General Information about Sergipe
Sergipe is the smallest state of Brazil, covering an area of only 21,863 km² which makes up only 0,25% of the whole national territory and is situated in the south of Alagoas and in the northeast of Bahia. Around 1,5 million people live in this region. Its coastal line is caracterized by wide parts of flat country with meadows, rivers and tropical rain forest. The main part in the interior region is covered by the typical vegetation of Caatinga. The climate around the cost areas is very humid and semidry in the interior parts of Sergipe.

The territory of Sergipe has been settled in the second half of the 16th century while battles among colonists and natives. The economy in this region was marked by stock farming for covering the market from Bahia. In 1602, the tradition of growing sugar cane had its origin in this region. Also nowadays, tourists are fascinated by the mills of Cotinguiba which were built only for working up the harvests.

Thanks to the black alumina of the fertile ground which is rich of mineral ressources, like rock salt, the plantations of sugar cane bring large amounts of money to the populaiton living there. Moreover, there are grown tabacco as well as cotton.

Each year, some thousands of tourists are attracted by the large amount of sights and possibilities. Most of them come from Europe and the United States.

The Capital Region
About 265 years, the capital of Sergipe was São Cristovão which nowadays became one of the most represantative colonial settlements and was declarated a national monument.
In the year 1855, the region became a new capital, Santo Antônio do Aracajú, that was one of the first predesigned towns of Brazil. Because of a good position and positive conditons of the port, the embarkations of sugar to Europe have been improved a lot.
Aracajú is a clean and anonymous city, planned in the pattern of a chessboard. In the present, people say that the city has been built at the wrong place, because the beaches are far away for tourists. The coast of Atalaia is about 16 km away. The hills of San Antônio offer a great overview about the whole wide landscape with the Rio Sergipe and the beaches of Atalaia. A few kilometres in the south yu can find the town São Cristóvão, founded in 1590. It is one of the oldest settlements in Brazil and has a couple of historical buildings from colonial times that are still in a good condition.

The industrial sector of tourism has been exploted in a very professional way since 1977. In Aracajú have been built hotels with above-average standards and streets for offering a better access to the beaches of the southern and northern coast areas. The airport has been upgrated for receiving national and international flights.

The interior around São Francisco
The interior region contains the areas of Canindé de São Francisco and Poço Redondo. It is geographically caracterized by semidry areas with mountains and impressing canyons. Some kilometres the river flows slowly and constricted. At some points appear small beaches and islands. In the surroundings tourists will see lakes and waterfalls.
The amounts of water are an ideal basis for the typical Caatinga vegetation and for the settlement of various birds. Through the building of the hydroelectric power plant of Xingó, there have been found many archaeological sites. The power pant is one of the largest and most modern in the world.
Very special about this region is the lake Xingó where visitors can do some water sports or the grotto of Fazenda Agicok, where Lampião and Maria Bonita stayed for a while.

The region around Propriá
This area includes the cities Brejo Grande, Ilha Flores, Neópolis, Japoatã and Propriá itself. The river Rio São Francisco flows through the whole center and leads to the Atlantic Ocean where it forms a large island. Very important are the nearly untouched islands with extraordinary vegetations. There are numerous villages of fishers and many historical sites.

Other interesting areas
In addition to the numerous cities, there is the ecological reservation Castro in the area of southern Sergipe.
The parts of Agreste de Itabaiana are still in a very natural condition and therefore active tourists can do long tours by walking through the wide woods and discovering the wonderful landscape.