São Paulo
São Paulo (
pron. IPA: //;
Portuguese for
Saint Paul) is the
capital of the
state of
São Paulo in southeastern
Brazil. It is located at , 400
km (250
miles) from
Rio de Janeiro, and 1,030 km (640 miles) from federal capital
Brasília.
The city has an area of 1,523.0 square kilometres (588.0 sq. miles)
[1] and a population of approximately 10.9 million
[2] (2005 IBGE estimate), which makes it the largest and most populous city in the
Southern Hemisphere [
3] and a
global city.
19 million people live in the
greater São Paulo metropolitan area as defined by the government (Região Metropolitana) — making it one of the five
most populous in the world. The estimated population for 2050 is 21 million, due to urbanisation and the rapid increase in the number of migrants. However, when the many adjacent metropolitan areas, such as
Baixada Santista,
São José dos Campos,
Campinas,
Sorocaba, etc. are included, such as in the Extended Metropolitan Area (Complexo Metropolitano Estendido) São Paulo, there are nearly 29 million inhabitants, more than any other city in the world except
Tokyo with 35 million. (source: IBGE). The region forms an even larger urban corridor or
megalopolis with
Rio de Janeiro and
Volta Redonda.
The
state of São Paulo is also highly populated, however most metropolitan areas hug São Paulo with the exception of
Ribeirão Preto. The entire state has a population of over 40 million.
People from the city of São Paulo are called
paulistanos, while
paulista designates anyone from the whole of São Paulo state, including the
paulistanos. The city's motto is
Non ducor, duco, which is Latin for "I am not led, I lead".
|
Avenida Paulista at night |
São Paulo is a major business centre. The city has a multicultural metropolitan area, with heavy
Italian,
Spaniard,
Portuguese,
German,
Arab and
Japanese influences.
São Paulo is known for its varied and sophisticated cuisine, ranging from
Chinese to
French, from
fast food chains to five star restaurants. Other venues such as thousands of bars, pubs, lounges and discos cater to a variety of music tastes.
São Paulo is home to the
University of São Paulo and
Federal University of São Paulo, as well as many other private colleges such as the
Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo and
Mackenzie Presbyterian University, the latter founded by
North American
missionaries; two major art museums (
MASP and Pinacoteca do Estado), a major symphonic orchestra (
OSESP), and a
Formula One Grand Prix racing circuit (
Interlagos).
There are two major airports in the São Paulo metropolitan area:
Guarulhos (also known as Cumbica) (
GRU, for domestic and international flights) and
Congonhas (
CGH, for domestic flights).
Physical setting
São Paulo is located on a
plateau that is part of the
Serra do Mar (
Portuguese for "Maritime Range"), itself part of the vast region known as the
Brazilian Highlands, with an average elevation around 800m (2,625 ft) - though at a distance of only about 70 km (40mi) from the Atlantic Ocean. This distance is covered by two
highways (
Anchieta and
Imigrantes, see "Transportation" section below) that roll down the range, leading to the port city of
Santos and the beach resort of
Guarujá. Because of such setting, rolling terrain prevails within the urbanized areas of São Paulo. To the north, the
Serra da Cantareira (
Cantareira Range) offers higher elevations and a sizable remnant of the
Atlantic Rain Forest. The whole region is very tectonically stable, and no significant
seismic activity has ever been recorded.
|
Location of the Metropolitan Region |
The
Tietê River was once a source of
freshwater and recreation for São Paulo. However, in the latter half of the 20th century, like its tributary, the
Pinheiros, it became grossly polluted by raw sewage and industrial effluents. A substantial clean-up program for both rivers has met with some success. Neither is navigable in the stretch that flows through the city, but transportation is important on the Tietê further downstream, as the river is part of the
River Plate basin.
|
The building-dense Avenida Paulista surroundings as seen from the mostly low-rise neighborhood of Jardins |
There are no large natural lakes in the region, but the Guarapiranga and Billings reservoirs are used for power generation, water storage, and recreation.
