Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Founding
Founding of São Paulo
largest city of Brazil, and capital of the State of São Paulo
- 25 January 1554
- South America
Founding
largest city of Brazil, and capital of the State of São Paulo
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
São Paulo (; Portuguese: [sɐ̃w ˈpawlu] ⓘ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the capital and largest city of the state of São Paulo. The largest city in Brazil, it is also the most populous city in the Americas. The city exerts international influence in commerce, finance, culture, gastronomy, arts, fashion, technology, entertainment and media, having been listed by UNESCO's Creative Cities Network as a "City of Film" and the title of "World Capital of Gastronomy", and by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as an alpha global city. It is the largest urban area by population outside Asia and the most populous Portuguese-speaking city in the world. The city is named after Paul the Apostle and people from the capital city are known as paulistanos (while paulistas refers to people from the state of São Paulo more generally).
Founded in 1554 by Jesuit priests, São Paulo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on the American continents. It played a strategic role during the Brazilian colonial period, serving as the center and starting point for the expeditions of the Paulista bandeirantes (pioneers) settlers for the territorial and economic expansion of the country; however, its economic opulence was consolidated during the Brazilian coffee cycle in the mid-19th century. From that period onward, it became the stage for landmark events in Brazilian history, such as the Cry of Ipiranga, the Modern Art Week, the 1932 Revolution, and the Diretas Já (Direct Elections Now) movement. In the 20th century, industrialisation consolidated its role as the main national economic hub, which made the city a cosmopolitan melting pot, home to the largest Arab, Italian, and Japanese diasporas in the world, with ethnic enclaves like Bixiga, Bom Retiro, and Liberdade, and people from more than 200 other countries. The city's metropolitan area, Greater São Paulo, is home to more than 20 million inhabitants and ranks as the most populous in Brazil and one of the most populous in the world. The process of conurbation between the metropolitan areas around Greater São Paulo also created the São Paulo Macrometropolis, the first megalopolis in the Southern Hemisphere, with more than 30 million inhabitants.
São Paulo is the largest urban economy in Latin America and one of the world's major financial centres, representing around 10% of the Brazilian GDP and just over a third of São Paulo state's GDP (the only Brazilian city to surpass the 1 trillion reais mark in GDP). The city is the headquarters of B3, the largest stock exchange of Latin America by market capitalization, and has several financial districts, mainly in the areas around Paulista, Faria Lima and Berrini avenues. Home to 63% of established multinationals in Brazil and the source of around one third of the Brazilian scientific production, São Paulo is among the top 50 science and technology clusters in the world. Its main university, the University of São Paulo, is often considered the best in Brazil and Latin America, while the city is regularly ranked as one of the best cities in the world to be a university student in the QS World University Rankings. The metropolis is also home to several of the tallest skyscrapers in Brazil, including the Alto das Nações, Platina 220, Figueira Altos do Tatuapé, Mirante do Vale, Edifício Itália, Altino Arantes Building, North Tower and many others. It is the state capital with the best basic sanitation, the second-most developed, according to the FIRJAN Municipal Development Index (2025), the sixth in the Social Progress Index (IPS) in Brazil, and the ninth most wooded in the country, which earned it the international titles of "Tree City of the World" from the United Nations (UN) and "Ibero-American Green Capital", in addition to recognition from Guinness World Records for the "largest food security program in the world".
The place of origin and/or disseminator of countless artistic, cultural, and gastronomic expressions, such as the caipira culture and cuisine, sertanejo music, Brazilian hip-hop and rock, and samba paulista, and the culinary matrix of creations like bauru, beirute, calabresa, coxinha, dadinho, parmegiana, pastel de feira, and picanha, the city is one of the main cultural, gastronomic, and entertainment hubs in the world. It is home to monuments, parks, and museums, such as the Latin American Memorial, Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo Museum of Art, Pinacoteca, Cinemateca, Itaú Cultural, Museum of Ipiranga, Catavento Museum, Football Museum, Museum of the Portuguese Language, and the Museum of Image and Sound. São Paulo also holds notable cultural events like the São Paulo Art Biennial, São Paulo Fashion Week, Lollapalooza, Primavera Sound, Comic Con Experience and the São Paulo Gay Pride Parade, the largest LGBT event in the world. São Paulo has also hosted many sporting events such as the 1950 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, the 1963 Pan American Games, the São Paulo Indy 300 and the NFL Brazil Games, in addition to hosting the annual Brazilian Grand Prix of Formula One and the Saint Silvester Road Race.
The first organised human settlements in the modern-day state of São Paulo is belived to have taken place in the early millennia of the Holocene, between 11,000 and 9,000 years ago. The oldest archaeological artefacts ever discovered in the municipality of São Paulo come from the Morumbi site, theorised to be from around 3500 BC.
