Campinas ( kam-PEE-nəs; Brazilian Portuguese: [kɐ̃ˈpinɐs]; lit. 'Plains, Meadows') is a city in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, located 84 kilometers northwest of the city of São Paulo. As of 2024, the city's population is estimated at 1,185,977, making it the fourteenth most populous Brazilian city and the third most populous in São Paulo state. The city's metropolitan area encompasses twenty municipalities with a total population of 3,491,150 people.
Etymology
Campinas means meadows or grasslands in Portuguese and refers to its characteristic landscape, which originally comprised large stretches of dense subtropical forests (mato grosso or thick woods in Portuguese), mainly along the many rivers, interspersed with gently rolling hills covered by low-lying vegetation.
Campinas' official crest and flag has a picture of the mythical bird, the phoenix, because it was practically reborn after a devastating epidemic of yellow fever in the 1800s, which killed more than 25% of the city's inhabitants.
History
The city was founded on July 14, 1774, by Barreto Leme. It was initially a simple outpost on the way to Minas Gerais and Goiás serving the "Bandeirantes" who were in search of precious minerals and Indian slaves. In the first half of the 19th century, Campinas became a growing population center, with many coffee, cotton and sugarcane farms.
The construction of a railway linking the city of São Paulo to Santos' seaport, in 1867, was very important for its growth. In the second half of the 19th century, with the abolition of slavery, farming and industrialization attracted many foreign immigrants to replace the lost manpower, mainly from Italy.
Coffee became an important export and the city became wealthy. In consequence, a large service sector was established to serve the growing population, and in the first decades of the 20th century, Campinas could already boast of an opera house, theaters, banks, movie theaters, radio stations, a philharmonic orchestra, two newspapers (Correio Popular and Diário do Povo), a good public education system (with the Escola Normal de Campinas and the Colégio Culto à Ciência), and hospitals such as Santa Casa de Misericórdia (a charity for poor people) and Casa de Saúde de Campinas (for the Italian community, formerly known as Circolo Italiani Uniti), and Instituto Agronômico de Campinas, the Brazilian research center in agricultural sciences which was founded by Emperor Pedro II. Finally, the construction in 1938 of Anhanguera Highway between Campinas and São Paulo - the first Brazilian highway, was a turning point in the integration of Campinas into the rest of the state.
Campinas was the birthplace of opera composer Carlos Gomes (1836 — 1896) and of President of the Republic Campos Salles (1841 — 1913). For 49 years it was home to Hércules Florence, reputed as one of the early inventors of photography, photocopying and the mimeograph.
Geography
According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics the area of the municipality is 795.697 square kilometres (307.220 square miles), 238.3230 square kilometres (92.017 square miles) of which urban area. It is located at 22°54′21″S, 47°03′39″W and is at a distance of 96 kilometres (60 miles) northwest of São Paulo. Its neighboring cities are Paulínia, Jaguariúna and Pedreira, north; Morungaba, Itatiba and Valinhos in the east; Itupeva, Indaiatuba and Monte Mor, south, and Hortolândia in the west.
Ecology
Most of the original vegetation of the city was largely eliminated. Like 13 other municipalities in the metropolitan region of Campinas, the city is subject to some environmental stress, and Campinas is considered one of the areas liable to flooding and silting; it now has less than 5% of vegetation cover in total area.
Trying to reverse this situation, several projects have been and are being conducted and planned, such as building corridors, and the regulation of the Management Plan of Environmental Preservation Area (APA) in Campinas. There are also several environmental projects to combat the destruction of riparian forests located along the banks of the Atibaia river, which has a high level of pollution. Today, Campinas houses the area of relevant ecological interest (ARIE) Mata de Santa Genebra, 251 acres (1.02 km2), established in 1985 by the city of Campinas' Fundação José Pedro de Oliveira and regulated by the Brazilian Environment and Renewable Natural Resources Institute (IBAMA). This is the now second-largest urban forest of Brazil, behind only the Tijuca Forest, in Rio de Janeiro.
The city also has smaller urban forest groves and reserve parks, such as Bosque dos Jequitibas (installed in 1881), Bosque dos Italianos (lit. 'Italian's Groove'), Bosque dos Alemães (lit. 'German's Groove'), Parque dos Guarantãs, as well as the larger Parque Portugal (best known locally as Lagoa do Taquaral - lit. 'Bamboo Grove Lagoon'), Parque Ecológico Monsenhor "Emílio José Salim" and Parque Ecológico "Dom Bosco".
Climate
The city has a tropical savanna climate (Aw in Köppen scheme). It was humid subtropical (Cwa type in the Köppen classification) before the current climatic table (1981-2010 period).
Winters are generally dry and mild (rarely too cold), and summers rainy with warm to hot temperatures. The warmest month is February, with an average temperature of 24 °C, an average maximum of 29.1 °C and average minimum of 19.0 °C. The coldest month, July, sees respective temperatures of 17.8 °C, and 24.2 °C and 11.4 °C average maximum and minimum. Fall and spring are transitional seasons.
The average annual rainfall is 1424.5 mm and the driest month in August, when there is only 22.9 mm. In January, the rainiest month, the average is 280.3 mm. In recent years, however, the hot, dry days during the winter have been increasingly frequent, often surpassing 30 °C, especially between July and September. In August 2010, for example, the rainfall in Campinas was only 0 mm. During the dry season and long dry spells in the middle of the rainy season are also common records of fires in the hills and thickets, especially in rural areas of the city, which contributes to deforestation and the release of pollutants into the atmosphere, further worsening air quality.
