The Northeast Region of Brazil is one of the five official and political regions of the country according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Of Brazil's twenty-six states, it comprises nine: Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe and Bahia, along with the Fernando de Noronha archipelago.
View of a sugar-producing farm (engenho) in colonial Pernambuco by Dutch painter Frans Post (17th century).
The Historic centre of Salvador, Bahia, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
Recife is the largest metropolitan area of the Northeast Region, and the third largest city of the region.
Coconut trees in Pernambuco
Maranhão is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of 332,000 km2 (128,000 sq mi). Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins and Pará. The people of Maranhão have a distinctive accent within the common Northeastern Brazilian dialect. Maranhão is described in literary works such as Exile Song by Gonçalves Dias and Casa de Pensão by Aluísio Azevedo.
Lençóis Maranhenses National Park
Morro do Chapéu Peak
Old São Luís.
Palace of Lions at night, in São Luís
