SAO PAULO, a city of Brazil, capital of a State of the same name, and seat of a bishopric, on the Tiete river 49 m. by rail N.W. of the port of Santos and 308 m. by rail W. of Rio de Janeiro. Its pop. was (1933 est.) 1,052,541. Sao Paulo is con nected by rail with Santos, its port, with Rio de Janeiro, and with other inland cities. In great part the city occupies an elevated open stretch of tableland commanding extensive views of the sur rounding country; and a small part of it is in the low alluvial land bordering the Tiete. The upper part has several slight eleva tions forming healthful residential districts. The city is just within the tropics, but its elevation (2,500 ft. above the sea) gives it a temperate climate, bracing in the cool season and yet with high sun temperatures in summer. The city is singularly health ful. The streets are well paved and lighted with gas and elec tricity, and have a good system of electric tramways. Excellent motor roads have been built out into the neighbourhood. The water-supply is derived from the Cantareira hills, and there is a modem sewerage system, constructed by an English company. The more important public buildings are the new government palace, the palaces of agriculture, finance and justice, the execu tive residence, the immense Polytechnic School, the Normal School, the School of Agriculture, the public hospital called the Isolamento, the charity hospital, the Sao Paulo railway station, and the theatre, rivalling some of the best in Europe. There are sev
eral excellent educational and scientific institutions among which are the Mackenzie College (an American school), a school of law, a Pasteur institute, and a bacteriological institute.
The police force of the State is a military organization and con sists of a brigade of about 5,000 men (infantry, cavalry, civic guards, firemen, and a body of hospital attendants for public emergency cases), under a colonel of the regular army. Its manufactures include textiles, footwear, clothing, food products, artificial liquors, furniture, domestic utensils, etc. The Sao Paulo Light and Power Co., whose works are situated at the falls of the Tiete a considerable distance N.W. of the city, supplies about 8,000 h.p. to local industries in addition to what is needed for the electric railway (108 m.), the oldest enterprise of this char acter in Brazil. The city has a large Italian population and many Italian shops and industries.
Sao Paulo was founded by the Jesuits under Manoel de Nobrega in 1554 and at first bore the name of Piratininga. In 1681 it succeeded Sao Vicente as the capital of the captaincy. The dec laration of Brazilian independence occurred on Sept. 7, 1822, on the plain of Ypiranga, near the city, where a monument com memorates the event.