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- São Paulo:
Official website: http://www.saopaulo.sp.gov.br
Capital: São Paulo (State and city have the same name)
Area: 248,808 km2
Important cities: Campinas, Guarulhos, Santo André, Osasco, São Bernardo do Campo, São José dos Campos, Ribeirão Preto, Santos, Sorocaba, Diadema, Jundiaí
Economy: industry (petroleum, siderurgic, pulp and paper), agriculture
Important newspapers: O Estado de São Paulo;
Folha de São Paulo
The city of São Paulo is the capital of the State of São Paulo (the only other Brazilian State where this happens is Rio de Janeiro). The naturals or the State are called
paulistas, while those from the city are called paulistanos
São Paulo is, by far, the economic center of Brazil. Agriculture, industry, commerce and services are the most diversified of Brazil; although a large proportion is
exported to other States and other countries, the consumer market of the State is also the biggest in Brazil.
Differently from other States, where settlement started in the coast and moved inwards, in São Paulo the center of the economy was in a non-coastal city; even though
the city of São Paulo is located just about 100 km off the coast, there is a massive mountains chain (the Serra do Mar) which makes the journey difficult.
São Paulo is also the most multi-cultural State of Brazil. The bandeirantes used much of the indian culture to explore the State, back in the 17th century; black slaves
worked in the farms, but were soon replaced by foreigner immigrants of many nationalities (no other State received as many immigrants); more recently, the internal
migrations brought Brazilians from several other States to São Paulo.
- Physical Geography:
The geographic profile of the State of São Paulo can be divided in three zones (one of them sub-divided in anothre three): a narrow coastal zone; an abrupt mountain chain
(Serra do Mar) which clearly separates the coast from the interior lands; the interior plateau, which spans from Serra do Mar until the western border of the state (actually,
Serra do Mar is just the abrupt border of the plateau).
At Serra do Mar, altitudes vary between 800 and 1100 meters; there is an abrupt fall towards the coast and a light slope towards the west. The plateau has three distinct
sections: the area surrounding Serra do Mar has a basement of granitic rocks; a profound valley (about 200 m deep), called DepresSão Interior, also running from south-west
to north-east, separating two neighbour plateaus; the occidental plateau (Planalto Ocidental), which covers about half of the State, from the Depression to the western
boundaries.
- Climate:
The Tropic of Capricorn passes right over the city of São Paulo; climate of the State is tropical, with some variations caused by altitude. Along the coastline,
average temperature is 20 degrees, and pluviosity is over 2,000 mm, with rains well distributed along the year. The western plateau has the same average temperature,
but pluviosity is between 1,000 and 1,250 mm. In the areas of higher altitude (Serra do Mar and surroundings, which includes the city of São Paulo), temperature is
slightly lower (yearly average of 18 degrees), and pluviosity is between 1,250 and 2,000 mm.
- Soil and Vegetation:
Before the Portuguese arrived, the natural forest covered about 82% of the State; today, little is left (the largest portion of the original forest is today in the
steepest parts of Serra do Mar and Serra da Mantiqueira).
The area was devastated first for exploration of timber, then for plantations and cattle raising, and then for the opening of cities and urban areas. The State of São Paulo
has an advantage over all other States: the plateau areas which cover most of the State are the largest extension of fertile land in Brazil; this fact explains why the culture
of coffee thrived the most in São Paulo, and was followed by several other cultures. The soils lacked mineral nutrients, but the forest which covered the land for centuries
made it rich in organic material.
- Rivers:
Most rivers of São Paulo are tributaries of the Paraná river, which separates São Paulo from Mato Grosso. Being a region of plateaus, the rivers have a good hydroelectric
potential; there are plenty of hydroelectricity plants in the State, the largest of them in the rivers Paraná and Grande. Also because of plateaus, navigability of the
rivers is difficult; the Tiete, which begins at Serra do Mar and ends at the river Paraná, cutting through almost the entire State, has been made navigable by the
construction of several dams along its course.
