Sao Paulo Facts

Situated 760 meters (2500 feet) above sea level, the city of São Paulo, in the state of the same name, occupies an area of approximately 1500 square kilometers (580 square miles), where almost two-thirds of the land is urbanized and the rest rural. These two areas are known as Grande São Paulo (Greater São Paulo) and, with more than 15 million people, it has the largest population of any city in South America.

Pinheiros & Lapa

The old center, the suburbs, and a huge number of districts that make up this megalopolis all help to reveal the history of the city and its population. Initially inhabited by Native Americans and later by Portuguese colonists, the city received a considerable population...

Now the largest metropolis in South America -- and, with 17 million people spread over 3,000 square miles, the third-largest city in the world -- São Paulo nevertheless sprang from humble beginnings. In 1554, Jesuit priests founded a mission on a small hill, strategically close to the River Tietê. The mission developed into a small trading post and then, in the 17th and early 18th century, into a jumping-off point for Bandeirante expeditions traveling into the interior. In 1711 the little market town was incorporated as the city of São Paulo. The seeds of its future prosperity showed up just 12 years later with the arrival of the first coffee plants in Brazil.

The...