São Paulo (city)

I

Introduction

São Paulo (city), city in southeastern Brazil, the most populous city in South America, and one of the largest cities in the world. The city is the capital of São Paulo state and the commercial and financial center of Brazil. It is situated among the hills of the Serra do Mar on the Piratininga Plateau at an elevation of about 730 m (about 2,400 ft). It is crossed by the Tietê River. A steep mountain slope, known as the Great Escarpment, extends along much of the coastal region of southeastern Brazil. It separates São Paulo from its port city of Santos, located about 60 km (about 40 mi) to the south on the Atlantic Ocean. São Paulo was founded on January 25, 1554, by Jesuit missionaries who came to the region seeking to convert Native Americans to Christianity. The settlement was named after the 1st-century Christian missionary Saint Paul, who was converted to Christianity on January 25.

São Paulo has great significance in Brazil. The population of the urban agglomeration was estimated at about 17.9 million in 2000 and accounts for 10 percent of the nation’s total. Industrial production in the state, most of which occurs in the São Paulo metropolitan area or its environs, accounts for about 50 percent of the nation’s output. This large population and industrial base have combined to make São Paulo the most important city in Brazil. Industrialists and labor unions are both powerful political forces in São Paulo, and their influence on the nation’s economy and politics reaches far beyond the confines of the city and state of São Paulo. Many prominent Brazilian politicians are from São Paulo, including former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2003).

São Paulo lies almost exactly on the tropic of Capricorn, which marks the southern boundary of the tropics. The city’s climate is subtropical, with an average annual temperature of 19° C (66° F), but there are considerable seasonal variations. The summer months, November to March, when most of the rainfall occurs, can be humid and hot. Temperature highs and lows in the summer average from 27° C to 19° C (from 81° F to 66° F) respectively, although daily highs sometimes reach into the mid-30°s C (mid-90°s F). The city’s elevation on the plateau moderates summer temperatures. In the winter months, mean high and low temperatures drop to about 20° C and 10° C (68° F and 50° F) respectively. During the winter the city is sometimes influenced by cold low-pressure systems from the South Atlantic. These can cause temperatures to drop below freezing and cause significant damage to the coffee crops in the surrounding agricultural areas.

II

São Paulo and Its Metropolitan Area

Originally founded as São Paulo de Piratininga, the city is known simply as São Paulo today. Its residents are referred to as Paulistanos, while those who reside outside the city, but in the surrounding state of São Paulo, are called Paulistas.

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São Paulo is an immense city. The city proper covers an area of about 1,500 sq km (about 580 sq mi) and the metropolitan region spreads out over about 7,900 sq km (about 3,100 sq mi). The commercial core of the city is found in an area known locally as the Triângulo (Triangle). The large Praça da República (Plaza of the Republic) forms one of the center’s key geographical anchors, and many hotels and restaurants are located on adjacent streets. In addition, there is a wide range of commercial, retail, and office establishments located in the area, as well as a number of the city’s principal landmarks. These include the 42-story Edifício Itália (Italian Building); the nearby modernistic S-shaped skyscraper, the Copan Building; and the Municipal Theater, which blends art nouveau and Italian Renaissance architectural styles. The imposing and architecturally significant German Gothic Municipal Market is on the northeast margin of the city center, near Dom Pedro II Park.

The historic core of the city is located just southeast of the commercial core and is focused on the Páteo do Colégio, the site of the city’s original founding. During the 1970s two of the city’s first structures, a chapel and mission house known as the Anchieta House, were reconstructed (the originals had been constructed in 1554). Several other churches of historical significance are located nearby—the Church of Carmo, the San Francisco Church, and the Church of San Antonio. The neo-Gothic cathedral, Our Lady of the Assumption, is located nearby on Cathedral Plaza. The influential and historically significant Law Faculty of the University of São Paulo is located several blocks to the east.

A second, more modern business center for the city is being created along Avenida Paulista, just southwest of the Triangle business district. A number of business functions, especially banking and finance, are concentrated in this area. The striking, triangular high-rise building housing the Industrial Federation of the state of São Paulo towers over Avenida Paulista.

There are a number of residential districts in the city. Historically, the city’s most successful and elite merchants and coffee growers built their mansions along Avenida Paulista. The area to the south of the avenue, including Jardim Paulista and Jardim America, is an upper-middle class neighborhood. Other residential districts in the central portion of the city include Jardim Europa, Cantareira, and Brooklyn. Many Paulistanos live in desperate conditions; it is estimated that 3 million live in slum tenements, known as corticos, and 1 million in shantytowns, known as favelas. Many of the people who have migrated from the impoverished states of northeastern Brazil to São Paulo are concentrated in the vast slum neighborhood of Brás.

The city’s population is decidedly multiethnic, and several residential districts close to the central city core are strongly identified with various immigrant groups. Liberdade is the center of the Japanese population and has a sprinkling of Chinese and Koreans. Just to its east, Bela Vista, or Bixiga, is the Italian area. The neighborhood north of the city center, Bom Retiro, is the traditional home to Lebanese and Arab immigrants and still retains a Middle Eastern flavor.

The São Paulo metropolitan region includes a multitude of independent municipalities or towns. Many of the region’s key manufacturing activities are located in the outlying municipalities. Significant among these are Santo Andre, São Bernardo do Campo, and São Caetano do Sul—sometimes known as the ABC suburbs where automobile, steel, and other manufacturers have concentrated. Other important municipalities include Guarulhos, Diadema, Mogi das Cruzes, and Osasco.

III

Population

São Paulo’s population has grown rapidly. By 1960 it had surpassed that of Rio de Janeiro, making it Brazil’s most populous city. By this time, the urbanized area of São Paulo had extended beyond the boundaries of the municipality proper into neighboring municipalities, making it a metropolitan area with a population of 4.6 million. Population growth has continued since 1960, although the rate of growth has slowed. In 2004 the city’s population stood at 10,838,581and it was estimated that 17.9 million people lived in the urban agglomeration.

The population of São Paulo is a diverse mix of ethnic groups. Significant numbers of its people are of southern European origin. During the coffee boom in southern Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Italians and Spaniards immigrated in large numbers. The city’s mix also includes the descendants of other immigrants, including Germans, Russians, Armenians, Lebanese, Arab, Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans. São Paulo also has a Jewish community, one of the largest in South America. Only about 10 percent of the city’s population is of African or mixed-African descent, unlike the situation in many Brazilian cities where percentages are much higher.

IV

Education and Culture

São Paulo vies with Rio de Janeiro as the nation’s principal center of education and culture. The city has major public and private institutions of higher education. Public universities include the State University Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (1976), and the even larger University of São Paulo (1934), which incorporates the city’s famous and influential Faculty of Law. Important private universities are Mackenzie University, originally founded by Presbyterian missionaries from the United States (1870); the Paulista University (1972); the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (1946); and the University São Judas Tadeu (1971).

The city is home to the São Paulo Museum of Art, which houses the best collection of Western art in Latin America, including originals of Rembrandt, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso. The São Paulo State Museum specializes in Brazilian art, while the Sacred Art Museum focuses on religious art and artifacts. Other important museums include the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Aeronautics Museum, the Folklore Museum, and the House of the Bandeirante. The São Paulo International Bienal, an international contemporary art show, held from October through December in odd-numbered years is one of the city’s premier cultural events. Two symphony orchestras make their home in the city, the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and the Municipal Symphony Orchestra.

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