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São Paulo (pron. IPA: //; Portuguese for Saint Paul) is the capital of the state of São Paulo in southeastern Brazil. It is located at , 400 km (250 miles) from Rio de Janeiro, and 1,030 km (640 miles) from federal capital Brasília.

The city has an area of 1,523.0 square kilometres (588.0 sq. miles)and a population of approximately 10.9 millionSouthern Hemisphere [http://www.citymayors.com/features/largest_cities1.html" target="_blank" >* and a global city.

19 million people live in the greater São Paulo metropolitan area — making it one of the five most populous in the world. The estimated population for 2050 is 21 million, due to urbanisation and the rapid increase in the number of migrants. The state of São Paulo is also highly populated, with major cities including Campinas, São José dos Campos, Ribeirão Preto, Sorocaba, and Santos and a population of over 40 million.

People from the city of São Paulo are called paulistanos, while paulista designates anyone from the whole of São Paulo state, including the paulistanos. The city's motto is Non ducor, duco, which means "I am not led, I lead".

Highlights

São Paulo is a major business centre. The city has a multicultural metropolitan area, with heavy Italian, Spaniard, Portuguese, German, Arab and Japanese influences.

São Paulo is known for its varied and sophisticated cuisine, ranging from Chinese to French, from fast food chains to five star restaurants. Other venues such as thousands of bars, pubs, lounges and discos cater to a variety of music tastes.

São Paulo is home to the University of São Paulo and Federal University of São Paulo, as well as many other private colleges such as the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo and Mackenzie Presbyterian University, the latter founded by North American missionaries; two major art museums (MASP and Pinacoteca do Estado), a major symphonic orchestra (OSESP), and a Formula One Grand Prix racing circuit (Interlagos).

There are two major airports in the São Paulo metropolitan area: Guarulhos (also known as Cumbica) (GRU, for domestic and international flights) and Congonhas (CGH, for domestic flights).

Geography

Physical setting

São Paulo is located on a plateau that is part of the Serra do Mar (Portuguese for "Maritime Range"), itself part of the vast region known as the Brazilian Highlands, with an average elevation around 800m (2,625 ft) - though at a distance of only about 70 km (40mi) from the Atlantic Ocean. This distance is covered by two highways (Anchieta and Imigrantes, see "Transportation" section below) that roll down the range, leading to the port city of Santos and the beach resort of Guarujá. Because of such setting, rolling terrain prevails within the urbanized areas of São Paulo. To the north, the Serra da Cantareira (Cantareira Range) offers higher elevations and a sizable remnant of the Atlantic Rain Forest. The whole region is very tectonically stable, and no significant seismic activity has ever been recorded.

The Tietê River was once a source of freshwater and recreation for São Paulo. However, in the latter half of the 20th century, like its tributary, the Pinheiros, it became grossly polluted by raw sewage and industrial effluents. A substantial clean-up program for both rivers has met with some success. Neither is navigable in the stretch that flows through the city, but transportation is important on the Tietê further downstream, as the river is part of the River Plate basin.

There are no large natural lakes in the region, but the Guarapiranga and Billings reservoirs are used for power generation, water storage, and recreation.

The original flora consisted mainly of a great variety of broadleaf evergreens. Today, non-native species are common, as the mild climate and abundant rainfall permit a multitude of tropical, subtropical and temperate plants to be cultivated, with eucalyptus being especially ubiquitous.

Climate

Though thought of as drizzly and rather cool by some Brazilians, São Paulo's climate is by world standards actually warm and mild. The temperature ranges are comparable to such cities as Los Angeles and Mexico City, which are renowned for their pleasant climate. Summer temperatures seldom reach 30°C (86°F), and frost is extremely rare. All-time record temperatures are 38°C (100°F) and 0°C (32°F). Rainfall is abundant, especially in the warmer months. Snow is unknown in the area, as are tropical cyclones, while tornadic activity is uncommon.