Two important rivers flow to the ocean. The Ribeira do Iguape, in the south, brings fertility to an otherwise very poor area. The Paraíba do Sul flows into Rio de Janeiro
before reaching the sea; the areas around this river were the first to receive coffee, because of the combination of: proximity with Rio, fertile soils and navigability of
the river.
Tietê and Paraíba do Sul, the two rivers with more cities on their banks, are highly poluted. The Tietê is depositary of large amounts of raw sewage, while the Paraíba is
particularly affected by industrial wastings.
- History:
São Vicente, in the coast of São Paulo, was the first city founded in Brazil, on January 20th, 1532; the main reason for Martin Afonso de Sousa to found the village
was to guarantee the possession of the area, constantly visited by foreigners.
Cane was the first economic activity, but the farmers from São Paulo couldnīt compete with the northeasterns, because of the climate and, more important, because the coast
of São Paulo is much narrower (the coast is separated from the interior by the Serra do Mar; see Geography of São Paulo).
On January 25th 1554, jesuits on a mission to convert the indians walked up the Serra do Mar and founded a college, which would become the city of São Paulo. The jesuits
were followed by another group which also had intereste on indians: the bandeirantes, who chased indians to be enslaved in the cane plantations (later on, the bandeirantes,
in search of gold, would explore the unknown lands of what today is western Brazil.
The toponomy of the state shows how important was the influence of jesuits and bandeirantes in the History of São Paulo; no other state has so many cities and rivers named
after saints (thanks to jesuits) or after indian names (thanks to bandeirantes).
The jesuits were the only means of access to education for ordinary people (indians and non-indians) during colonial times (the Portuguese had no interest at all in providing
education). The bandeirantes were men who, despite all problems, and independent of official support, would put ahead their own enterprises (here, the isolation of the city of
São Paulo helped the bandeirantes, who had more freedom from the Portuguese administrators). These two groups, jesuits and bandeirantes, were fundamentals for the paulistas to
shape a character of perseverance and self-determination which distinguishes the state from all others, and were the basis (along with the influence of immigrants, which would
arrive a few centuries later) of the prosperity of the São Paulo.
Until the end of the 17th century, the bandeiras (the exploratory expeditions organized and led by the bandeirantes) were the main economic activity of São Paulo; initially,
the bandeiras chased indians, but after the traffic from African slaves was established, the goal of the bandeirantes was shifted to prospecting gold and combating fugitive
blacks.
They indeed found gold, but in the lands of Minas Gerais (see History of Minas Gerais); many paulistas moved to the gold regions, in search of quick richness, and the incipient
farms felt the lack of workers. In 1711, the area of Minas Gerais, which was part of the capitany of São Paulo, was dismembered; the province of São Paulo remained under explored.
The necessity to control the production and commerce of gold was the main reason to turn Rio de Janeiro into administrative center of Brazil; a consequence of this was that São
Paulo lost much of the former independence. With the decline of the gold activity (which was never found in São Paulo), the Portuguese decided to incentivate the culture of cane
in the state. The situation then was much different from the 1500s: there was a path between São Paulo and the littoral; the interior lands had been already explored by the
bandeirantes, and several villages had been founded; the state was much more populated, and, in a situation similar to Minas Geraisī, there were many people who had abandoned
the gold quest and were looking for an alternative occupation.
In the beginning of the 19th century, the sugar cane farms gradually occupied the banks of rivers Tietê and Paraíba do Sul, near the city of São Paulo (not by coincidence,
these areas were the first ones to see coffee farms, later on). São Paulo was going through a major change: the adventurous bandeirantes were giving way to the cane farmers
and sugar producers; however, while in the northeast the farms had an almost feudal structure (the patriarchs had nearly absolute power), in São Paulo there was a co-existence
between the farms and nearby urban cities; the prosperity of the farmers was accompanied by the progress of cities.
- The coffee:
Soon, the cane farmers realized the much better potential of coffee; as the cane plantations are completely removed during the cropping, in little time much of them had been
replaced by coffee. Also, the region between Campinas and Ribeirão Preto proved to have a soil (called terra roxa, or purple soil) particularly well adapted to the coffee; the
railways, necessary for the quick exportation of the product, followed the coffee; the port of Santos also saw a fast growth. By the middle of the 19th century, São Paulo was the
largest producer of coffee in Brazil; so profitable was the activity, that an official report of 1887 indicated that São Paulo was already the province with the highest income
levels.
