The enormous size of Mato Grosso has produced a great contrast between its north and south. One is a hot and humid land of massive estates worked by sharecroppers. The other a temperate land of small farms worked by their owners. In 1872, Campo Grande was founded as a village for immigrant farmers to exchange their goods. By 1900 it had evolved into the bridge by which southern Mato-grossense farmers could export their soybean and cotton to the coast. With a distinct culture grown out of German and Italian heritage, and a lack of connections to Cuiabá, the south has developed with a highly distinct identity and largely separate economy. Campo Grande is already considerably larger than Cuiabá, and as that margin widens, so too grow calls to partition Mato Grosso, and make what is already the de-facto capital of the south into an official one.