RORAIMA

estado (state), northern Brazil. It is bordered on the north by Venezuela and Guyana, east by Guyana, and west by Venezuela. Formerly a part of Amazonas state, it was created a territory by decree in 1943 and until 1962 was named Rio Branco. It became a state in 1990. Its 86,880-square-mile (225,017-square-kilometre) area is drained from north to south by the Branco River, which is a tributary of the Negro River. Most of Roraima is sparsely inhabited and covered with rain forest, but around Boa Vista (q.v.), the state capital, there are extensive woodland savannas, used for cattle ranching. Some gold and diamonds are found in the streams. In the 1970s northern Roraima was designated as a reserve for some 5,000 Yanomami Indians, Brazil's largest remaining isolated tribal group, who previously had inhabited the area as well as other parts of Roraima and Amazonas. Pop. (1991 prelim.) 215,790.