Rio Grande do Sul, southernmost estado (state) of Brazil, bordered by the state of Santa Catarina (north), Argentina (west), Uruguay (south), and the Atlantic Ocean (east). The capital of Porto Alegre is the state's main industrial area and port.

In Portuguese the word gaúcho means "an inhabitant of the plains of Rio Grande do Sul or the Pampas of Argentina of European and indigenous American descent who devotes himself to lassoing and raising cattle and horses"; gaúcho has also acquired a metonymic signification in Brazil, meaning anyone, even an urban dweller ...