São Francisco

São Francisco, river in eastern Brazil. It rises in the state of Minas Gerais, flows north, northeast, and southeast to the Atlantic Ocean, and in its lower course separates the states of Bahia and Sergipe from the states of Pernambuco and Alagoas. About 2,900 km (about 1,800 mi) long with a drainage area of 551,410 sq km (212,900 sq mi), it is navigable in its middle course for 1368 km (850 mi), but in its lower course navigation is interrupted at three points. These interruptions are at the rapids of Pirapora, near the border of Bahia state, and where it breaks through the granite wall of the coast range to form the Paulo Afonso Falls; traffic is carried past this last point by a railroad line. The river flows into the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Aracaju.