The original flora consisted mainly of a great variety of
broadleaf evergreens. Today, non-native species are common, as the mild climate and abundant rainfall permit a multitude of tropical, subtropical and temperate plants to be cultivated, with
eucalyptus being especially ubiquitous.
Climate
Though thought of as drizzly and rather cool by some Brazilians, São Paulo's climate is by world standards actually warm and mild. The temperature ranges are comparable to such cities as
Los Angeles and
Mexico City, which are renowned for their pleasant climate. Summer temperatures seldom reach 30°C (86°F), and frost is extremely rare. All-time record temperatures are 38°C (100°F) and 0°C (32°F). Rainfall is abundant, especially in the warmer months. Snow is unknown in the area, as are
tropical cyclones, while
tornadic activity is uncommon.
| | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Avg high °C (°F) | 27 (81) | 28 (83) | 27 (81) | 25 (77) | 23 (74) | 22 (71) | 22 (71) | 23 (73) | 23 (73) | 25 (77) | 26 (78) | 26 (79) | 24 (76) |
| Avg low °C (°F) | 19 (67) | 19 (67) | 18 (66) | 17 (63) | 15 (59) | 13 (56) | 12 (54) | 13 (56) | 14 (57) | 16 (60) | 17 (63) | 18 (65) | 16 (61) |
| Rainfall mm (in.) | 241 (9.5) | 203 (8.0) | 142 (5.6) | 58 (2.3) | 43 (1.7) | 38 (1.5) | 28 (1.1) | 36 (1.4) | 58 (2.3) | 150 (5.9) | 122 (4.8) | 198 (7.8) | 1317 (51.9) |
|
Modern reconstruction, in Pátio do Colégio, downtown, of the Jesuit school (now a museum) and church which marked the foundation of the city in the 16th century |
The city was founded on
January 25,
1554, by Portuguese
Jesuit missionaries
José de Anchieta and
Manoel da Nóbrega, who established a
mission — the
Colégio de São Paulo de Piratininga — to convert the
Tupi-Guarani Native Brazilians to the
Catholic religion. Located just beyond the
Serra do Mar cliffs overlooking the port city of
Santos, and close to the
River Tietê, the new settlement became the natural entrance to the vast and fertile plateau that would eventually become the State of São Paulo.
First named
São Paulo de Piratininga, São Paulo officially became a city in 1711. It experienced a boom during the
coffee cycle, starting in the late 19th century — chiefly because of its privileged position next to the port of Santos, through which most of the country's exports were shipped.
After 1881, waves of
immigrants from Italy, Japan and many other countries arrived in São Paulo, at first to work at the enormous coffee
plantations established in the State. In the 20th century, with the increasing
industrial development of the country, many of them moved to São Paulo, which also attracted new contingents of immigrants.
São Paulo was home to the
Bandeirantes, who were responsible for a great deal of territorial expansion of Brazil and the discovery of great wealth. There are several monuments honoring their history in the city, including the famous Monumento às Bandeiras, one of the symbols of São Paulo.
Another important historical landmark is the Universidade de São Paulo's Law School, also known as
Largo São Francisco, claimed to be the first academic institution in Brazil. First installed into a monastery, it was founded on
1 March 1828, right after the beginning of the
Brazilian Empire, following the increasing need for lawyers and politicians. As rich Brazilians used to go to
Portugal to take undergraduate law courses, the Brazilian Emperor,
Dom Pedro I, decided that it was time to create a national law school. It attracted students from all over the country, who gave São Paulo a bohemian lifestyle.
In 1972 a fire disaster occurred in
Andraus Building and in 1974 in
Joelma Building.
São Paulo is the financial and industrial centre of Brazil. The city is considered to headquarter more German companies than any other single city outside
Germany. Likewise, it is also considered to headquarter more American companies among any other city outside the
United States. São Paulo's GDP is around US$ 76 billion, which makes it one of the richest cities in the world.
