Qualla: Crateús https://qualla.com/crateus en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/7/p/5/4/crateus-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Crateús https://qualla.com/crateus Crateús: Introduction https://qualla.com/crateus/ Photo credit Carlos Danniell, CC BY-SA 4.0. On January 15, 1926, the Prestes Column marched into Crateús and met resistance. Everywhere else the column passed, the towns either welcomed them or let them pass. Here, in this dusty railway town in the Ceará interior, the city's legalist forces chose to fight. Combat erupted around the Railway Station building in Gentil Cardoso Square, spread to the Church Square, and reached its deadliest intensity on Padre Macedo Street - still known locally as Pimenta Street, or Pepper Street. By the end, two of Prestes's men lay dead, and Crateús had earned a place in Brazilian military history that no other Ceará town can claim.

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Image: Carlos Danniell | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/p/5/4/crateus-wp/7p54-crate-s-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Crateús: Capital of the West https://qualla.com/crateus/ Photo credit Carlos Danniell, CC BY-SA 4.0. Crateús calls itself the Capital of the West. It is not the biggest city in Ceará, but it is one of the oldest and most strategic. Around 75,000 people live here, in a valley cut by the Poti River where the Serra da Ibiapaba meets the Serra Grande. That geography is the whole sto...

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Image: Carlos Danniell | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/p/5/4/crateus-wp/7p54-crate-s-capital-of-the-west.mp3 0:06 2 full Crateús: The Karatiú Before https://qualla.com/crateus/ Photo credit Rcs-96, CC BY-SA 4.0. The name Crateús traces to Tupi or Tapuia roots. One reading makes it cará (potato) plus teú (lizard). Another comes from the Kariri language: kará (fish), te (land), ús (people). A third derivation points to karatiús or karatís - the name of an indigenous group that lived in the...

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Image: Rcs-96 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/p/5/4/crateus-wp/7p54-crate-s-the-karati-before.mp3 0:06 3 full Crateús: Niemeyer in the Backlands https://qualla.com/crateus/ Photo credit Eugenio Hansen, OFS, CC BY-SA 4.0. Oscar Niemeyer was 98 years old when the Prestes Column monument in Crateús was inaugurated on January 14, 2006 - the 80th anniversary of the fighting. The architect had offered his design, free of charge, to any Brazilian city the column had passed through. Crateús was the fourt...

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Image: Eugenio Hansen, OFS | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/p/5/4/crateus-wp/7p54-crate-s-niemeyer-in-the-backlands.mp3 0:06 4 full Crateús: Rail, Drought, and the Serra das Almas https://qualla.com/crateus/ Photo credit Leonardo Pallotta from São Paulo, Brazil, CC BY 2.0. The railroad reached Crateús in 1911, cutting through from Sobral and pushing on into Piauí. Two train stations opened in 1912 - Crateús and Sucesso - followed by stops at Poti in 1916, Ibiapaba in 1918, Oiticica in 1932. Most of those stations are shuttered now, but the Armazém ...

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Image: Leonardo Pallotta from São Paulo, Brazil | CC BY 2.0

]]> Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/7/p/5/4/crateus-wp/7p54-crate-s-rail-drought-and-the-serra-das-almas.mp3 0:06 5 full