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Pau dos Ferros is a Brazilian municipality in the interior of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, in the Northeast region of the country. With an area of 260 km², it is 389 km from Natal, the state capital. Emancipated from Portalegre in the 19th century, the toponym is a reference to a tree, most likely the oiticica tree, which, due to its large size, provided shade and consequently a resting place for the cowboys who passed by and branded the trunks of these trees with iron, giving rise to the settlement of the region. The population is estimated at 30,802 inhabitants in 2021.