Teresina
Teresina is the capital and most populous municipality in the Brazilian state of Piauí. Being located in north-central Piauí 366 km from the coast, it is the only capital in the Brazilian Northeast, not located on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. With 814,439 inhabitants, Teresina is the 19th largest city in Brazil, the 15th largest state capital in the country. Together with Timon in the nearby state of Maranhão, it forms a conurbation with a population of about 953,172 inhabitants; the only natural barrier that separates Teresina from Timon is the Parnaíba river, one of the largest in the Northeast. Teresina is the capital with the second best quality of life in the North-Northeast according to FIRJAN. According to IPEA, Teresina is the third safest capital of Brazil, it is among the 50 cities in the world with the highest murder rates, with 315 homicides in 2017. Its motto is the Latin phrase Omnia in Charitatis, which means, in English, "All for charity"; the city is the birthplace of, among others, Torquato Neto, who belonged to the Tropicalismo movement.
Its Cathedral Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora das Dores, dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, is the archiepiscopal see of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Teresina. Teresina was founded on August 16, 1852 under the name of Vila Nova do Poty as the capital of the state of Piauí, it was the only northeast capital located out of the coast. Until 1852, Oeiras was the capital of the Piauí Capitany, however due to difficulties in communication and trade, the capital was transferred to an area next to the Parnaíba River, to the other cities and to the sea coast. Colonization of the area where Teresina is now located dates back to the 18th century; the chosen place was a small community of fishermen, in 1760, nearby Poty and Panaíba rivers, which grew into a village called “Vila do Poty”, due to the inundation of the Parnaíba River riverbanks, the city had to be built in a higher position. In the 19th century, it was called Vila Nova do Poty, but the city was renamed Teresina, in honor of the Empress Teresa Cristina, the wife of the Emperor of Brazil, Pedro II.
Teresina is the hottest city in the country and the third city with the major incidence of lightning in the world. Nowadays, Teresina's economy is based on trade. Sights include Casa da Cultura de Teresina, exhibiting elements of the culture of the city, home to cultural events Centro Artesanal "Master Dezinho", home to handcrafts made of various materials clay, decorated with paintings. Parque Zoobotânico', a zoo with typical animals of the Brazilian fauna and other countries. Igreja de São Benedito, the main Catholic church of the city Museu do Piaui, with numerous elements of the history of Teresina and of Piauí in general, including antiques and documents. Teresina is located on the east side of the Parnaíba river at the border with Maranhão state, at an altitude of about 72 meters; the city faces the city of Timon across the river and is situated between the Parnaíba river and its tributary the Poti River. The two rivers join at the city's northern end. Teresina is the largest capital in the northeastern territorial extension, with 1.755,698 km².
Located in a transition zone between the northeast and the Amazon, Teresina is surrounded by mata dos cocais and cerradões where many carnaúba, babaçu, buriti palms, jatobás, ipês, many other medium-sized trees can be seen. In the region there are remnants of Teresina Atlantic Forest, which makes the landscape shrub coverage rich and dense. Teresina has a tropical wet and dry climate with two seasons with semi-humid characteristics: the rainy season and the dry season. From January to May, due to the rains, the weather is warm and wet, while from June to August the climate gets dry with cool nights; this Period during the year is referred to as "Bro" by locals as the hottest months end with -bro in Portuguese: setembro, outubro and dezembro. A peculiar feature of the rains in the city are their speed and intensity, with strong winds, large force of water and common lightning; the annual rainfall stands at around 1,400 mm. Hot most of the year, Teresina has an average temperature around 27 °C, with a minimum of 20 °C in July and a maximum of 3^ °C in October.