São Paulo's
stock exchange is the
Bovespa, while its
futures exchange is
BM&F. Its financial districts are located on the surroundings of
Avenida Paulista and in the
Centro Velho (Old Centre). Other important business districts are located in the boroughs of
Pinheiros and
Santo Amaro.
There are a number of highly specialised regions, like Bom Retiro and Brás (wholesale garment districts), Consolação (lighting equipment), Rua Santa Ifigênia (electrical and electronic parts), Rua Teodoro Sampaio (furniture and musical equipment), the posh
Rua Oscar Freire (designer and label stores), Avenida Europa (automobiles) and the crowded
Rua Vinte e Cinco de Março. São Paulo is also home to a large number of advertising and broadcasting companies.
In the last few years, São Paulo has become a major home to many international events and fairs, visited by the most varied audiences, ranging from scientists and artists to merchants and entrepreneurs, coming from Brazil and also abroad. Some of the most important events that usually take place in the city are:
*Shoes and Sport Items International Fair - COUROMODA
*Textile Industry International Fair - FENIT
*Construction International Fair
*Shoes, Fashion Accessories and Machines International Fair - FRANCAL
*Cosmethics and Beauty International Fair - COSMETICA
*Lodging-related products, services and equipment International Fair - EQUIPOTEL
*Car International Fair - Salão do Automóvel
*International Book Fair - Bienal Internacional do Livro
There has been a gradual change in the city economic profile since a decade ago, from a strongly industrialized base to service and technology-oriented activity. Intensive manpower-consuming industries have been replaced by a great number of high-technology industries and service providers of many flavors. Business has increased, many new colleges have been founded, and there has been a boom in many sectors, particularly shopping malls, entertainment, construction and business-oriented tourism.
|
Palácio dos Bandeirantes - Home to the state government |
Because of its economic and demographic weight, São Paulo has always played a pivotal role in
Brazilian politics. With a constituency larger than that of many Brazilian states, the mayor's office is viewed by politicians as a springboard for state and national-level offices.
São Paulo's latest mayors were:
See also: List of Mayors of São PauloSão Paulo is officially inserted in a larger metropolitan region named "Grande São Paulo" (
"Greater São Paulo"). The region holds, in total, 39 municipalities and a population of more than 19 million (as of 2005 according to IBGE).
The City of São Paulo is divided into 31 boroughs, whose names are:
Each borough is divided into several districts (in most cases, two or three). The borough with the greatest number of districts is the borough of Sé, in the historical downtown, with eight districts (Sé, República, Consolação, Santa Cecília, Bom Retiro,
Bela Vista,
Liberdade and Cambuci). In second place are the boroughs of Lapa, with six districts (Lapa, Perdizes, Barra Funda, Vila Leopoldina, Jaguara and Jaguaré) and Moóca, also with six districts (Moóca, Tatuapé, Belém, Pari, Brás and Água Rasa). The peripherical boroughs of Jabaquara and Ermelino Matarazzo have only one district.
Sights
*
Edifício Itália (skyscraper with observation deck)
*
Banespa Building (skyscraper with observation deck and museum)
*
Pateo do Collegio (founding site of the city)
Here is as summary of the events that occur every year or every two years in the São Paulo City:
Festival for Electronic Art
Every two years,
Associação Cultural Videobrasil's International Electronic Art Festival brings groundbreaking work by cream-of-the-crop artists from all over the world to São Paulo. In keeping with the constant transformations in media and support, the curatorship has added installations, performances, VJs, CD-ROM art, and internet art to the programme.
The Festival includes a competitive exhibition of so-called southern circuit and an extensive parallel programme. Art shows, debates and meetings introduce new ideas and art work, setting new guidelines for contemporary art in Brazil.
