina is the capital of Piauí — one of Brazil's poorest and most overlooked states — and holds the unflattering distinction of being officially the hottest city in Brazil, with average temperatures routinely above 40°C in summer. It sits at the confluence of the Parnaíba and Poti rivers, and the riverfront has been developed into a pleasant waterfront promenade. The city is the gateway to some of Brazil's most extraordinary and least-visited natural heritage: Serra da Capivara National Park (600km south) is the most important prehistoric site in the Americas, with 100,000+ rock paintings o…
Piauí was one of the last territories in Brazil to be settled by Europeans — the interior was cattle ranching country, colonised from Bahia northward in the 18th century along river valleys. Teresina was founded in 1852 as a planned city on the Parnaíba River, becoming the first planned city in Brazil and the only capital in the northeast not founded on the Atlantic coast. The choice was practical: the Parnaíba River allowed inland navigation. The state remained extremely poor throughout Brazilian history — it had no major plantation crop, limited transport, and was distant from the coastal c…