Orizona is a municipality in Goiás state, Brazil. Location Orizona is 138 km from the state capital of Goiânia, 200 km from Brasília, 150 from Catalão and 260 from Uberlândia, which is located in the rich Triângulo Mineiro of Minas Gerais. It is part of the Pires do Rio Microregion. See Citybrazil for all the regions. Highway connections from Goiânia are made by BR-357 / GO-010 / Bonfinópolis / Vianópolis / GO-330. See Sepin for all the distances. It borders Silvânia, Luziânia, Cristalina, Pires do Rio, Ipameri, Urutaí and Vianópolis. History Orizona was founded by Joaquim Fernandes de Castro and José Pereira Cardoso in 1850 when they started construction of a chapel on the banks of the Ribeirão Santa Bárbara, a tributary of the Corumbá River. In 1890 the settlement became a district called Capela dos Correias, and in 1909 it became a city called Campo Formoso. In 1943 the name was changed to Orizona, from "oriza", meaning rice, and "zona", meaning region—Region of Rice. The name was chosen in a public contest, in which 42 people voted. It was suggested by Dr. Raphael Leme Franco, other names proposed were Caruaba, Coema, Manhana, Orizona, Porangatu, Potira, Jubara and Oriza. See Prefeitura de Orizona for the history. Political information In January 2005 the Mayor was Itamar Dias Teixeira. The city council had 9 members and there were 10,750 eligible voters in December 2007. Demographics In 2007 the population density was 7.29 inhabitants/km2. A large part of the population is still rural, relatively uncommon in the state of Goiás. In 2007 there were 7,6673 inhabitants in the urban area and 6,707 inhabitants in the rural area. The population has grown by about a thousand inhabitants since 1980. Economy Orizona has been prospering with the production of high quality Cachaça made from sugarcane, which is exported to several countries. There are about 30 small rum distilleries in the town. Cachaça, also called pinga, caninha, aguardente, cana, or mé, is a rum like drink, which differs from rum in that it is made from sugarcane juice while rum is made from molasses. Crossed by state highway GO-330 and several municipal roads, and bathed by the Corumbá and Piracanjuba rivers, the main economic activities of the area are the growing of corn, soybeans, rice sugarcane, and dairy cattle. There are several milk processing factories that receive over a million liters a day. Orizona is the