Exhibitions featuring work by prominent electronic artists are also part of the Festival. Brazilian pioneers such as Rafael França and Olhar Eletrônico, and international guests such as Nam June Paik, Bill Viola and Gary Hill, have featured in the event's past editions. Each edition has a theme of its own.[
4]
|
The well-known "Monumento às Bandeiras", by Victor Brecheret - one of the symbols of São Paulo |
Bienal de São Paulo
The
São Paulo Art Biennial is a cultural event hosted every two years. Almost 1 million people visited the 26th Bienal in 2004.
Its theme was chosen to enable a wide range of artistic positions to feel comfortable. The concept of "Free Territory" involved various dimensions: it had a physical-geographical, a socio-political as well as an aesthetic dimension " the latter, of course, being of greatest interest in the context of this exhibition.
In order to emphasise the thematic unity of the overall exhibition, the invited artists and those representing the countries are mixed together on the 25,000 square metres of the spacious
Oscar Niemeyer Pavilion. Despite the complexity of individual voices, the end result was intended to be a unity.
In addition to an intensification of the North-South dialogue inside Brazil, the Bienal's aims include the promoting of links between non-European cultures along a South-South orientation.
São Paulo Fashion Week
It seems that Brazil has finally entered the world of fashion with the increasing reputation of famous Brazilian top models such as
Adriana Lima,
Gisele Bündchen,
Fernanda Tavares,
Ana Beatriz Barros and
Ana Hickmann, and the "discovery" of some fresh talents such as
Alexandre Herchcovitch by some international fashion magazines. As a consequence of this,
São Paulo Fashion Week is the place to see and to be seen in Brazilian fashion scene, always attracting a number of international fashion editors and models.
Nowadays, São Paulo Fashion Week is one of the most relevant fashion events in Brazil. It takes place twice a year at the building of Bienal de São Paulo.
São Paulo Gay Parade
Also a major event in the city, the São Paulo Gay Parade[
5] has brought to
Avenida Paulista about 3 million people in 2006, according to official statistics. It is usually opened by the city's
mayor. A huge carnival goes all the way through the centre of the city. The last parade was held on June 17, 2006.
March For Jesus
The March for Jesus[
6] is a Christian parade in
Avenida Paulista, in 2005 about 3 million people had participated of this event. The first March for Jesus happened in 1987 in the city of
London, and was established by the partor Roger Forster, and by the singer and composer
Graham Kendrick. In 1998, more than 10 million people in more than 170 nations, congregating Christian of all the religions, age and races, had 1998 marched to celebrate
Jesus.
Saint Silvester Marathon
The
Saint Silvester Marathon takes place every
New Year's Eve (
31 December). It was first held in 1925, when the competitors ran about 8,000 metres around the streets. Since then, the distance raced has varied, and it is now fixed at 15 km. Registration takes place from
1 October, with the maximum number of entrants limited to 15,000.
Brazilian Grand Prix
The
Brazilian Grand Prix is a
Formula One championship race which occurs at the Autódromo
José Carlos Pace in
Interlagos. In 2005, for the first time, the Brazilian GP decided the World Championship, won by
Fernando Alonso.
Other events
*
Anima Mundi Festival*
AnimeCon - International Anime Convention*
AnimeDreams - International Anime Convention*
Mercado Mundo Mix*
São Paulo International Film Festival*
Carnival of São Paulo*
Skol Beats*
Tim Festival*
Festa de N. S. Achiropita*
Video Games LiveAs in the rest of Brazil,
football is by far the most important sport in the city. The most important clubs from the city are
Corinthians,
Palmeiras and
São Paulo. They are all playing in the
Brazilian Série A. The fourth club of the city is
Portuguesa, that is nowadays playing in
Brazilian Série B. However, the fourth most popular club in São Paulo is
Santos FC, which is from
Santos, and due to the nearness of both cities and because of Pelé (that played for Santos), they have supporters in São Paulo. There are other two small clubs in the city,
Juventus and
Nacional.