In 1888, slavery was altogether abolished in Brazil; the abolishing law (Golden Law) followed the Law Eusebio de Queiros (1850), which had forbidden traffic, the Law of the Free
Newborns (1871), which had freed the offsprings of slaves, and the Law of Sexagenaries (1885), which had freed the elderly. Aware from the inevitability of the abolishion, the
São Paulo farmers, since the 1870s, had been contracting Italian immigrants to work with the coffee.
São Paulo was much less affected by the Golden Law than the northeast and even Rio de Janeiro, which had been relying on slave workforce for centuries. Even today, itīs
noticeable that São Paulo had a much weaker influence from black culture than the northeastern states or Rio de Janeiro (cariocas often say that São Paulo is the graveyard
of samba.)
On the other hand, São Paulo is the most multicultural state of Brazil; not only was there a large influx of many diferent immigrants, but most of them were promptly
incorporated to the society (in opposition, many immigrants who headed to other states formed colonies, which made the miscigenation more uncommon). The number of
immigrants had an exponential growth: in the 1860s, there were 1,681 people; in the 1870s, 11,730; over the following decade, about 184,000 immigrants entered São
Paulo. During the coffee cycle, the absolute majority of immigrants was Italian.
Despite not being among the richest provinces, São Paulo was one of the most politically influential during the Brazilian Empire; families like Andradas, Paula Sousa and
Vergueiro were important before the Independence and all through the Empire period. Moreover, while it was common to see Representatives of a same province fighting each
other, the paulistas disregarded punctual differences they might have and acted united to the defend the interests of the Province.
So, in the beginning of the 20th century, São Paulo was the richest Brazilian province, had the most educated and skilled population, and with politicians eager to assume
power. The State was ready to become economic and political leader of the Brazilian Republic.
Brazil became a Republic in 1889; the first two Presidents were militaries who commanded the republican revolution. Afterwards, Presidents were elected; São Paulo elected
the first three civilian Presidents, who ruled from 1894 to 1902: Prudente de Morais, Campos Sales and Rodrigues Alves.
From 1902 to 1930, a period known as Republica Velha (Old Republic), São Paulo divided powers with Minas Gerais, another State which had benefited from the coffee culture
and from the production of milk and dairy (the period was also known as Republic Coffee-and-Milk); there was a clear predominance of these two States, with an alternance
in the Presidency.
During the Old Republic, São Paulo consolidated the economic supremacy. The coffee farms reached a much larger area; benefited by the railways, many cities thrived; by 1930,
about 2,5 million immigrants had entered São Paulo (57% of the total number of immigrants to Brazil), most of them with crafts learned at their home countries.
Another major change was happening in São Paulo: industrialization. A mass of free, well paid salary men was being formed in the State, for the first time in the History of the
country. Using the financial savings of the coffee barons, entrepreneurs (often, immigrants with specialized skills) started small factories to supply goods for this growing
internal market; an extra boost came with the World War I, when importation of several products became harder or impossible.
Despite of this industrial growth, the economy was still heavily dependent on coffee in 1929, and the State was deeply hurt by the collapse of prices. The economic crisis
triggered political changes: unhappy with the supremacy of São Paulo, other States insurged against the results of the Presidential elections (which had been won by the
paulista Júlio Prestes), and Brazilians saw the Revolution of 1930. Getúlio Vargas took the Presidency and ruled the country until 1945; during this period, Getulio managed
to weaken the political influence of São Paulo, but, after the oposition was tamed, he had no interest in harm the economy of the State, and the growth continued.
After the collapse of the coffee, farmers and Government looked for alternative cultures. Official institutions researched a selected variety of seed, which proved to adapt
well to the soils of the State and became the main agricultural product; the cotton occupied not only much space previously taken by coffe, but also advanced westwards,
reaching lands still clear.
