Piaui

The Piauí River runs through the dry interior of northeastern Brazil into the Canindé, a tributary of the Parnaíba. In the 1670s Domingos Afonso Mafrense established cattle estates along the Canindé and Piauí, placing many under the care of herders. In the following century cattle from these valleys supplied markets as far away as Maranhão, Bahia and Minas Gerais.