The region of modern-day São Paulo, originally known as Piratininga plains around the Tietê River, was inhabited by the Tupi people, such as the Tupiniquim, Guaianás, and Guarani. Other tribes also lived in areas that today form the metropolitan region.
The region was divided in Caciquedoms (chiefdoms) at the time of encounter with the Europeans. The most notable cacique was Tibiriçá, known for his support for the Portuguese and other European colonists. Among the many indigenous place names that remain are Tietê, Ipiranga, Tamanduateí, Anhangabaú, Piratininga, Itaquaquecetuba, Cotia, Itapevi, Barueri, Embu-Guaçu, etc.
In 1532, Martim Afonso de Sousa founded the first Brazilian village of São Vicente on the coast of São Paulo. There, the first conflict between Europeans in South America took place, the Iguape War. Donatário of the Captaincy of São Vicente, Martim Afonso encouraged the occupation of the region.
The Portuguese village of São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga was marked by the founding of the Colégio de São Paulo de Piratininga on 25 January 1554 founded to catechise the indigenous peoples. The Jesuit college of twelve priests included Manuel da Nóbrega and Spanish priest José de Anchieta. They built a mission on top of a steep hill between the Anhangabaú and Tamanduateí rivers.
They first had a small structure built of rammed earth, made by Native Indian workers in their traditional style. The priests wanted to evangelize these Indians who lived in the Plateau region of Piratininga and convert them to Christianity. The site was separated from the coast by the Serra do Mar mountain range, called "Serra Paranapiacaba" by the Indians.
The college was named for a Christian saint and its founding on the feast day of the celebration of the conversion of the Apostle Paul of Tarsus. Father José de Anchieta wrote this account in a letter to the Society of Jesus:
The settlement of the region's Courtyard of the College began in 1560. During the visit of Mem de Sá, Governor-General of Brazil, the Captaincy of São Vicente, he ordered the transfer of the population of the Village of São Bernardo do Campo to the vicinity of the college. It was then named "College of St. Paul of the Piratininga". The new location was on a steep hill adjacent to a large wetland, the Várzea do Carmo. It offered better protection from attacks by local Indian groups. It was renamed Vila de São Paulo, belonging to the Captaincy of São Vicente.
In 1562, troubled by the alliance between the Tupiniquim and the Portuguese, the Tupinambás, united and launched a series of attacks against the village on 9 July. The defence organised by Tibiriçá and João Ramalho prevented the Tupinambás from entering São Paulo, and forced their retreat on 10 July of that year.
On 22 March 1681, Luís Álvares de Castro, the Second Marquis de Cascais and donee of the Captaincy of São Vicente, moved the capital to the village of São Paulo (see Timeline of São Paulo), designating it the "Head of the captaincy". The new capital was established on 23 April 1683, with public celebrations.
During the following two centuries, São Paulo remained a poor village isolated from the colony's centre of gravity, the coast, maintaining itself through subsistence crops. This isolation of São Paulo's isolation was mainly due to the fact that it was very difficult to climb the Serra do Mar on foot from the village of Santos or the village of São Vicente to the Piratininga Plateau. This ascent was made by the Caminho do Padre José de Anchieta. Mem de Sá, during his visit to the Captaincy of São Vicente, had forbidden the use of the "Caminho do Piraiquê" (today Piaçaguera), due to frequent assults by natives.
In the 17th century, men engaged in mineral exploration, the enslavement of Indigenous peoples, and the capture of runaway slaves in the southeast, then known as "paulistas" or "sertanistas," mobilised the expeditions of the bandeiras. Generally departing from São Paulo, these expeditions followed river courses, establishing trails and support points that would later develop into cities. Although they contributed to the territorial expansion of the colony of the State of Brazil, they were primarily characterised by the capture of Indigenous people for enslavement, often through attacks on Jesuit villages and missions. The principal "bandeirantes" included Fernão Dias Pais, Manuel de Borba Gato, Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva (Anhanguera), Domingos Jorge Velho, Antônio Raposo Tavares, Nicolau Barreto, and Manuel Preto.
In 1640, the Jesuits' strong opposition to the bandeirantes' capture and commercialisation of Indian labour led to conflicts between the two groups, culminating expulsion of the Jesuits from São Paulo until 1653.
The discovery of gold in the region of Minas Gerais, in the 1690s, brought attention and new settlers to São Paulo. The Captaincy of São Paulo and Minas de Ouro (see Captaincies of Brazil) was created on 3 November 1709, when the Portuguese crown purchased the Captaincies of São Paulo and Santo Amaro from the former grantees. Although less profitable than mines in Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso and Goiás, the search for gold in the then São Paulo de Piratininga is regarded as the first mining attempt in Portuguese South America, motivating the creation (Casa de fundição) of a Foundry House in the first century of colonisation.