  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Avg high °C (°F) 27 (81) 28 (83) 27 (81) 25 (77) 23 (74) 22 (71) 22 (71) 23 (73) 23 (73) 25 (77) 26 (78) 26 (79) 24 (76)
Avg low °C (°F) 19 (67) 19 (67) 18 (66) 17 (63) 15 (59) 13 (56) 12 (54) 13 (56) 14 (57) 16 (60) 17 (63) 18 (65) 16 (61)
Rainfall mm (in.) 241 (9.5) 203 (8.0) 142 (5.6) 58 (2.3) 43 (1.7) 38 (1.5) 28 (1.1) 36 (1.4) 58 (2.3) 150 (5.9) 122 (4.8) 198 (7.8) 1317 (51.9)

History

The city was founded on January 25, 1554, by Portuguese Jesuit missionaries José de Anchieta and Manoel da Nóbrega, who established a mission — the Colégio de São Paulo de Piratininga — to convert the Tupi-Guarani Native Brazilians to the Catholic religion. Located just beyond the Serra do Mar cliffs overlooking the port city of Santos, and close to the River Tietê, the new settlement became the natural entrance to the vast and fertile plateau that would eventually become the State of São Paulo.

First named São Paulo de Piratininga, São Paulo officially became a city in 1711. It experienced a boom during the coffee cycle, starting in the late 19th century — chiefly because of its privileged position next to the port of Santos, through which most of the country's exports were shipped.

After 1881, waves of immigrants from Italy, Japan and many other countries arrived in São Paulo, at first to work at the enormous coffee plantations established in the State. In the 20th century, with the increasing industrial development of the country, many of them moved to São Paulo, which also attracted new contingents of immigrants.

São Paulo was home to the Bandeirantes, who were responsible for a great deal of territorial expansion of Brazil and the discovery of great wealth. There are several monuments honoring their history in the city, including the famous Monumento às Bandeiras, one of the symbols of São Paulo.

Another important historical landmark is the Universidade de São Paulo's Law School, also known as Largo São Francisco, claimed to be the first academic institution in Brazil. First installed into a monastery, it was founded on 1 March 1828, right after the beginning of the Brazilian Empire, following the increasing need for lawyers and politicians. As rich Brazilians used to go to Portugal to take undergraduate law courses, the Brazilian Emperor, Dom Pedro I, decided that it was time to create a national law school. It attracted students from all over the country, who gave São Paulo a bohemian lifestyle.

In 1972 a fire disaster occured in Andraus Building and in 1974 in Joelma Building.

Economy

São Paulo is the financial and industrial centre of Brazil. The city is considered to headquarter more German companies than any other single city outside Germany. Likewise, it is also considered to headquarter more American companies among any other city outside the United States. São Paulo's GDP is around $500,000 million, which makes it one of the richest cities in the world.

São Paulo's stock exchange is the Bovespa, while its futures exchange is BM&F. Its financial districts are located on the surroundings of Avenida Paulista and in the Centro Velho (Old Centre). Other important business districts are located in the boroughs of Pinheiros and Santo Amaro.

There are a number of highly specialised regions, like Bom Retiro and Brás (wholesale garment districts), Consolação (lighting equipment), Rua Santa Ifigênia (electrical and electronic parts), Rua Teodoro Sampaio (furniture and musical equipment), the posh Rua Oscar Freire (designer and label stores), Avenida Europa (automobiles) and the crowded Rua Vinte e Cinco de Março. São Paulo is also home to a large number of advertising and broadcasting companies.