The lowest recorded in Teresina was 12 °C in June, while in the hottest season, the record exceeds 40 °C. These fluctuations are mitigated by the contribution of the winds. Air quality is considered good in Teresina, except in the driest period, when the relative humidity drops, there are occurrences of fires. In Teresina there are 634 health institutions, eight hospitals, 181 clinics and 170 clinics, employing some 15,000 people. Moreover, there is a significant number of small "pension" that host people from the hinterland of Piauí and neighboring states in search of health services in Teresina. Portuguese is the official national language, thus the primary language taught in schools, but English and Spanish are part of the official high school curriculum. Universidade Fe
Dual gauge
A dual gauge railway is a track that allows the passage of trains of two different track gauges. It is sometimes called a "mixed gauge" track. A dual gauge track consists of three rails. There will be two vital rails, one for each gauge close together and a third rail, a "common" rail further away. Sometimes, four rails are required using two outer and two inner rails to create the dual gauge. Dual gauge is not to be confused with a "third rail" or "check or guard rails". Rail gauge, the distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of travel rails, is an important specification of a railway. Rail tracks and wheel bogies must be built to the same gauge within an engineering tolerance of 13 mm. If the correct gauge is not achieved, the train will fall off the track and not be able to pass switches and crossovers. Dual gauge trains can use low level platforms. In the case of three rails and high platforms, one gauge may be too close or too far away, depending on the position of the common rail.
Another option at platforms is to construct one for each gauge. If the difference between two rail gauges is small enough, i.e. within each others tolerances it is possible for them to operate the same rolling stock. At the Finland–Russian border the Finnish railway gauge is 1524 mm and the Russian gauge is 1520 mm; when the Soviet Union changed the gauge of its railways in Russia in the 1970s to 1520 mm, this did not result in a break of gauge and no track conversion work was done. The change in gauge was a redefinition of the way. Both railways can run the same rolling stock. However, being within a tolerance in gauge does not always mean that two different system can operate the same rolling stock. For example, the MTR in Hong Kong 1,432 mm Electric multiple units may run on Kowloon-Canton Railway 1,435 mm rails but will need a locomotive or a KCR EMU pulling due to the difference in electrification voltages. "Break of gauge" occurs. Passengers and freight must transfer between trains, or rolling stock must be lifted and the bogies refitted for the new gauge.
Avoiding break of gauge reduces costs and allows infrastructure such as platforms and tunnels to be shared. Railway operators may change from one gauge to another via a period of dual gauge operations. For example, the Great Western Railway made a conversion from a 7-foot broad gauge to the standard gauge via a period of dual gauge operations across its network. New GWR rolling stock and locomotives of that time were built to accommodate the change. Where rails are too light for the loads of broader-gauge railcars, dual gauge rails may not be feasible. In this case, heavier rails are installed. One common running rail and two other outer rails provide a dual gauge. In dual gauge lines, railroad switches are more complex. Trains must be safely signalled on both of the gauges. Track circuits and mechanical interlocking must operate on both gauges. Another feature is that the wear and tear of the common rail is greater than the two other outer rails. Dual gauge track with three rails must provide a difference between the gauges at least as wide as the foot of the rail.
This is to ensure there is room for rail fastening hardware such as clips. Functional pairing of gauges include: standard gauge and 1,676 mm. Standard gauge and 1,600 mm can be dual gauged, albeit with lighter, narrow footed rails. An example of this type of pairing is seen in Australia. Gauges which are too close to function in a three rail arrangement include 1,000 mm metre gauge and 3 ft 6 in; the last combination is common in Afghanistan, Central Asia, northern and eastern Europe, North America and China. In Europe, it was of strategic importance in World War II. In these cases, a gauntlet track which uses four rails is constructed. An example of this is seen at the Rail Baltica project which aims to connect central and northern Europe by rail. Four rails may be used where a co-location of track centres of the two gauges is needed; this might occur in past platforms. An example is seen at the Roma Street railway station in Brisbane, Australia. There, both three rail and four rail dual gauge systems are used between 1,435 mm and 1,067 mm gauges.
