History of Sao Paulo

In 1554 two Jesuit priests founded a small mission on the site that became São Paulo.

During its first several hundred years of existence, the city grew only modestly.

It achieved notoriety as the home of the bandeirantes—adventurous explorers and frontiersmen who mounted large-scale and extensive expeditions into the interior of the continent.

Over the next 150 years, from about 1600 to 1750, the bandeirantes roamed what are the now the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Mato Grosso in search of Native American slaves, gold, diamonds, and other riches.

These expeditions had an enormous impact on São Paulo and the future nation of Brazil.

They extended the geographical limits of Brazil deep into the interior of the continent, far beyond those originally envisioned by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494).

The treaty was an agreement between Portugal and Spain, sanctioned by Pope Julius II in 1506, that established boundaries defining the overseas territories of the two countries.

The bandeirantes opened up new transportation and communication routes between the coast and the continent’s interior, helping to establish new settlements and build greater unity among Brazil’s far-flung peoples and communities.

Despite the considerable wealth brought to São Paulo by the bandeirante expeditions, the city grew slowly.

It was officially recognized as a city in 1711, but for much of the 18th century São Paulo’s economy revolved around subsistence agriculture, local crafts production, and limited government functions.

The city began a process of dramatic change after Brazilian independence in 1822.

The establishment of the Law Academy in São Paulo in 1828 initiated a process that changed the city from a provincial backwater into a major urban center.

The Law Academy attracted professors and students from all over the nation, bringing many new people and ideas to the city.

It also fueled the growth of a wide range of cultural activities, such as theater, arts, and literature.

The city’s fortunes blossomed with the introduction of coffee cultivation into the cool, fertile uplands of São Paulo state in the 1850s.

A steady demand for coffee on the world market soon led to an economic boom in São Paulo and a dramatic expansion of the areas under cultivation.

A railroad link to the Atlantic port of Santos was completed in 1867 and five years later another railroad line linked São Paulo with new coffee-growing regions in the interior.

The wealth generated on the coffee plantations fueled urban growth, industrialization, and banking and financial services in São Paulo.

The labor intensive nature of coffee cultivation, especially harvesting, led the state government to encourage the immigration of foreign laborers in 1832.

By the mid-1930s, some 1.5 million European immigrants—including Germans,
Italians, Portuguese, Slavs, and Spaniards—and over 200,0000 Japanese had settled in the state.

After initially living in rural areas, many of the immigrants moved to the city of São Paulo.

São Paulo’s population grew from just 32,000 in 1872 to about 600,000 in 1920.

Far-sighted businessmen and political leaders capitalized on the coffee boom to diversify the city’s economic base.

They invested heavily in hydroelectric power plants and in manufacturing facilities—first for consumer goods and later for heavy manufacturing.

During World War I (1914-1918), São Paulo was frequently cut off from traditional sources of manufactured goods in Europe and North America, which allowed local industries to meet the demand for these products and provided a boost for the city’s manufacturing economy.

Against a backdrop of widespread political unrest throughout Brazil in the 1920s and 1930s, São Paulo underwent a major political revolt in 1932.

After Brazilian President Getulio Vargas appointed an outsider as governor of the state of São Paulo, ensuing protests and political maneuvering led to an armed uprising among the state’s residents.

The state declared its independence in May 1932 and the state government quickly fielded an army of nearly 40,000.

After clashes with federal forces numbering almost 75,000, the uprising was put down by the Brazilian government in October 1932.

By 1940 São Paulo’s population stood at more than 1.3 million.

Strong population growth continued into the next decades; in 1950 and 1960 the city’s population was 2.2 and 3.8 million respectively.

The city’s excellent transportation links, a ready supply of inexpensive hydroelectric power, a solid financial and banking infrastructure, and a skilled and hardworking labor force all contributed to the city’s dramatic growth after World War II.

By 1960 São Paulo had surpassed Rio de Janeiro in population and industrial production.

By the late 20th century, São Paulo was the largest city in South America and had the biggest industrial concentration in Latin America.

The city’s growth slowed in the 1970s and 1980s as many Brazilians fled the increasingly crowded and pollution-plagued state capital for booming interior cities such as Bauru, Campinas, and Ribeirão Prêto.

During the 1980s the population of the city of São Paulo grew by 13 percent, while the population of the state’s interior grew by 33 percent.

São Paulo’s relative economic importance lessened as thousands of people migrated to the state’s interior.

In 1970 the city of São Paulo was generating two-thirds of the economic production of the state of São Paulo; by 1995 the city was producing less than half of the state’s economic output.