In the last few years, São Paulo has become a major home to many international events and fairs, visited by the most varied audiences, ranging from scientists and artists to merchants and entrepreneurs, coming from Brazil and also abroad. Some of the most important events that usually take place in the city are:

  • Shoes and Sport Items International Fair - COUROMODA
  • Textile Industry International Fair - FENIT
  • Construction International Fair
  • Shoes, Fashion Accessories and Machines International Fair - FRANCAL
  • Cosmethics and Beauty International Fair - COSMETICA
  • Lodging-related products, services and equipment International Fair - EQUIPOTEL
  • Car International Fair - Salão do Automóvel
  • International Book Fair - Bienal Internacional do Livro

There has been a gradual change in the city economic profile since a decade ago, from a strongly industrialized base to service and technology-oriented activity. Intensive manpower-consuming industries have been replaced by a great number of high-technology industries and service providers of many flavors. Business has increased, many new colleges have been founded, and there has been a boom in many sectors, particularly shopping malls, entertainment, construction and business-oriented tourism.

Politics

Because of its economic and demographic weight, São Paulo has always played a pivotal role in Brazilian politics. With a constituency larger than that of many Brazilian states, the mayor's office is viewed by politicians as a springboard for state and national-level offices.

São Paulo's latest mayors were:

Mayor Entry in Left Office in Party
Gilberto Kassab 2006 - PFL
José Serra 2005 2006 PSDB
Marta Suplicy 2001 2004 PT
Celso Pitta 1997 2000 PPB and PTN
Paulo Maluf 1993 1996 PDS , PPR and PPB
Luiza Erundina 1989 1992 PT
Jânio Quadros 1986 1988 PTB
Mário Covas 1983 1985 PMDB

See also: List of Mayors of São Paulo

Metropolitan region

São Paulo is officially inserted in a larger metropolitan region named "Grande São Paulo" ("Greater São Paulo"). The region holds, in total, 39 municipalities and a population of more than 19 million (as of 2005 according to IBGE).

Boroughs

The City of São Paulo is divided into 31 boroughs, whose names are:

Each borough is divided into several districts (in most cases, two or three). The borough with the greatest number of districts is the borough of Sé, in the historical downtown, with eight districts (Sé, República, Consolação, Santa Cecília, Bom Retiro, Bela Vista, Liberdade and Cambuci). In second place are the boroughs of Lapa, with six districts (Lapa, Perdizes, Barra Funda, Vila Leopoldina, Jaguara and Jaguaré) and Moóca, also with six districts (Moóca, Tatuapé, Belém, Pari, Brás and Água Rasa). The peripherical boroughs of Jabaquara and Ermelino Matarazzo have only one district.

Tourism and recreation

Sights

Here is as summary of the events that occur every year or every two years in the São Paulo City:

Festival for Electronic Art

Every two years, Associação Cultural Videobrasil's International Electronic Art Festival brings groundbreaking work by cream-of-the-crop artists from all over the world to São Paulo. In keeping with the constant transformations in media and support, the curatorship has added installations, performances, VJs, CD-ROM art, and internet art to the programme.

The Festival includes a competitive exhibition of so-called southern circuit and an extensive parallel programme. Art shows, debates and meetings introduce new ideas and art work, setting new guidelines for contemporary art in Brazil.

Exhibitions featuring work by prominent electronic artists are also part of the Festival. Brazilian pioneers such as Rafael França and Olhar Eletrônico, and international guests such as Nam June Paik, Bill Viola and Gary Hill, have featured in the event’s past editions. Each edition has a theme of its own. *

Bienal de São Paulo

The São Paulo Art Biennial is a cultural event hosted every two years. Almost 1 million people visited the 26th Bienal in 2004.

Its theme was chosen to enable a wide range of artistic positions to feel comfortable. The concept of "Free Territory" involved various dimensions: it had a physical-geographical, a socio-political as well as an aesthetic dimension — the latter, of course, being of greatest interest in the context of this exhibition.

In order to emphasise the thematic unity of the overall exhibition, the invited artists and those representing the countries are mixed together on the 25,000 square metres of the spacious Oscar Niemeyer Pavilion. Despite the complexity of individual voices, the end result was intended to be a unity.

