Sorocaba and its history

Sorocaba is the city where I live, and I recommend it for those who is seeking a better
place to live. I was born in Sorocaba in 1952, and my family and I moved to So Paulo
looking for better working opportunities by the year 1973. Then it was a small city in the
interior of Sao Paulo, with little to offer to its population, besides its historical
involvement in the Tropeirismo movement.
Dom Francisco de Sousa, general governor of Brazil (1591 to 1602), had in his mind the
existence of gold in the region, and because of this he settled the Pelourinho, a
Portuguese translation of the English "pillory", symbol of the Royal power, as the village
Nova Vila de Nossa Senhora da Ponte de Mont Serrat. As gold was not found there, the
governor returned to the Royal Court. Twelve years later, Dom Francisco de Sousa
changed the name of the village to Itavuvu.
Baltasar Fernandes, a member of an expeditionary group called Bandeirantes, laid the
foundation of Sorocaba in 1654. He built the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Ponte (which
is now the Cathedral located on Fernando Prestes square, downtown), along with the
So Bento de Parnaba monastery (now So Bento monastery) constructed years later.
It was also Fernandes who brought the first Benedictine monks to teach, assist the poor
and the ill, and convert the Native Americans of the region according to Catholic
colonization procedures. The monastery was donated to the Benedictines in the year
1660, after which Friar Anselmo da Anunciao and Friar Mauro were chosen to take
office. The first streets and houses started to spread around the neighborhood.
In the year of 1661, Baltasar Fernandes went to So Paulo to request Sorocaba to be
named a village from the governor, Correia de S e Benevides. Thus, on March 3,
1661, Sorocaba became known as Vila de Nossa Senhora da Ponte de Sorocaba. The
organization of the Municipal Council followed shortly, with the main nominees being:
Baltasar Fernandes and Andr de Zunega (judges), Cludio Furquim and Pascoal Leite
Pais (city councillors), Domingos Garcia (legal representant) and Francisco Sanches
(clerk).
In 1773 colonel Cristvo Pereira de Abreu arrived with his troops, and that time he
began the main chapter of the history of Sorocaba: the so called Tropeirismo.
The transportation of goods on the back of mules, started from the North-South route of
the country to Sorocaba, that was strategically placed in the main route between Rio
Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. Soon Sorocaba had its own Feira de
Muares (mule/horse fair), where troops from all states came to feed and rest their
cavalry on the way to the mineral and forest expeditions, to buy and sell goods, horses
and enslaved Africans. Due to the growing number of people working in the city, the
commerce and the first industries began to appear. Goods bought in Sorocaba were

known from across the Country, spread by the merchant troops. The main events of
Tropeirismo happened during a hundred years of the Sorocaba history, from 1770 to
1870.
During the American Civil War, English textile industries ran out of cotton, which was
imported from the Southern United States. Soon, manufacturers from England started to
search around the world for alternative places to cultivate cotton - one of them was the
Province of So Paulo, which included Sorocaba. In 1862, Lieutenant-Colonel
Francisco Gonalves de Oliveira Machado started the first cotton plantation in
Sorocaba. Since the local environment and weather were ideal, the cotton plantation
flourished. The first harvest exceeded all expectations, starting another cycle of
industrial and economic development for the city. everal textile industries from England
built branches in the city, changing the landscape with chimneys, saw-styled roofs,
large, orange brick-built buildings and smoke. During this time, Sorocaba received the
title of Manchester Paulista--"So Paulo native" in Portuguese, given the resemblance
with its laboring twin city.
With the opening of the Sorocabana railway on June 20, 1872 and its transport of cotton
products, animals and passengers to So Paulo, Sorocaba had a major leap in
development. Six locomotives and 62 bandwagons were brought from England, with
seven stations initially planned.
Telegraphic services started on April 3, 1873. Years later, the railway expanded to the
borders of the state, with Sorocaba station as the hub.
Sorocaba pronounced AFI: [soo ookab]) is a Brazilian municipality of the Microregion of
Sorocaba, in the Macro Metropolitan Paulista Meso region, in the state of So Paulo. It
is the fourth most populated city in the interior of So Paulo (preceded by Campinas,
So Jos dos Campos and Ribeiro Preto) and the most populous in the south of So
Paulo, with a population of 644.91 inhabitants (IBGE / 2015). Regional capital.10 The
Sorocaba microregion has fifteen municipalities, totaling more than 1 324 176
inhabitants. It has an area of 456.0 km, with 371.3 km of urban area and 84.7 km of
rural area.11 12
Sorocaba is part of the Metropolitan Expanded Complex, which exceeds 31.5 million
inhabitants (approximately 75 percent of the population of the entire state and the
second most populous urban area in the world, Population Density surpassed only by
Tokyo in Japan).
Over the last twelve years, the city has been undergoing several urbanization projects,
becoming, today, one of the ten most beautiful cities in the state of So Paulo.
Sorocaba received urbanization of streets and avenues, preparing itself for the intense
traffic that receives daily, mainly of vehicles of other cities (microregion of Sorocaba).
The city is an important industrial pole of the state of So Paulo and Brazil.

The municipality counts on one hundred and six kilometers of 15 cycle routes created in
the main avenues of the city, making it possible to have it crossed using bicycles as
means of transportation. The planning of the municipality foresees the construction of
the largest cycle network in Latin America in the coming years and the implementation
of a system of public bicycles, similar to the European cities of Barcelona and Paris.
It is currently the second largest bicycle network in Brazil, behind only Rio de Janeiro
that has16.
It is the 5th largest city in economic development in the State of So Paulo and its
industrial production reaches more than 115 countries, reaching a GDP of R $ 16.12
billion. The main bases of its economy are the sectors of industry, commerce and
services, with more than 22 thousand companies installed, being more than two
thousand of them industries.
Sorocaba's industrial park is well-served by roads, highways, and public transportation.
It is located in more than 25 million square meters and it has over 1,600 industries. The
main economic activities are: industrial machinery, heavy metallurgy, ironmaking and
steelmaking, automotive parts, industrial textiles, agricultural equipment, chemical and
petrochemical, cement production, eolic energy, pharmaceutics, paper and cellulose,
electronics, telecommunications, tools, commerce and services. Its tools, automotive
parts and pharmaceutics industry are the biggest in Brazil. The Ferroban railroad
(formerly Sorocabana Railway and FEPASA) are connected to So Paulo and the
Santos Seaport, the largest seaport in South America. The railroad is also an important
link to Mercosur, reaching both Argentina and Bolivia.
Sorocaba also has a dry port terminal, which provides efficient road linkages to the
various ports and airports of the region including Bertram Luiz Leupolz Airport, which
has one of the busiest cargo terminals in the State. A second airport, with much higher
traffic and passenger capacity is currently being planned for the upcoming years.
The productive areas of Sorocaba and Campinas were the main responsible for the
industrial decentralization of the metropolitan region of So Paulo between the years
2000 to 2010. This information comes from a study carried out by the State System of
Data Analysis (Seade) Foundation, which also shows that the axis that interconnects
the two cities accounts for 33.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the State of
So Paulo and 11.2% of the national. Sorocaba has an income of US$370 million per
year.
It is the eighth Brazilian municipality and the fourth largest consumer market in the state
outside the Metropolitan Region of the capital, with an annual per capita consumption
potential estimated at US $ 2,400 for the urban population and US $ 917 for the rural
population (7,200 persons). The 29th Brazilian city with the greatest potential for
consumption. Still, it is the fourth largest city in So Paulo to receive new investments

and one of the largest in the country, being included in the list of the thirty cities that
generate the most jobs in Brazil.