Current Time in Anápolis, Brazil

Anápolis is a city in the state of Goiás in central Brazil, standing on high ground in the cerrado, the vast tropical savannah of the country's interior. Its position is exceptional: it lies almost exactly between Goiânia, the state capital, and Brasília, the federal capital, with both reachable in about an hour, and it occupies the meeting point of the highways that link the centre of Brazil with the south-east and the north.

The population is around four hundred thousand. Anápolis is one of the most important industrial cities of central Brazil, and its pharmaceutical sector is the largest in the country, with dozens of laboratories producing a substantial share of Brazil's generic medicines. Alongside them the DAIA industrial district hosts vehicle assembly, chemicals, food processing and electronics, and a large inland customs terminal handles international freight.

The settlement began in the 1870s around a chapel dedicated to Saint Anne, at a stopping place used by cattle drovers and gold prospectors crossing the interior. It became a municipality in 1907 under the name Anápolis, combining the saint's name with the Greek word for city. The decisive change came in 1935, when the railway from the south reached the town, making it the freight gateway for the whole of Goiás and Mato Grosso. The construction of Brasília in the late 1950s reinforced its position, since materials and supplies for the new capital passed through, and industry followed the roads.

Anápolis is a working city rather than a tourist destination, but it has its landmarks. The Basilica of Sant'Ana dominates the central square, and the old railway station has been restored as a cultural centre. The Parque Ipiranga and the JK park offer green space, and viewpoints on the surrounding hills look out over the cerrado. The city is a convenient base for reaching the colonial town of Pirenópolis, with its cobbled streets and waterfalls, the crystal springs of the Chapada dos Veadeiros further north, and the hot springs of Caldas Novas to the south. The Anápolis air base, home to Brazilian Air Force squadrons and to the country's airborne early warning aircraft, is a notable presence.

Cultural life centres on the festival of Sant'Ana in July, on rodeos and agricultural shows typical of the Brazilian interior, and on sertanejo music, the country style that dominates the region. The city has a large evangelical population alongside its Catholic majority, and its universities give it a young and mobile character.

Transport is the city's greatest asset. Federal highways converge here, the North-South railway serves freight terminals, and the dry port allows customs clearance far from the coast. Airports at Goiânia and Brasília are both close.

Higher education is well developed, with UniEVANGÉLICA, one of the largest private universities in the region, the State University of Goiás headquartered in the city, and several technical institutes supplying skilled workers to local industry.

Anápolis is important as the logistical and pharmaceutical hub of central Brazil, a city built by railways and highways at the crossroads of the country's interior.