In addition to an intensification of the North-South dialogue inside Brazil, the Bienal's aims include the promoting of links between non-European cultures along a South-South orientation.

São Paulo Fashion Week

It seems that Brazil has finally entered the world of fashion with the increasing reputation of famous Brazilian top models such as Adriana Lima, Gisele Bündchen, Fernanda Tavares, Ana Beatriz Barros and Ana Hickmann, and the "discovery" of some fresh talents such as Alexandre Herchcovitch by some international fashion magazines. As a consequence of this, São Paulo Fashion Week is the place to see and to be seen in Brazilian fashion scene, always attracting a number of international fashion editors and models.

Nowadays, São Paulo Fashion Week is one of the most relevant fashion events in Brazil. It takes place twice a year at the building of Bienal de São Paulo.

São Paulo Gay Parade

Also a major event in the city, the São Paulo Gay Parade* has brought to Avenida Paulista about 3 million people in 2006, according to official statistics. It is usually opened by the city's mayor. A huge carnival goes all the way through the centre of the city. The last parade was held on June 17, 2006.

March For Jesus

The March for Jesus* is a Christian parade in Avenida Paulista, in 2005 about 3 million people had participated of this event. The first March for Jesus happened in 1987 in the city of London, and was established by the partor Roger Forster, and by the singer and composer Graham Kendrick. In 1998, more than 10 million people in more than 170 nations, congregating Christian of all the religions, age and races, had 1998 marched to celebrate Jesus.

Saint Silvester Marathon

The Saint Silvester Marathon takes place every New Year's Eve (31 December). It was first held in 1925, when the competitors ran about 8,000 metres around the streets. Since then, the distance raced has varied, and it is now fixed at 15 km. Registration takes place from 1 October, with the maximum number of entrants limited to 15,000.

Brazilian Grand Prix

The Brazilian Grand Prix is a Formula One championship race which occurs at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Interlagos. In 2005, for the first time, the Brazilian GP decided the World Championship, won by Fernando Alonso.

Other events

Sports

As in the rest of Brazil, football is by far the most important sport in the city. The most important clubs from the city are Corinthians, Palmeiras, São Paulo and Santos, the last one which eventually unleashed Pelé considered the best football player ever by many. They are all playing in the Brazilian Série A.

The city's fifth most popular local club is Portuguesa, that is a club from the São Paulo's country-side city of Campinas.

São Paulo also hosts the Formula One Brazilian Grand Prix, in Autódromo José Carlos Pace, located in Interlagos, and the Saint Silvester Marathon.

Other major sports are basketball, volleyball, handball and tennis.

Football teams

Club League Venue Established
Corinthians Série A Parque São Jorge Stadium 1910
Palmeiras Série A Parque Antártica Stadium 1914
São Paulo FC Série A Morumbi Stadium 1935
Santos FC Série A Belmiro Village 1912
Portuguesa Série B Canindé Stadium 1920
Juventus Série C Rua Javari Stadium 1924
Nacional Série C Nicolau Alayon Stadium 1919

Transportation

The city is crossed by many of the most important roads of the country, such as the BR-116, SP-270, SP-280, Rodovia Anhangüera, Rodovia dos Bandeirantes, Rodovia Anchieta, Rodovia Castelo Branco and Rodovia dos Imigrantes. Some railways also cross the city. They are, however, very old and were constructed intending not to transport people, but to transport coffee to the Santos seaport. However, there are new projects to build new medium-high speed railway tracks from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro (a project has been announced by the Brazilian government to build a high speed railway service in order to link the country's biggest cities, the trains would go as fast as 280 km/h, and would link São Paulo and Rio in about 1 hour and 30 minutes. These works are still waiting to be officially announced by the government, however some news has been heard on this matter), Campinas and to São Paulo-Guarulhos Airport. The other important project is the "Expresso Bandeirantes", that is a medium speed rail service (about 160 km/h) from São Paulo to Campinas, which would make the journey go from the hour and a half nowadays to about 50 minutes, linking São Paulo, Jundiaí, Campinas Airport, and Campinas city centre. This service is also going to be connected to the railway service that is going to link São Paulo city centre and Guarulhos Airport. Works on this last railway service between São Paulo city centre and Guarulhos Airport were announced to begin in 2007, which is going to be the beginning of the renewal of Brazilian passenger railway service.