At the same epoch, many other cultures were introduced in the state; the old trend of large monocultural farms gave place to smaller, policultural farms. Meanwhile,
immigration continued, this time with a predominance of the Japanese; most Japaneses went to work in agricultural activies, and applied their experience with the
preparation of soil and with the experimentation of new products.
The industry kept growing; the coffee capitals were replaced by government and foreigner capitals. Getulio Vargas adopted (particularly during the World War II period,
when US and UK governments wanted to have Brazil as an ally) a nationalist policy, focused on the creation of a heavy industry and substitution of importations; by 1950,
the industrial production represented 80% of the economy of São Paulo.
The basic industries (steel, oil refineries), the large consumer market, the educated labor force, among other factors, kept attracting industries. During the 1950s,
when President Juscelino Kubstcheck gave incentives to foreigner car makers come to Brazil, General Motors, Volkswagen and Ford established plants in São Bernardo do
Campo (and were followed by many auto parts makers). The region of São Bernardo became the center of the Union movements in Brazil; Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, who would
become President of Republic, was an union leader here.
In the 1980s, a movement of economic decentralization began to be observed, and only became stronger afterwards. Factors like a nearly chaotic traffic, the growth of markets
in other cities, the cost of terrains, the constantly growing demands of unions, among others, pushed many new businesses to the interior. Cities like Campinas, Ribeirão Preto
and São José dos Campos became important industrial, commercial and university centers; many other places had fast development, but not enough to outplace the capital.
After the first decades of the 20th century, foreigner immigration slowed down, but another phenomenon became more and more clear: the internal immigration; attracted by
the prosperity, millions of Brazilians (mostly from the Northeastern States) migrated to São Paulo, especially the capital city; lacking education and other skills, the
absolute majority ended up working in lower jobs, such as civil construction; São Paulo (known, during the 1980s, as the fastest growing city in the world) had many of
their sky-scrapers built by the nordestinos.
The internal migration had cultural impacts. Recent census show that São Paulo has more northeasterns than most capital cities in the Northeast. Vocabulary, culinary and
general habits of other Brazilians were incorporated to the culture of São Paulo, mixing up with the cultures of the indians, Portuguese, blacks and other immigrants who
had come before. Besides being the richest, São Paulo is the most multicultural State of Brazil.
- Economy and Infrastructure:
- Agriculture:
Besides being the largest industrial, commercial and services center of Brazil, the state of São Paulo is also the most important agricultural producer in the country.
Coffee was the main product from the second half of the 19th century until the first decades of the 20th century; plantations were monocultural, and the production was majorly
directed to exportation. With the quick development and urbanization of the state, a huge consumer market was created; the focus of production was shifted to this new market,
and there was ample diversification of cultures. Today, the farmers paulistas supply products for the consumers of the State, the several food industrializers, other Brazilian
states and, in some cases for exportations.
Despite the diversification of cultures, coffee is still the most important product, measured by value; vast portions of land which had changed culture, because of the
degradation of fertility, were recently recovered by means of organic and chemical fertilization, and are now producing coffee again; the coffee farms are dispersed all
across the State.
The orange farms had a quick expansion, with a concentration on cities near the capital, São Paulo (Sorocaba, for example, is a large producer); the combination of good
natural conditions (soil, climate) and modern technology (seed selection, fertilization) helped Brazilian producers to become the most efficient in the world; a discussion
has been going on at the World Trade Organization because the Florida government recently introduced an overtax on the Brazilian orange juice, based on - false - allegations
of dumping.
São Paulo is the largest producer of cane (more than half of the national production); however, while in the past the cane was used mostly for production of sugar which was
exported to Europe, nowadays a good proportion goes into producing etanol, which is used in Brazil (pure or mixed to gasoline) as vehicles fuel. The regions of Piracicaba and
Ribeirão Preto have the highest concentration of cane farms.
After the crisis of coffee, in the beginning of the 20th century, cotton was chosen to replace it; the cotton plantations occupied the lands of the western boundaries of the
State (which had not been reached by coffee yet), and until then that area concentrates the highest number of cotton farms.
Other important cultures are corn (usually associated with animals feeding), soy (São Paulo doesnīt have the abundance of cerrados as Goiás or Tocantins), banana and rice.
