See also: São Paulo (homonymy)

São Paulo (Saint Paul in French) is more the big city of the Brésil located in the south-east of the country, it is the capital of the State de São Paulo and the financial and industrial center of the South America.

History

Founded in 1554 by the Jesuits, São Paulo is today the commercial, industrial and financial capital of the Brésil. Its metropolitan region counts: 20237000 inhabitants, which makes of it the city most populated Brazil and the fifth of the world after Tokyo, New York, Mexico City and Seoul. The currency of the city, present in its blazon is the Latin sentence: " Not Ducor, Duco" , which means " I am not led, I conduis".

At the origin, the city had its importance with its position, not far from the sea and on the Rio Tietê, not of convenient transshipment to reach the interior of the country. It was the center of forwardings of the Bandeirante S, which ensured the extension of Portuguese colonization to the heart of the South American continent. In 1711, São Paulo was set up downtown.

At the 19th century, the city owes its strong growth (: 30000 inhabitants in 1870) with the culture of the Coffee, which made of it a world power at the end of the 19th century.

Geography

Located in the south-east of the Brazil in the State de São Paulo (SP) on the plate of Piratininga at 860 meters of altitude, its climate is of subtropical type, with 18°C of average temperature. It is crossed by two rivers, the Rio Tietê and the Rio Pinheiros which are thrown one in another before crossing all the State de São Paulo and to throw itself in the Rio Paraná.

Population

Because of its economic attractivity, São Paulo is a city where immigration is important, made up not only the Brazilian ones of other areas, but also of immigrants of Europe (establishments Italian, Spanish, German and Portuguese), of Orient, Asia and other origins. It counts strongest Japanese community out of the Japan (close to: 1080000), of important communities such as Jewish and Lebanese are also present. São Paulo daily receives waves of new impoverished inhabitants newcomer of the North-eastern area of the country or countries of the Mercosul.

São Paulo is more big city of the southern hemisphere. The Metropolitan region of São Paulo counted: 19677536 inhabitants in 2006.

Economy

See also: Stock Exchange of São Paulo

Economic heart of Brazil and the Latin America, São Paulo has all the types of industries and trade, of which the car, aeronautics, electronics, metallurgy. Practically all the large world companies have an head office with São Paulo, either to sell on the Brazilian market, or to produce in Brazil and to export. Approximately half of the active population is employed in the service sector, the remainder being employed by industry and the trade.

Town planning

São Paulo is characterized by an unslung town planning. It is in 2003, the 7th city of the world in the classification of the buildings with: 2578 Skyscraper. One finds there in particular a counterpart of the Empire State Building of New York, “Torre C Banespa” going back to 1947.

Another characteristic of São Paulo and the Brazil: in 2003, 71% of the inhabitants of São Paulo are owners of their housing.

The city is divided into 31 districts (will subprefeituras), grouped in nine areas ( shingles ):

  • Center - One finds there the old downtown area with an architecture pointing out that of Buenos Aires or Paris. The district is left a little with itself though the State tries today to revive it while transferring to it from many ministries and offices. Y sit the Stock Exchange and the Town hall. The central subway station and that of Luz train are there.

  • North-eastern - Located close to Guarulhos, it acts of mainly residential but such an industrial district since it is located at the accesses of the Dutra Highway, the principal one of the country.
  • Center-South - the new downtown area develops to with it where the turns at offices push, seats of multinationals. The car reigns there although public transport develops to with it quickly with, inter alia, the new line of subway lilac.
  • South-eastern - This area includes/understands the majority of industries of the city. One also finds the gardens of Ipiranga there, where the independence of Brazil was proclaimed
  • Western - very commercial Area, with many shops, bars, etc there, one finds the street most important of the city: the Avenida Paulista, the crested district of the Gardens, the Jockey Club, the municipal football stadium and largest universities of São Paulo, like University of São Paulo and PUC-SP. It is also the point of meeting of the gay community .
  • Is 1 and North-western - They are areas in the process of development, with poor population, but with some urban services.
  • Southern and Is 2 . - They are generally the poorest districts of the city. The favelas extend to it as far as the eye can see.

Transport

Urban displacements are mainly made in the car and bus. Exclusive corridors of bus were arranged in the center of the road main axes and are borrowed by buses of various private companies subsidized by the State. The city is equipped with 8 urban lines of Train S as 5 lines of Métro (the official site) of which two are currently (2006) in construction. Many highways arrive at São Paulo such Dutra of Rio de Janeiro or the Immigrant ones of Santos but will be connected between them only once the supplemented ring road paulista .

São Paulo is served by the airports of Cumbica/Guarulhos (flights national and international) and Congonhas (national flights) having daily connections with the large world capitals. These two airports also are stocked country; far in front of those of Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro. The connection between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro is the air route the most used in the world, with on average 214 daily flights (in 2002).

Culture and Monuments

The principal monuments are the “Memorial da América Latina”, the Municipal Theater (1911), the Musée of Art of São Paulo (MASP), the Cathédrale of the, the Palais of Ipiranga (traditional style with French Jardin), as well as the Parc Ibirapuera (the Central Park of São Paulo) and its Monument with the Flags. Avenida Paulista, the principal commercial artery of the city was selected like symbol of the city in answer to the Sugar loaf of Rio de Janeiro. Source

Twinnings

See too

Curiosities of São Paulo

  • São Paulo is more the big city of the Southern hemisphere.
  • São Paulo with the 2nd larger fleet of helicopters of the world (largest is New York City).
  • São Paulo has the 5th larger zoological garden of the world.
  • the Rue Oscar Freire is one of eight more luxurious of the world, according to the magazine " Mistery International" Shopping;. Also, in São Paulo, it there with the Daslu, one of the most luxurious and expensive shops of the world, localized in a gigantic manor.
  • Currently, the official dish of the city is the pizza pie, with a production of 1 million units each day.

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