Goiânia has its origins as a planned city, founded on October 24, 1933, by then Governor Pedro Ludovico to serve as the new state capital and administrative center.

It is the second most populous city in the Central-West Region, only surpassed by the country's capital Brasília, located about 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Goiânia.

The city is an important economic hub of the region and is considered a strategic center for such areas as industry, medicine, fashion and agriculture.

Goiânia has previously been described as having the largest green area per inhabitant in Brazil and the second-most in the world, after Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The first state capital, Vila Boa (today City of Goiás), had been chosen when the economy was based on gold extraction.

Vaguely remembered until 1930, the idea became a reality during the government of Pedro Ludovico, who was the new governor appointed for the state of Goiás[8] after the military revolt of 1930.

The mayor at the time, Andrelino Rodrigues de Moraes, accepted the plan and donated about 242 acres of his land to build the new state capital.

Readers from all over the state contributed, with some of the most popular names being Petrônia, Americana, Petrolândia, Goianópolis, Goiânia, Bartolomeu Bueno, Campanha, Eldorado, Anhanguera, Liberdade, Goianésia, and Pátria Nova, among others.

The soft bluish glow attracted many curious citizens who would take grains of the salt for themselves and family members in the form of jewelry.

[10] The International Atomic Energy Agency report noted that city and state officials acted with remarkable speed to prevent further injury to the population.

The "cerrado" landscape is characterized by extensive savanna formations crossed by gallery forests and stream valleys and includes various types of vegetation.

The main reason for the large population in the vicinity of Goiânia and Brasília — that spurred the growth of the city and the region between it and the federal capital — making the axis Brasília-Goiânia's third largest agglomeration in the country, bringing together about nine million people.

Among Brazil's metropolises, Goiânia has the lowest number of "favelas" (Portuguese for slums) according to data extracted from the 2010 census by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, the IBGE.

[30] According to the census of the IBGE 2022, in search of self-declaration, the population of Goiânia is composed of Multiracial (48.0%), White (43.6%), Black (7.9%), Asian (0.3%) and Amerindian (0.1%).

Today, the population coming from Goiânia is predominantly Minas Gerais, Bahia, Tocantins, Maranhão, São Paulo and Pará, respectively.

According to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), the population of Goiânia is composed mostly of Catholics (50.8%), evangelicals (32.4%), and spiritists (4.2%).

Due to this lack of planning and reliable public transportation, Goiânia is the metropolis with the highest number of cars per capita in the country; there are 1,000,000 registered motor vehicles in the city.

Unlike most Brazilian cities, there are no ticket collectors on the buses in Goiânia; all the fares are collected using magnetic paper cards and turnstiles.

It underwent major work in the late 1990s that created a dedicated bus lane for its entire length, with stations every 0.5 kilometer.

Under the new contract, firmed in 2009, many aspects of the public transportation are being changed: Santa Genoveva Airport is on the northeast side Goiânia.

[35] In total, the new airport has 34,100 m2, 4 gates, 23 check-in counters, 11 elevators, 4 escalators, 3 baggage carousels and 3 inspection lines with X-ray and metal detectors.

It was, however, found in a study in 2011 performed by a Mexican think tank — the Citizens' Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice — that Goiânia ranks as the 40th most dangerous city in the world.

One of the biggest parks is the Bosque dos Buritís with an area of 140,000 square m and containing many buriti palm trees, which have a yellow fruit.

The municipality contains part of the 2,132 hectares (5,270 acres) Altamiro de Moura Pacheco State Park, created in 1992.

Five streams have their source in the park, which, besides the zoo, contains the Horto Florestal and the Lago das Rosas (Lake of Roses).

Every day at dawn hundreds of people begin their daily activities by walking or jogging along the sidewalk that encloses Parque Vaca Brava.

Vaca Brava (which could be roughly translated as Angry Cow) has become a symbol of the new thriving area of the Setor Bueno, which has flourished in recent decades and is now one of the most important zones of Goiânia.

[citation needed] Besides the many trails, there is a lake, a jogging route and many wooden buildings, including a small theater, consisting of a stage and many seats in the middle of a bamboo forest.

Its main activities are the extraction of poison for medicinal purposes, research on behavior of serpents in captivity and the recuperation of degraded areas and the preservation of springs and their forest.

Goiânia, as the capital of a state that was rural until the 1980s, has been traditionally influenced by the sertanejo style, strongly connected with the countryside lifestyle.