In some cities around the metropolitan region of the capital, there is a so called green belt, cultivated mostly by Japanese immigrants, which supplies fresh vegetables and
leaves to the city of São Paulo.
- Cattle raising:
Many ranches from neighbour States (Minas Gerais, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul) send animals to be slaughted in São Paulo; the cities of Barretos, Araçatuba, Andradina and
São José do Rio Preto are important beef centers, from where trucks are dispatched to the consumer markets of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
The region of Vale do Paraíba, near the border with Minas Gerais, has a concentration of milk production farms.
- Industry:
São Paulo is, by the far, the most important industrial State of Brazil. The region which surround the city of São Paulo, which includes the cities of Santo André, São
Bernardo, São Caetano, Diadema (known as ABCD), Guarulhos, Osasco, Suzano and others (collectively known as Grande São Paulo) concentrates the largest and most diversified
industrial park of the country.
Other important regions which enriched with agriculture have become important industrial centers. The Vale do Paraíba, between the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro,
concentrates the aerospacial industry of Brazil. Campinas, with several universities, has been attracting technology industries. Ribeirão Preto is the biggest Brazilian
producer of sugar and alcohol. Franca, in the far north, is famous for shoes and leather products.
With the saturation of the larger cities, there is a movement towards the interior; because São Paulo has the best infrastructure of the country (telecommunications, energy,
roads), new projects have been attracted by incentives (tax breaks, free real estate) offered by governments (both from municipalities and from the State) to settle in places
outside the crowded capital.
São Paulo, however, will keep the industry supremacy for the foreseenble future.
- Energy:
São Paulo is the largest producer and consumer of energy in Brazil. Almost 90% of the energy comes from hydroelectric plants; São Paulo imports energy from other States
and countries (technically, half of the Itaipu plant, the biggest in Brazil, belongs to Paraguay).
Prospections conducted in the 1970s (a company called PauliPetro was created and eventually bankrupted) showed that São Paulo is poor in petroleum; still, the state has four
refinaries, more than any other.
More recently, themal plants have been built, to reduce dependance on hydro power (and rains); also, big consumers (like the steel mills) have been using more and more
natural gas.
- Transports:
There are roads connecting São Paulo to all neighbours. The most important roads are Anchieta and Imigrantes (São Paulo -Santos), Anhanguera (São Paulo - Campinas),
Fernão Dias (São Paulo - Belo Horizonte), Dutra (São Paulo - Rio de Janeiro), Castelo Branco (São Paulo - Presidente Prudente), Regis Bittencourt (São Paulo - Curitiba).
Railways were of fundamental importance for the growing of the coffee culture; rails were laid all over the state, following the coffee path. Today, most of the transportation
(both of cargo and passengers) is made via the roads, but many railways are still operational; the two most important are the Santos - Jundiaí (it used to be the most important
of all lines, because it was the only one connecting São Paulo to the port of Santos, from which coffee was exported), which cuts through the mountains of Serra do Mar, and the
Noroeste (Northwest), which reaches the border with Bolivia.
All railways are now administered by a holding company called FEPASA (Ferrovias Paulistas S.A.); FEPASA also maintains the urban trains that serve the city of São Paulo, and
which are still an important means of transportation for paulistanos.
- Waterways:
Because most rivers of São Paulo have a steep profile, the navigation is made difficult (it must be noted, however, that the river Tiete, which goes from the city of São Paulo
to the western boundaries, was the main means of transportation used by the bandeirantes in their expeditions). Today, after a system of dams and ecluses was built, a stretch
of a few hundred kilometers of the Tiete is used for transportation of cargo.
- Airports:
There are three major airports in the state. Congonhas, in the urban area of the city of São Paulo, serves mostly short distance flights (from Rio and Minas Gerais);
the airport canīt receive the bigger aircrafts. The airport of Cumbica, in the city of Guarulhos, is the largest airport in Brazil, with connections to the country and the
world. Viracopos used to be the international airport of São Paulo until the 1980s, when Cumbica was opened; today, Viracopos is the airport which handles most international
cargo flights.
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