São Paulo has three airports. São Paulo had, in 2005, about 33 million people flying in and out its airports (mainly from Congonhas and Guarulhos airports, that are the ones that have commercial flights), according to the Infraero (the Brazilian state company that makes the administration of almost all the airports in Brazil). This made São Paulo the most crowded air space both in Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere (some figures above Sydney and Mexico City). The Infraero says that with the new remodeling of Guarulhos Airport, where the third terminal will be built, São Paulo air space is going to grow from the 33 million from last year to about 45 million in about 5 years, and there are some projects to expand the Campinas Viracopos Airport (Campinas is located about 90 km from São Paulo going through the Bandeirantes-Anhangüera Motorway system) which, in about 15 years, will expand the limits in São Paulo-Campinas air space from the 34 million figure nowadays (in Campinas Airport last year flew about 1 million passengers) to 100 million in this 15 years time. Congonhas Domestic Airport operates domestic and regional flights, mainly to Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Brasília. Campo de Marte Airport handles some private and small airplanes. Guarulhos International Airport, known to paulistanos as "Cumbica", located 25 km north east from the city centre in the neighbouring city of Guarulhos, operates domestic and international flights to the city.

São Paulo has the highest per capita helicopter ownership in the developing world and now rivals Tokyo and New York as the world's leading helicopter user. The owners are an elite wealthy class who take advantage of around one hundred helipads and heliports to conveniently avoid heavy traffic and to rise above contact with the more dangerous aspects of urban life.

The city has 60.5 km of underground railway systems (34.6 km fully underground) (the São Paulo Metro, locally known as the Metrô), with 4 lines in operation and 57 stations (33 underground), complemented by another 270 km of CPTM (Companhia de Trens Metropolitanos, or "Company of Metropolitan Trains") railways. Both CPTM and the underground railway lines carry some 3.5 million people on an average weekday, and a few new underground lines to be constructed are expected to add another million people to the system within the next five years. All the main projects from the São Paulo railway and underground system for the next 10 years can be found on the Portuguese pages of the Metrô and CPTM. The projects are said to expand the system from the current 330 km to more than 500 km on the next 10 years.

The bulk of the public transportation (public and private companies) is composed of approximately 17,000 buses, colored uniformily according to the non-central region served (ex.: light green for the buses that go center-southwest, dark blue for northern area). Until rencently, there was a strong presence of informal transportation (dab vans), now fully legalized and operating under the same color scheme of the main system.

São Paulo grew quickly from the 1940s to the 1980s and many roads and buildings were constructed without major planning. As a result, heavy traffic is common in the main avenues of the city, and traffic jams are relatively common in its larger highways. The main means of commuting into the city is by car and by bus. An effective way of avoiding heavy vehicles traffic in the city, such as buses and trucks that crossed the city for other destinations, was planned by Mário Covas as a ring of road that circles the city, called Rodoanel Mario Covas, and is currently beeing built by DERSA.

Ethnic diversity

São Paulo has significant ethnic diversity in comparison to other major cities:
  • 3,000,000 people are direct or indirect descendants of Portuguese.
  • 3,000,000 are direct or indirect descendants of Italians. There is a building named Edifício Itália (Italy Building), in honor of the Italians. It was once the tallest building of the city (165m).
  • 1,500,000 people have direct or indirect African heritage.
  • 1,000,000 people are direct or indirect descendants of Germans.
  • 850,000 people are direct or indirect descendants of Lebanese immigrants— by far the largest number of Lebanese outside Lebanon.
  • More than 1 million people are direct or indirect descendants of Japanese. São Paulo has the largest number of Japanese outside Japan. The Japanese community's historical centre is the Liberdade neighborhood.
  • There is a considerable number of people from the various Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, especially Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Chile.
  • Note that many paulistanos have mixed ethnic origins; the numbers above may count individual people in multiple groups.