Break of gauge occurs at some triple gauge stations. In the examples below, the triple gauge was used in rail yards. Thus, if required, light rail could be used to space the rails together. Light rail was not used at the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge and it would not be used for main line operation at high speeds. Within a works facility or maintenance yard, tracks consisting of four or more separate gauges may be used. At Alan Keef in Lea, Herefordshire a short section of line uses four rails to allow locomotives of 2 ft, 2 ft 6 in, 3 ft and 3 ft 6 in gauges to enter the works; the National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide in Adelaide, Australia has the three main-line gauges and a 18 in gauge Heritage railway line. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Electro-motive diesel plant in McCook, Ill
BRIC
In economics, BRIC is a grouping acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia and China, which are all deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development. It is rendered as "the BRICs" or "the BRIC countries" or "the BRIC economies" or alternatively as the "Big Four". A related acronym, BRICS, adds South Africa. There are arguments that Indonesia should be included into grouping turning it into BRIIC or BRIICS. BRIC was coined by Jim O'Neill in 2001 as an acronym of four countries that were all deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development, but in 2009 the leaders of BRIC countries made the first summit and in 2010 BRIC became a formal institution. South Africa began efforts to join the BRIC grouping and on December 24, 2010, was invited to join BRICS; the original aim of BRIC was the establishment of an equitable and multi-polar world order, but BRIC became a political organization after South Africa joined. Jim O'Neill, told the summit that South Africa, at a population of under 50 million people, was just too small as an economy to join the BRIC ranks.
But the future of BRIC as an economy group is questionable. In 2012, a book with the title Breakout Nations mentioned that it is hard to sustain rapid growth for more than a decade; the economic potential of Brazil, Russia and China is such that they could become among the four most dominant economies by the year 2050. The thesis was proposed by global economist at Goldman Sachs; these countries encompass over 25% of the world's land coverage and 40% of the world's population and hold a combined GDP of $20 trillion. On every scale, they would be the largest entity on the global stage; these four countries are among fastest-growing emerging markets. They have taken steps to increase their political cooperation as a way of influencing the United States position on major trade accords, or, through the implicit threat of political cooperation, as a way of extracting political concessions from the United States, such as the proposed nuclear cooperation with India; the BRIC thesis recognizes that Brazil, Russia and China have changed their political systems to embrace global capitalism.
Goldman Sachs predicts that China and India will become the dominant global suppliers of manufactured goods and services, while Brazil and Russia will become dominant as suppliers of raw materials. Of the four countries, Brazil remains the only polity that has the capacity to continue all elements, meaning manufacturing and resource supplying simultaneously. Cooperation is thus hypothesized to be a logical next step among the BRICs because Brazil and Russia together form the logical commodity suppliers. In 2016, an economist from Australia predicted that in 2050, based on Gross Domestic Product per capita spending, China will be the first and followed by India and the United States. Indonesia which nowadays does not belong to BRIC countries will jump from 9th position to 4th position, and Brazil will be in fifth position. It is due to the global economic center; the Goldman Sachs global economics team released a follow-up report to its initial BRIC study in 2004. The report states that in BRIC nations, the number of people with an annual income over a threshold of $3,000 will double in number within three years and reach 800 million people within a decade.
This predicts a massive rise in the size of the middle class in these nations. In 2025, it is calculated that the number of people in BRIC nations earning over $15,000 may reach over 200 million people; this indicates that a huge pickup in demand will not be restricted to basic goods but impact higher-priced goods as well. According to the report, first China and a decade India will begin to dominate the world economy, yet despite the balance of growth swinging so decisively towards the BRIC economies, the average level of individuals in the more advanced economies will continue to far outstrip the BRIC economic average. The report highlights India's inefficient energy consumption and mentions the dramatic under-representation of these economies in the global capital markets; the report emphasizes the enormous populations that exist within the BRIC nations, which makes it easy for their aggregate wealth to eclipse the G6, while per-capita income levels remain far below the norm of today's industrialized countries.