São Paulo also hosts the Formula One
Brazilian Grand Prix, in
Autódromo José Carlos Pace, located in Interlagos, and the
Saint Silvester Marathon.
Other major sports are basketball, volleyball, handball and tennis.
Football teams
|
Consolação subway station (Green Line) |
The city is crossed by many of the most important roads of the country, such as the
BR-116,
SP-270,
SP-280,
Rodovia Anhangüera,
Rodovia dos Bandeirantes,
Rodovia Anchieta,
Rodovia Castelo Branco and
Rodovia dos Imigrantes. Some
railways also cross the city. They are, however, very old and were constructed intending not to transport people, but to transport coffee to the
Santos seaport. However, there are new projects to build new medium-high speed railway tracks from São Paulo to
Rio de Janeiro (a project has been announced by the Brazilian government to build a high speed railway service in order to link the country's biggest cities, the trains would go as fast as 280 km/h, and would link São Paulo and Rio in about 1 hour and 30 minutes. These works are still waiting to be officially announced by the government, however some news has been heard on this matter), Campinas and to São Paulo-Guarulhos Airport. The other important project is the "Expresso Bandeirantes", that is a medium speed rail service (about 160 km/h) from São Paulo to Campinas, which would make the journey go from the hour and a half nowadays to about 50 minutes, linking São Paulo,
Jundiaí, Campinas Airport, and Campinas city centre. This service is also going to be connected to the railway service that is going to link São Paulo city centre and Guarulhos Airport. Works on this last railway service between São Paulo city centre and Guarulhos Airport were announced to begin in 2007, which is going to be the beginning of the renewal of Brazilian passenger railway service.
São Paulo has three airports. São Paulo had, in 2005, about 33 million people flying in and out its airports (mainly from Congonhas and Guarulhos airports, that are the ones that have commercial flights), according to the Infraero (the Brazilian state company that makes the administration of almost all the airports in Brazil). This made São Paulo the most crowded air space both in Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere (some figures above
Sydney and
Mexico City). The Infraero says that with the new remodeling of Guarulhos Airport, where the third terminal will be built, São Paulo air space is going to grow from the 33 million from last year to about 45 million in about 5 years, and there are some projects to expand the
Campinas Viracopos Airport (Campinas is located about 90 km from São Paulo going through the Bandeirantes-Anhangüera Motorway system) which, in about 15 years, will expand the limits in São Paulo-Campinas air space from the 34 million figure nowadays (in Campinas Airport last year flew about 1 million passengers) to 100 million in this 15 years time.
Congonhas Domestic Airport operates domestic and regional flights, mainly to Rio de Janeiro,
Belo Horizonte and Brasília.
Campo de Marte Airport handles some private and small airplanes.
Guarulhos International Airport, known to
paulistanos as "Cumbica", located 25 km north east from the city centre in the neighbouring city of
Guarulhos, operates domestic and international flights to the city.
|
The Luz Railway Station, in the downtown, built by english engineers |
São Paulo has the highest per capita
helicopter ownership in the developing world and now rivals Tokyo and New York as the world's leading helicopter user. The owners are an elite wealthy class who take advantage of around one hundred helipads and heliports to conveniently avoid heavy traffic and to rise above contact with the more dangerous aspects of urban life.
The city has 60.5 km of underground railway systems (34.6 km fully underground) (the
São Paulo Metro, locally known as the
Metrô), with 4 lines in operation and 57 stations (33 underground), complemented by another 270 km of
CPTM (Companhia de Trens Metropolitanos, or "Company of Metropolitan Trains") railways. Both CPTM and the underground railway lines carry some 3.5 million people on an average weekday, and a few new underground lines to be constructed are expected to add another million people to the system within the next five years. All the main projects from the São Paulo railway and underground system for the next 10 years can be found on the Portuguese pages of the
Metrô and
CPTM. The projects are said to expand the system from the current 330 km to more than 500 km on the next 10 years.