The lowest temperature recorded in the city was −1.5 °C on June 25, 1918. The highest temperature was 39.0 °C, observed on 17 November 1985. The highest cumulative rainfall recorded in 24 hours in the city between June 1988 and October 2008 was 143.4 mm in 25 days May 2005. Between 1890 and 2004 there were 41 occurrences of frost in Campinas. The most recent was on June 31, 2025, when the minimum temperature reached 1.8 °C. There are also occasional episodes of strong winds, with gusts exceeding 100 km / h, and training records were made in the city day May 4, 2001 and March 9, 2008.
The wet season is from mid-October to mid-April, with heavier rains particularly in December, January, February and early March, and the dry season is from mid-May to mid-September. Average rainfall is 24.3 mm in August and 267.8 mm in January. Average humidity ranges from 37% (August) to 56% (January).
In the region around Campinas near the state of Minas Gerais there are a number of cities which enjoy an even milder mountain climate, such as Serra Negra, Socorro, Lindóia and Águas de Lindoia, where several water spas are located.
Demographics
According to the 2022 Census, as of August 2022, Campinas had a population of 1,139,047 and a population density of 1.433,54 (inhabitants / km ²). Infant mortality levels were at up to 1 year (per thousand): 14.05 and life expectancy in the city was 72.22 years. The fertility rate was at 1.78 children per woman. 96.01 of the populace could read.
- Human Development Index (HDI-M): 0.852 (high)
- HDI-M Income: 0.845 (high)
- HDI-M Longevity: 0.787
- HDI-M Education: 0.925 (very high)
(Source: DATA)
Ethnicity
Source: 2022 census:
Composition
Source: 2022 Census
Population (IBGE): 1,139,047
Metropolitan region
As of 2010, Campinas became an official metropolitan region (RMC — Região Metropolitana de Campinas), with 19 municipalities, with a total of 2.8 million inhabitants and a total land area of 3,348 square kilometres (1,293 square miles) (data as of 2010), adjacent to the São Paulo metropolitan region (RMSP) and São José dos Campos (RMVale). The Campinas Metropolitan area also comprehends a gross domestic product (GDP) of R$70.7 billion (around U$42 billion).
The Campinas municipality is also the administrative center of the micro- and meso-regions of the same name. The micro-region includes the RMC (Metropolitan Region of Campinas) and the municipality of Elias Fausto; the meso-region also includes the following municipalities: Aguaí, Amparo, Águas da Prata, Águas de Lindóia, Caconde, Casa Branca, Divinolândia, Espírito Santo do Pinhal, Estiva Gerbi, Itapira, Itobi, Lindóia, Mococa, Mogi Guaçu, Moji-Mirim, Monte Alegre do Sul, Pedra Bela, Pinhalzinho, Pirassununga, Porto Ferreira, Santa Cruz das Palmeiras, Santo Antônio do Jardim, São João da Boa Vista, São José do Rio Pardo, São Sebastião da Grama, Serra Negra, Socorro, Tambaú, Tapiratiba, Vargem Grande do Sul and Vinhedo.
Other cities which are geographically, historically or economically tied to the meso-region of Campinas could be mentioned: Araras, Atibaia, Bragança Paulista, Capivari, Conchal, Iracemápolis, Itu, Itupeva, Jarinu, Jundiai, Limeira, Louveira, Mombuca, Morungaba, Piracicaba, Rafard, Rio das Pedras, Salto and Tuiuti.
Economy
Campinas is the richest city in the metropolitan region of Campinas and the 10th richest city in Brazil, showing a gross domestic product (GDP) of 36.68 billion reais (2010), which represents almost 1% (0.998%) of all Brazilian GDP. Currently, the city concentrates 10% of industrial production of Brazil. The paper highlights the high-tech industries and metallurgical park, considered the capital of Silicon Valley Sterling.
The region hosts 17,677 industries, the second largest number in the State of São Paulo.
The petrochemical complex is centered in the Southeastern section, a few miles from Campinas, near the refinery of Petrobras Planalto Paulista (Replan), the largest in Brazil one of the largest in Latin America, and has companies like Dupont, Chevron, Shell, Exxon, Group Ipiranga, Eucatex, Rhodia, and others. It is the hub of companies and Blue Trip. The largest companies have a global turnover of more than $80 billion, larger than many Latin American countries.
The city has several shopping malls, two of the largest being Iguatemi Campinas and Shopping Parque Dom Pedro. Campinas has, within its metropolitan area, the largest cargo airport for import/export, Viracopos International Airport, a significant entity in the international transport of cargo.
Campinas' main economic activities are agriculture (mainly coffee, sugarcane, and cotton), industry (textiles, motorcycles, cars, machinery, agricultural equipment, food and beverages, chemical and petrochemical, pharmaceuticals, paper and cellulose, telecommunications, computers and electronics, etc.), commerce and services.
The Campinas Metropolitan Region is home to many national and international high-tech industries and IT companies, including IBM, Dell, Motorola, NXP, Lucent, Nortel, Compaq, Celestica, Samsung, Alcatel, Bosch, 3M, Texas Instruments, CI&T and Daitan Archived 2019-06-08 at the Wayback Machine.
The airline TRIP Linhas Aéreas is headquartered in Campinas. The Viracopos airport is also the operational hub of Azul Airlines.
The automotive industry is also heavily represented: General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Magneti Marelli, Eaton Corporation, Tenneco, Toyota and many others are present. It also has a sizable pharmaceutical industry sector, with companies like Medley Farma, EMS Farma, Altana, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Cristália, Valeo, etc.