This phenomenon, will affect world markets as multinational corporations will attempt to take advantage of the enormous potential markets in the BRICs by producing, for example, far cheaper automobiles and other manufactured goods affordable to the consumers within the BRICs in lieu of the luxury models that bring the most income to automobile manufacturers. India and China have started making their presence felt in the service and manufacturing sector in the global arena. Developed economies of the world have taken serious note of this fact; this report compiled by lead authors Tushar Poddar and Eva Yi gives insight into "India's Rising Growth Potential". It reveals updated projection figures attributed to the rising growth trends in India over the last four years. Goldman Sachs assert that "India's influence on the world economy will be bigger and quicker than implied in our published BRICs research", they noted significant areas of research and development, expansion, happening in the country, which will lead to the prosperity of the growing middle-class.
India has 10 of the 30 fastest-growing urban areas in the world and, based on current trends, we estimate a massive 700 million people will move to cities by 205
Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande is a municipality and one of the oldest cities in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. It was the state capital from 1835 to 1845, it is the most important port city in the state and has one of the most important maritime ports in Brazil. The city is named after a nearby channel which indirectly connects the Lagoa dos Patos, to the northeast, Lagoa Mirim, to the west, with the Atlantic Ocean; the municipality is bordered by Santa Vitória do Palmar on the south and Pelotas on the north, which lies across the São Gonçalo Channel. The city built up its wealth over the course of its long history of strong industrial movements. Today it is still one of the richest cities in Rio Grande do Sul because of its port, the second busiest in Brazil, its refinery, which processes Ipiranga petroleum; the city is served by Rio Grande Airport. The history of Rio Grande is as old as the history of the whole region, it was explored by Portuguese sailors led by Martim Afonso de Sousa who sought fortified places along the southern Brazilian coast for a defense against the French corsairs.
He discovered the tributary which indirectly connects the Lagoa dos Patos and Lagoa Mirim to the Atlantic Ocean and called the place Rio Grande de São Pedro. In 1669, the Portuguese established a colony further down the South American coastline along the Río de la Plata, which they called Colônia do Sacramento. With the first permanent Portuguese settlement in the region, livestock was introduced and began to spread far and wide over the territory. With the new settlers, the Portuguese decided to make a church-sanctioned settlement and, in 1736, created the Freguesia de São Pedro which covered what is today all of Uruguay and Rio Grande do Sul; the city of Rio Grande was founded in 1737 by Brigadier General José da Silva Pais and his men to defend Portugal's territory. The Jesus Maria e José Fort was constructed, built on the site of the future city; the fort was transformed into a town when colonists from the Azores and Madeira arrived in the 1750s. In 1751, the growing colony became the Village of Rio Grande de São Pedro.
In 1760, Rio Grande de São Pedro, governed from Santa Catarina became its own captaincy, a type of administrative division. In 1763 the village was occupied by the Spanish. After constant disputes, Portugal reconquered the village in 1776, thanks to the actions of General Rafael Pinto Bandeira. However, when the fortress was taken by Spanish troops, many families fled to Viamão and established around its port the city of Porto Alegre. During the Ragamuffin War, Rio Grande became the province's capital all at once. In 1835, revolutionary General Bento Gonçalves da Silva forced Antônio Rodrigues Fernandes Braga, the provincial president, to flee from Porto Alegre to Rio Grande, a journey of about 200 km; the city remained the province's seat of government until the revolution's end in 1845. Rio Grande, as the name suggests, is a littoral city, which boasts what many call the longest beach in the world—the Praia do Cassino; this beach is 250 km of uninterrupted Atlantic coastline. The entire municipality lies at a low altitude — at its highest point only 10 meters above sea level.
