Rio Grande do Norte is one of the states of Brazil, located
in the northeastern part of the country, on the edge of South American
continent. Natal is the capital. A modern city that has retained its colonial flavor and is
beautifully situated among white palm-studded beaches, Natal attracts many
tourists.
Until the late 1980s, the small state of Rio Grande do Norte and its
capital Natal were sleepy and rarely visited by tourists. Two
things have transformed Rio Grande do Norte into one of the Northeast's biggest
tourist centres: beaches and buggies.
One big difference between Rio Grande do Norte and the states to the south is
in its landscape , for this is where the Northeastern sugar belt finally peters
out, drastically changing both history and landscape.
North of Natal the idyllic palm-fringed beaches give way to
something wilder as the coastline changes character, massive sand dunes
replacing the flat beaches and palm trees. The further north you go, the land
becomes less fertile. The black Brazilian
population shrinks with the sugar zone, and in Rio Grande do Norte dwindles to
almost nothing.