Downstream view from the top of the dam. The concrete structure in front of the dam is the generator hall...Download free natural and beautiful desktop wallpapers, pictures and images of Itaipu dam.
Itaipu (Guarani: Itaipu, Portuguese: Itaipu, Spanish: Itaip�; Portuguese pronunciation: [itai'pu], Spanish pronunciation: [itai'pu]) is a hydroelectric dam on the Paran� River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay.
The name "Itaipu" was taken from an isle that existed near the construction site. In the Guarani language, Itaipu means "the sound of a stone". The American composer Philip Glass has also written a symphonic cantata named Itaipu in honour of the structure.
When construction of the dam began, approximately 10,000 families living beside the Paran River were dislodged from their plots in order to make way for the dam. Many of these families sought refuge in the town of Medianeira, a town not far from the confluence of the Iguau and Paran rivers. Some of these families eventually came to be members of one of Brazil's largest social movements, the MST, or Landless Workers Movement.