Conveniently located in the country, up the steep Serra do Mar escarpment/mountain range when traveling from Santos, while also not too far from the coastline, São Paulo became a safe place to stay for tired travelers. The town became a center for the bandeirantes, intrepid invaders who marched into unknown lands in search for gold, diamonds, precious stones, and Indians to enslave. The bandeirantes, which could be translated as "flag-bearers" or "flag-followers", mounted expeditions into the land with the primary purpose of profit and the expansion of territory for the Portuguese crown. Trade grew from the local markets and from providing food and accommodation for explorers. The bandeirantes eventually became politically powerful as a group, and forced the expulsion of the Jesuits from the city of São Paulo in 1640. The two groups had frequently come into conflict because of the Jesuits' opposition to the domestic slave trade in Indians.
On 11 July 1711, the town of São Paulo was elevated to city status. Around the 1720s, gold was found by the pioneers in the regions near what are now Cuiabá and Goiânia. The Portuguese expanded their Brazilian territory beyond the Tordesillas Line to incorporate the gold regions. When the gold ran out in the late 18th century, São Paulo shifted to growing sugar cane. Cultivation of this commodity crop spread through the interior of the Captaincy.
The sugar was exported through the Port of Santos. At that time, the first modern highway between São Paulo and the coast was constructed and named the Calçada do Lorena ("Lorena's settway"). Today the estate that is home to the Governor of the State of São Paulo, in the city of São Paulo, is called the Palácio dos Bandeirantes (Bandeirantes Palace), in the Morumbi district.
After Brazil became independent from Portugal in 1822, as declared by Emperor Pedro I where the Monument to the Independence of Brazil is located, he named São Paulo as an Imperial City. In 1827, a law school was founded at the Convent of São Francisco, today part of the University of São Paulo. The influx of students and teachers gave a new impetus to the city's growth, thanks to which the city became the Imperial City and Borough of Students of St. Paul of Piratininga.
The expansion of coffee production was a major factor in the growth of São Paulo, as it became the region's chief export crop and yielded good revenue. It was cultivated initially in the Paraíba Valley region in the East of the State of São Paulo, and later on in the regions of Campinas, Rio Claro, São Carlos and Ribeirão Preto.
From 1869 onward, São Paulo was connected to the port of Santos by the Estrada de Ferro Santos-Jundiaí (Santos-Jundiaí Railroad), nicknamed The Lady. By the late 19th century, several other railroads connected the interior to the state capital. São Paulo became the point of convergence of all railroads from the interior of the state. Coffee was the economic engine for major economic and population growth in the State of São Paulo.
In 1888, the "Golden Law" (Lei Áurea) was sanctioned by Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil, abolishing slavery in Brazil. Until then, enslaved had been the main source of labor in the coffee plantations. After abolition, and following governmental stimulus towards the increase of immigration, the province began to receive a large number of immigrants, largely Italians, Japanese and Portuguese peasants, many of whom settled in the capital. The region's first industries also began to emerge, providing jobs to the newcomers, especially those who had to learn Portuguese.
By the time Brazil became a republic on 15 November 1889, coffee exports were still an important part of São Paulo's economy. São Paulo grew strong in the national political scene, taking turns with the also rich state of Minas Gerais in electing Brazilian presidents, an alliance that became known as "coffee and milk", given that Minas Gerais was famous for its dairy production. During this period, São Paulo went from regional center to national metropolis, reaching its first million inhabitants in 1928. Its greatest growth in this period was relative in the 1890s when it doubled its population. The height of the coffee period is represented by the construction of the second Luz Station (the present building) at the end of the 19th century and by the Paulista Avenue in 1900, where they built many mansions.
The Industrial Revolution created an cycle that followed the coffee plantation model. By the hands of some industrious families, including many immigrants of Italian and Jewish origin, factories began to arise and São Paulo became known for its smoky, foggy air. The cultural scene followed modernist and naturalist tendencies in fashion at the beginning of the 20th century. Some examples of notable modernist artists are poets Mário de Andrade and Oswald de Andrade, artists Anita Malfatti, Tarsila do Amaral and Lasar Segall, and sculptor Victor Brecheret. The Modern Art Week of 1922 that took place at the Theatro Municipal was an event marked by avant-garde ideas and works of art. In 1929, São Paulo won its first skyscraper, the Martinelli Building.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the valley of the Anhangabaú River was landscaped, and the region located on its left bank became known as Centro Novo, in the current district of the Republic. In the same period, the seat of the São Paulo government was transferred from the Pátio do Colégio to the Palácio dos Campos Elíseos, reflecting the city's expansion and modernisation movement.
The modifications made in the city by Antônio da Silva Prado, Baron of Duprat and Washington Luís, who governed from 1899 to 1919, contributed to the climate development of the city; some scholars consider that the entire city was demolished and rebuilt at that time. São Paulo's main economic activities derive from the services industry – factories are since long gone, and in came financial services institutions, law firms, consulting firms. Old factory buildings and warehouses still dot the landscape in areas such as Barra Funda and Brás.
Text from the Wikipedia article “São Paulo”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.