SANTOS, a city and seaport of Brazil, in the State of Sao Paulo, about 23om. W.S.W. of Rio de Janeiro, and 49m. by rail S.E. of Sao Paulo city. Pop. (1920) 102,569. Santos covers an alluvial plain on the inner side of an island (Sao Vicente) formed by an inland tidal channel sometimes called the Santos river. The commercial part of the city is some miles from the mouth of the channel, but the residential sections extend across the plain and line the beach facing the sea. The city is only a few feet above sea-level, the island is swampy and deep, cement-lined channels drain the city. The Santos river is free from obstructions, and in front of the city widens into a bay deep enough for the largest vessels. The water front, formerly beds of mud and slime, the source of many epidemics of fever, is now faced by a wall of stone and cement. New docks extend for 3m. and can accommo date 5o steamers at one time ; belt conveyors operated by steam load several thousand bags of coffee per hour. Many warehouses are splendidly equipped with machinery which replaces manual labour. The British-built railway to Sao Paulo ("heart of coffee land"), 4om. distant, transports the bulk of coffee of that region to Santos, making the line the best paying railway in South America. A good highway from Sao Paulo to Santos was completed by the State Government in 1919.
Santos has passed Rio de Janeiro in the amount of its exports and is now the world's greatest coffee port, shipping annually from 8,000,000 to 13,000,000 bags. The annual imports have increased
in 20 years from about soo,000 to 1,500,000 tons. About 1,500 ships visit the port yearly, the busiest season being from August to January. The other exports include sugar, rice, rum, fruit, hides and manufactured goods. Bananas are grown in the vicinity for the River Plate markets.
An annual rainfall of about 77in. and a mean temperature of 69°, combined formerly to create unhealthful conditions, but the building of a series of drainage canals, extension of modern sanita tion, paving of streets, construction of better houses and port improvements are largely responsible for the change to a health ful city. A suburban seaside resort, Guam* with new hotels, now draws many visitors from inland parts of Brazil.
The first settlement on the Sao Paulo coast was that of Sao Vicente in 1532, about 6m. S. of Santos on the same island. Other settlements soon followed, among them that of Santos in and later on the small fort at the entrance to its harbour, which was used for protection against Indian raids from the north. Sao Vicente did not prosper, and was succeeded (1681) by Sao Paulo as the capital and by Santos as the seaport of the colony. It was captured by the English privateer, Thomas Cavendish, in 1591, when Sao Vicente was burned.