Additionally, the city, surrounded by water, sinks about one centimeter every year. The city is named after its 24-mile long tidal channel which indirectly mingles the waters of the Lagoa dos Patos and Lagoa Mirim with the Atlantic Ocean; the largest and most populous island in the Lagoa dos Patos is the Ilha dos Marinheiros, part of the municipality. For the most part, Rio Grande is made up of fields of low and herbaceous vegetation, characteristic of the Uruguayan savanna. There are planted trees eucalyptus and pine. Sand dunes are found all down the coastline; the municipality contains part of the Taim Ecological Station. The climate of Rio Grande is humid subtropical and mild, with a strong oceanic influence and cool winters, warm summers and regular precipitation all year; the average temperature in the city is 18.3 °C and the average annual precipitation is 1,207 mm. The hottest month is January, with an average temperature of 23.6 °C. The coldest month is July, with an average temperature of 12.9 °C, but due to intense winds in the city, the wind chill temperature drops to 6 °C.
Águeda, Portugal Virtual Rio Grande Ilha dos Marinheiros Rio Grande Port Rio Grande Federal University – FURG
Brazilian Highway System
The Brazilian Highway System is the highway system of Brazil. As of 2010, the system consists of 2 million kilometers of roads, of which 200,000 km are paved; as it is in the United States, Canada or most countries in Europe, larger/wider highways have higher speed limits than normal urban roads, although minor highways, unpaved highways and sections of major highways running inside urban areas have a lower speed limit in general. The national speed limit for cars driving in non-urban roads is 110 km/h unless otherwise stated, regardless of the road design, weather or daylight. Brazilian Regional highways are named YY-XXX, where YY is the abbreviation of the state where the highway is running in and XXX is a number. Brazilian National highways are named BR-XXX. National highways connect multiple states altogether, are of major importance to the national economy and/or connect Brazil to another country; the meaning of the numbers are: 000-099 - it means. It is an exception to the cases below. 100-199 - it means that the highway runs in a south-north way 200-299 - it means that the highway runs in a west-east way 300-399 - it means that the highway runs in a diagonal way.
Highways with odd numbers run northeast-southwest, while numbers run northwest-southeast. 400-499 - it means that the highway interconnects two major highways. Brazilian highways receive names, but continue to have a YY/BR-XXX name. See highway system of São Paulo for numbering designation for São Paulo state roads used in some other states. In 1953, Adhemar de Barros governor of São Paulo, finished Via Anchieta, linking Santos to São Paulo, Via Anhanguera, linking São Paulo to Campinas; when Juscelino Kubitschek assumed the presidency, he created subsidies to bring multinationals like Volkswagen to Brazil and created thousand of miles of roads, linking distant regions of the country. In 1967, the first stretch of Via Castelo Branco, a 2X3 and 2X2 limited-access highway built at par with standards drawn by FHWA, linking the city of São Paulo to the western region of the São Paulo State, was finished, creating a standard for other highways in the same state. In the same year, the Via Dutra was modernized, between Rio de Janeiro.
The country would reach 200,000 km of paved roads in 2000. Between 1995 and 2005 three major highways were modernised; the Southern and Southeast regions of Brazil are connected by highways, most of them paved. In this region, when they are present are unpaved. Manaus, for example, has no major paved highways connecting it to any other city but Boa Vista in the north. Due to the country's growth and the associated traffic increase, the Government has started the construction and adaptation of main road sections into motorways; the first one to be completed was the so-called Via Dutra, the important highway connecting São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, finished on the 1975 with a 2X2 setting, but retained some grade crossings. Other roads were built or expanded to dual carriageways, like the Via Fernão Dias, connecting Belo Horizonte to São Paulo; the projects are the link between Brasília and Belo Horizonte, Belo Horizonte and Juiz de Fora, with 200 km, the Rio-Bahia Road System, between Três Rios and Feira de Santana, the important connection between Palmares and Salvador.
The BR-010 is a radial highway that connects the national capital Brasília, to the city of Belém, in the state of Pará. It has the official name of Rodovia Bernardo Sayão, is called Belém-Brasília Highway or as Transbrasiliana Highway, in the stretch between the city of Estreito, in the state of Maranhão, the city of Belém; this is due to the fact that between Brasília and Estreito, the highway has many incomplete and unpaved stretches in the state of Tocantins. Between Brasília and Estreito, the original route of the Belém-Brasília Highway follows the BR-060, the BR-153 and the BR-226 highways, which are paved in this stretch; the BR-010 passes through the Federal District, the states of Goiás, Maranhão and Pará. BR-040 runs radially from near the national capital Brasília, in a northwest-southeast way, to Rio de Janeiro city. BR-040 is the modern way of the so-called "Caminho Novo", opened in the 18th century that linked Ouro Preto, the main center of gold mines of Minas Gerais to the Rio de Janeiro harbor.