Other sizable groups are:

Languages

As in the rest of Brazil, Portuguese is the dominant and the mother language of the vast majority of the population. However, many other languages, such as German, Japanese, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean, are still spoken by first and second-generation members of their respective ethnic communities. Italian (its southern dialects in particular) was once widespread, and though most Italo-Brazilians in the city are no longer fluent in it, typical paulistano Portuguese retains a distinctive Italian cadence.

Sister cities

Abidjan, Ivory Coast (1981) Alta Floresta, Brazil (1995) Amman, Jordan (1997) Asunción, Paraguay (1998) Bamako, Mali (2000) Barcelona, SpainBudapest, Hungary (2000) Buenos Aires, Argentina (1999) Cluj-Napoca, Rumania (2000) Coimbra, Portugal (1996) Córdoba, Spain (2001) Damascus, Syria (1999) Yerevan, Armenia (1999) Funchal, Portugal (1998) Góis, Portugal (2000) Havana, Cuba (1997) La Paz, Bolivia (1999) La Plata, Argentina (1988) Lima, PeruLeiria, Portugal (1996) Lisbon, Portugal (1995) Luanda, Angola (1993) Macao, PR China (1999) Milan, Italy (1962) Mendoza, Argentina (1998) Norfolk, USA (1988) Montevideo, Uruguay (2001) Naha, Japan (1998) Osaka, Japan (1985) Beijing, PR China (1999) Presidente Franco, Paraguay (1994) San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain (1990) Santiago, Chile (1998) Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2000) San José, Costa RicaSeoul, South Korea (1997) Shanghai, PR China (1988) Tel Aviv, Israel (2004) Toronto, Canada (1999)

Current critical problems

Since the beginning of the 20th century, São Paulo has been the major economic city of Brazil. With the advent of the two World Wars and the Great Depression, exports of coffee to the United States and Europe were critically affected, which led the rich coffee farmers to invest in industrialisation in the city. This fact attracted many people from other regions of the country, especially from the north east. From a population of merely 32,000 inhabitants in 1880 São Paulo increased its population to approximately 250,000 in 1900, 1,800,000 in 1940, 4,750,000 in 1960 and 8,500,000 in 1980. The effects of this population boom in the city are:

  • São Paulo grew quickly and in a very disorganised manner. With no proper organisation the city grew without leaving much space for main roads and parks. Major traffic jams are relatively common on many roads of the city.
  • Approximately 830,000 people live in shantytowns (favelas) in São Paulo and surrounding areas.
  • The crime rate is high, as is the rate of police brutality. The so-called PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital or First Command of the Capital, in English) is a criminal faction whose terrorist attacks in May and in July 2006 shocked its citizens whom are already accustomed to high crime rates.
  • As a consequence of the lack of developed green spaces and the relative impermeability of the paved ground, floods are common in particular areas of São Paulo. Rain water cannot be properly drained and water accumulates quickly, causing floods mostly during the summer.
  • Air pollution is high. The two major rivers crossing the city, the Rio Tietê and the Rio Pinheiros, are severely polluted. A major project intended to clean up these rivers is underway, but complete success is not likely to be achieved for at least 14 years needed.
  • Although there are several parks across the city, given the size of the city the per capita green area of São Paulo is very small. This fact, associated with high crime rates, has led many paulistanos to choose to live in gated communities or high-rise secured condominiums.

Famous São Paulo people

Major holidays

See also

External links

Related wiki links

Photographs

1554 establishments | Cities in São Paulo | Cities named for Christian saints | São Paulo (city) | São Paulo state

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