Port city and capital, Sergipe estado (state), northeastern Brazil, lying on the Continguiba River at the base of a ridge of sand hills 6 miles (10 km) from the coast. The city, which was founded in 1855 as a new state capital, is laid out in an unusual grid pattern. It is a regional commercial and industrial centre, processing leather, bananas, cassava, feijão (beans), mangoes, cashews, salt,