The bulk of the public transportation (public and private companies) is composed of approximately 17,000 buses, colored uniformily according to the non-central region served (ex.: light green for the buses that go center-southwest, dark blue for northern area). Until rencently, there was a strong presence of informal transportation (dab vans), now fully legalized and operating under the same color scheme of the main system.
São Paulo grew quickly from the 1940s to the 1980s and many roads and buildings were constructed without major planning. As a result, heavy traffic is common in the main avenues of the city, and
traffic jams are relatively common in its larger highways. The main means of commuting into the city is by car and by bus. An effective way of avoiding heavy vehicles traffic in the city, such as buses and trucks that crossed the city for other destinations, was planned by
Mário Covas as a ring of road that circles the city, called
Rodoanel Mario Covas, and is currently beeing built by
DERSA.
São Paulo has significant ethnic diversity in comparison to other major cities:
*3,000,000 people are direct or indirect descendants of
Portuguese.
*3,000,000 are direct or indirect descendants of
Italians. There is a building named
Edifício Itália (Italy Building), in honor of the Italians. It was once the tallest building of the city (165m).
*1,500,000 people have direct or indirect
African heritage.
*1,000,000 people are direct or indirect descendants of
Germans.
*850,000 people are direct or indirect descendants of
Lebanese immigrants— by far the largest number of Lebanese outside Lebanon.
*More than 1 million people are direct or indirect descendants of
Japanese. São Paulo has the largest number of Japanese outside Japan. The Japanese community's historical centre is the Liberdade neighborhood.
*There is a considerable number of people from the various
Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, especially
Argentina,
Uruguay,
Paraguay,
Bolivia, and
Chile.
*Note that many
paulistanos have mixed ethnic origins; the numbers above may count individual people in multiple groups.
Other sizable groups are:
*
Chinese*
Jews*
Koreans*
Armenians *
Lithuanian*
Romanian*
Spaniards*
Greek people*
Syrians*
Iraqis*
PolesLanguages
As in the rest of Brazil, Portuguese is the dominant and the mother language of the vast majority of the population. However, many other languages, such as
German,
Japanese,
Arabic,
Spanish,
Chinese, and
Korean, are still spoken by first and second-generation members of their respective ethnic communities.
Italian (its southern dialects in particular) was once widespread, and though most
Italo-Brazilians in the city are no longer fluent in it, typical
paulistano Portuguese retains a distinctive Italian cadence.
Sister cities
* Abidjan, Ivory Coast (1981)
* Alta Floresta, Brazil (1995)
* Amman, Jordan (1997)
* Asunción, Paraguay (1998)
* Bamako, Mali (2000)
* Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
* Budapest, Hungary (2000)
* Buenos Aires, Argentina (1999)
* Cluj-Napoca, Romania (2000)
* Coimbra, Portugal (1996)
* Córdoba, Spain (2001)
* Damascus, Syria (1999)
* Yerevan, Armenia (1999)
* Funchal, Portugal (1998)
* Góis, Portugal (2000)
* Havana, Cuba (1997)
* La Paz, Bolivia (1999)
* La Plata, Argentina (1988)
* Lima, Peru
* Leiria, Portugal (1996) |
* Lisbon, Portugal (1995)
* Luanda, Angola (1993)
* Macao, PR China (1999)
* Milan, Italy (1962)
* Mendoza, Argentina (1998)
* Norfolk, Virginia, USA (1988)
* Montevideo, Uruguay (2001)
* Naha, Japan (1998)
* Osaka, Japan (1985)
* Beijing, PR China (1999)
* Presidente Franco, Paraguay (1994)
* San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain (1990)
* Santiago, Chile (1998)
* Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2000)
* San José, Costa Rica
* Seoul, South Korea (1997)
* Shanghai, PR China (1988)
* Tel Aviv, Israel (2004)
* Toronto, Canada (1999) |
Since the beginning of the 20th century, São Paulo has been the major economic city of Brazil. With the advent of the two World Wars and the Great Depression, exports of coffee to the United States and Europe were critically affected, which led the rich coffee farmers to invest in industrialisation in the city. This fact attracted many people from other regions of the country, especially from the north east. From a population of merely 32,000 inhabitants in 1880 São Paulo increased its population to approximately 250,000 in 1900, 1,800,000 in 1940, 4,750,000 in 1960 and 8,500,000 in 1980. The effects of this population boom in the city are:
*São Paulo grew quickly and in a very disorganised manner. With no proper organisation the city grew without leaving much space for main roads and parks. Major traffic jams are relatively common on many roads of the city.
