States

Brazil is a federation consisting of twenty-six states (estados) and one federal district (Distrito Federal), making a total of 27 'federate units', as shown below:

1. Acre
2. Alagoas
3. Amapá
4. Amazonas
5. Bahia
6. Ceará
7. Espírito Santo
8. Goiás
9. Maranhão
10. Mato Grosso
11. Mato Grosso do Sul
12. Minas Gerais
13. Pará
14. Paraíba
15. Paraná
16. Pernambuco
17. Piauí
18. Rio de Janeiro
19. Rio Grande do Norte
20. Rio Grande do Sul
21. Rondônia
22. Roraima
23. Santa Catarina
24. São Paulo
25. Sergipe
26. Tocantins
27. Distrito Federal

The Brazilian states enjoy a significant autonomy of government, law making, public security and taxation. The government of a state is headed by a Governor (governador), elected by popular vote, and also comprises its own legislative body (assembléia legislativa). Each state is divided into municipalities (municípios) with their own legislative council (câmara de vereadores) and a mayor (prefeito), which are autonomous and hierarchically independent from both federal and state government. A municipality may include other towns (distritos) besides the municipal seat; those, however, have no separate government.