Cascavel 1.29

Cascavel is a municipality in western Paraná state, Brazil. It is the 5th most populous city in Paraná with a population of 316,226 inhabitants according to an estimate from IBGE in August 2016. The distance (by freeway) to Curitiba, the state capital, is 491 kilometers.Relatively new and with a privileged topography, Cascavel's development was planned, which gives it wide streets and well distributed neighborhoods. With an area of 2,100,831 km², it is considered a strategic hub of Mercosul.The city is on a plateau 781 meters above sea level. It is 504 km west of the state capital of Curitiba and 605 km west of the sea port of Paranaguá, 140 km from the 3 borders (Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil) at 24° 58' South, 53° 26' West.ToponymyThe name of the city means rattlesnake in Portuguese; it arises from a variation of the classical Latin "caccabus", meaning "bubbling water boiling". According to legend, a group of settlers camped one night in the region and they were woken by the sound of a rattle; later they realized they set up the camp next to a rattlesnake.HistoryCycle of erva mateThe Caingangue natives inhabited western Paraná, which was occupied by the Spaniards in 1557 when they founded the Ciudad del Real Guayrá in current town of Guaíra.