In 1861 the road was paved from Petrópolis to Juiz de Fora, becoming the first road paved in Latin America until the 1920s. In 1928, Petrópolis was connected to Rio de Janeiro with a paved road. In the 1930s the route was changed to pass by the new capital of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, although it was unpaved until 1957, when the road was extended to
Brazil
Brazil the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At 8.5 million square kilometers and with over 208 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the fifth most populous. Its capital is Brasília, its most populated city is São Paulo; the federation is composed of the union of the 26 states, the Federal District, the 5,570 municipalities. It is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 kilometers, it borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile and covers 47.3% of the continent's land area. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to diverse wildlife, a variety of ecological systems, extensive natural resources spanning numerous protected habitats; this unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, is the subject of significant global interest and debate regarding deforestation and environmental protection.
Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro. In 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system; the ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, now called the National Congress. The country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup d'état. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, after which civilian governance resumed. Brazil's current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. Due to its rich culture and history, the country ranks thirteenth in the world by number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Brazil is considered an advanced emerging economy. It has the ninth largest GDP in the world by nominal, eight and PPP measures, it is one of the world's major breadbaskets, being the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years. It is classified as an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country, with the largest share of global wealth in Latin America. Brazil is a regional power and sometimes considered a great or a middle power in international affairs. On account of its international recognition and influence, the country is subsequently classified as an emerging power and a potential superpower by several analysts. Brazil is a founding member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Union of South American Nations, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, it is that the word "Brazil" comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast.
In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil given the etymology "red like an ember", formed from brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a deep red dye, it was valued by the European textile industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. Throughout the 16th century, massive amounts of brazilwood were harvested by indigenous peoples along the Brazilian coast, who sold the timber to European traders in return for assorted European consumer goods; the official Portuguese name of the land, in original Portuguese records, was the "Land of the Holy Cross", but European sailors and merchants called it the "Land of Brazil" because of the brazilwood trade. The popular appellation eclipsed and supplanted the official Portuguese name; some early sailors called it the "Land of Parrots". In the Guarani language, an official language of Paraguay, Brazil is called "Pindorama"; this was the name the indigenous population gave to the region, meaning "land of the palm trees".
Some of the earliest human remains found in the Americas, Luzia Woman, were found in the area of Pedro Leopoldo, Minas Gerais and provide evidence of human habitation going back at least 11,000 years. The earliest pottery found in the Western Hemisphere was excavated in the Amazon basin of Brazil and radiocarbon dated to 8,000 years ago; the pottery was found near Santarém and provides evidence that the tropical forest region supported a complex prehistoric culture. The Marajoara culture flourished on Marajó in the Amazon delta from 800 CE to 1400 CE, developing sophisticated pottery, social stratification, large populations, mound building, complex social formations such as chiefdoms. Around the time of the Portuguese arrival, the territory of current day Brazil had an estimated indigenous population of 7 million people semi-nomadic who subsisted on hunting, fishing and migrant agriculture; the indigenous population of Brazil comprised several large indigenous ethnic groups. The Tupí people were subdivided into the Tupiniquins and Tupinambás, there were many subdivisions of the other gro
São Paulo (state)
São Paulo is one of the 26 states of the Federative Republic of Brazil and is named after Saint Paul of Tarsus. As the richest Brazilian state and a major industrial complex dubbed the "locomotive of Brazil", the state is responsible for 33.9% of the Brazilian GDP. São Paulo has the second highest Human Development Index and GDP per capita, the fourth lowest infant mortality rate, the third highest life expectancy, the third lowest rate of illiteracy among the federative units of Brazil, being by far, the safest state in the country; the homicide rate is 3.8 per 100 thousand as of 2018 1/4 of the Brazilian rate. São Paulo alone is richer than Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia combined. If São Paulo were an independent country, its nominal GDP would be ranked among the top 20 in the world; the economy of São Paulo State is the most developed in Brazil. With more than 45 million inhabitants in 2017, São Paulo is the most populous Brazilian state, the most populous national subdivision in the Americas, the third most populous political unit of South America, surpassed only by the rest of the Brazilian Federation and Colombia.