*Approximately 830,000 people live in shantytowns (favelas) in São Paulo and surrounding areas.
*The crime rate is high, as is the rate of police brutality. The so-called PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital or First Command of the Capital, in English) is a criminal faction whose terrorist attacks in May and in July 2006 shocked its citizens whom are already accustomed to high crime rates.
*As a consequence of the lack of developed green spaces and the relative impermeability of the paved ground, floods are common in particular areas of São Paulo. Rain water cannot be properly drained and water accumulates quickly, causing floods mostly during the summer.
*Air pollution is high. The two major rivers crossing the city, the Rio Tietê and the Rio Pinheiros, are severely polluted. A major project intended to clean up these rivers is underway, but complete success is not likely to be achieved for at least 14 years [citation needed].
*Although there are several parks across the city, given the size of the city the per capita green area of São Paulo is very small. This fact, associated with high crime rates, has led many paulistanos to choose to live in gated communities or high-rise secured condominiums.
*
Ayrton Senna*
Emerson Fittipaldi*
Rubens Barrichello*
Hélio Castroneves*
Amyr Klink*
Ricardo Semler*
Anita Malfatti*
Eder Jofre*
Robert Scheidt*
José Carlos Pace*
Rivelino*
Fernando Meirelles*
Cafu*
Leandro Barbosa*
Gustavo Borges*
Nenê*
Oswald de Andrade*
Mário de Andrade*
January 1 –
New Year*
January 25 – São Paulo's Anniversary — city holiday
*Between February and March –
Carnival (Brazilian national holiday, it happens on the Friday to Tuesday preceding
Lent. The holiday ends at noon on
Ash Wednesday)
*At the beginning of April (sometimes in March) –
Easter*
April 21 –
Tiradentes*
May 1 –
Labour Day*Second Sunday in May –
Mother's Day*Between May and June –
Corpus Christi (always a Thursday)
*
July 9 – Constitutional Revolution of 1932
(a state holiday in São Paulo State) *Second Sunday in August –
Father's Day*
September 7 – Brazil
Independence Day*
October 12 –
Our Lady's Day/
Children's Day
*
November 2 –
All Souls' Day*
November 15 – Republic Day
*
December 25 –
Christmas*
List of municipalities in the state of São Paulo by population*
Conservatório Dramático Musical de São Paulo*
1963 Pan American Games in São Paulo
*
List of Sao Paulo´s sister towns*
São Paulo Turismo S/A - Official Tourism Board of the City of São Paulo*
Large Cities Climate Leadership Group*
São Paulo Official Tourism Home Page*
Apontador – São Paulo Street Map*
Photo gallery of São Paulo's rail systems*
São Paulo mayoral race 2004 pages*
São Paulo City Hall Website*
São Paulo Official Tourist Agency Site*
São Paulo Official Home Page*
Brazil's Elites Fly Above Their Fears Washington Post article dated June 1, 2002.
*
Rich Brazilians Rise Above Rush-Hour JamsRelated wiki links
*
Photographs
*
Brazil Skyscrapers – Many Photos of São Paulo and its skyscrapers
*
A very complete photo album*
Virtual postcards (requires to locate and click on the option entitled "postcards")
*
skyscrapers*
Old Postcards from Brazil São Paulo Vintage Postcards - English and Portuguese