The local population is one of the most diverse in the country and descended from Italians, who began immigrating to the country in the late 19th century. In addition, Germans, Japanese and Greeks are present in the ethnic composition of the local population; the area that today corresponds to the state territory was inhabited by indigenous peoples from 12,000 BC. In the early 16th century, the coast of the region was visited by Portuguese and Spanish explorers and navigators. In 1532 Martim Afonso de Sousa would establish the first Portuguese permanent settlement in the Americas—the village of São Vicente, in the Baixada Santista. In the 17th century, the paulistas bandeirantes intensified the exploration of the interior of the colony, which expanded the territorial domain of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire in South America. In the 18th century, after the establishment of the Province of São Paulo, the region began to gain political weight. After independence in 1820, São Paulo began to become a major agricultural producer in the newly constituted Empire of Brazil, which created a rich regional rural oligarchy, which would switch on the command of the Brazilian government with Minas Gerais's elites during the early republican period in the 1880s.
Under the Vargas Era, the state was one of the first to initiate a process of industrialization and its population became one of the most urban of the federation. The city of São Paulo, the homonymous state capital, is ranked as the world's 12th largest city and its metropolitan area, with 20 million inhabitants, is the 9th largest in the world and second in the Americas, after Greater Mexico City. Regions near the city of São Paulo are metropolitan areas, such as Campinas, Sorocaba and São José dos Campos; the total population of these areas coupled with the state capital—the so-called "Expanded Metropolitan Complex of São Paulo"—exceeds 30 million inhabitants, i.e. 75 percent of the population of São Paulo statewide, the first macro-metropolis in the southern hemisphere, joining 65 municipalities that together are home to 12 percent of the Brazilian population. In pre-European times, the area, now São Paulo state was occupied by the Tupi people's nation, who subsisted through hunting and cultivation.
The first European to settle in the area was João Ramalho, a Portuguese sailor who may have been shipwrecked around 1510, ten years after the first Portuguese landfall in Brazil. He became a settler. In 1532, the first colonial expedition, led by Martim Afonso de Sousa of Portugal, landed at São Vicente. De Sousa added Ramalho's settlement to his colony. Early European colonisation of Brazil was limited. Portugal was more interested in Asia, but with English and French raiding privateer ships just off the coast, the territory had to be protected. Unwilling to shoulder the burden of naval defence himself, the Portuguese ruler, King Joao III, divided the coast into "captaincies", or swathes of land, 50 leagues apart, he distributed them among well-connected Portuguese. The early port and sugar-cultivating settlement of São Vicente was one rare success connected to this policy. In 1548, João III brought Brazil under direct royal control. Fearing Indian attack, he discouraged development of the territory's vast interior.
Some whites headed nonetheless for Piratininga, a plateau near São Vicente, drawn by its navigable rivers and agricultural potential. Borda do Campo, the plateau settlement, became an official town in 1553; the history of São Paulo city proper begins with the founding of a Jesuit mission of the Roman Catholic order of clergy on January 25, 1554—the anniversary of Saint Paul's conversion. The station, at the heart of the current city, was named São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga. In 1560, the threat of Indian attack led many to flee from the exposed Santo André da Borda do Campo to the walled fortified Colegio. Two years the Colégio was besieged. Though the town survived, fighting took place sporadically for another three decades. By 1600, the town had about 1,500 citizens and 150 household
