The
citizens of the
São Paulo
state ,
Paulistas, never
tire of saying
that their state
is Brazil's
economic
powerhouse, and
they produce a
mountain of
statistics to
sustain the
boast. The
state's forty
million
inhabitants
represent about
a quarter of
Brazil's total
population, yet
the state
contributes
forty percent of
the federal tax
revenues, and
consumes sixty
percent of the
country's
industrial
energy to
produce two-thirds
of its
industrial
output. A highly
capitalized
agricultural
sector produces
eighty percent
of Brazil's
oranges, half of
its sugar, forty
percent of its
chickens and
eggs, and a
fifth of its
coffee. Yet
while Paulistas
crow that
without their
muscle Brazil's
economy would
collapse, other
Brazilians feel
that São Paulo
has developed at
their expense.
The state, it is
argued, attracts
capital away
from the other
regions, which
are basically
seen as sources
of cheap labour
and as
guaranteed
markets for São
Paulo's products.
This economic
pre-eminence is
a relatively
recent
phenomenon. In
1507, São
Vicente was
founded on the
coast near
present-day
Santos , the
second-oldest
Portuguese
settlement in
Brazil, but for
over three
hundred years
the area
comprising
today's state of
São Paulo
remained a
backwater. The
inhabitants were
a hardy people,
of mixed
Portuguese and
Indian origin,
from whom - in
the seventeenth
and eighteenth
centuries -
emerged the
bandeirantes
: frontiersmen
who roamed far
into the South
American
interior to
secure the
borders of the
Portuguese
Empire against
Spanish
encroachment,
capturing Indian
slaves and
seeking out
precious metals
and gems as they
went.
Not until the
mid-nineteenth
century did São
Paulo become
rich. Cotton
production
received a boost
with the arrival
of Confederate
refugees in the
late 1860s, who
settled between
Americana
and Santa
Bárbara d'Oeste
, about 140km
from the then
small town of
São Paulo
itself. But
after
disappointing
results with
cotton, most of
these plantation
owners switched
their attentions
to coffee and,
by the end of
the century, the
state had become
firmly
established as
the world's
foremost
producer of the
crop. During the
same period,
Brazil abolished
slavery and the
plantation
owners recruited
European and
Japanese
immigrants to
expand
production.
Riding the wave
of the coffee
boom, British
and other
foreign
companies took
the opportunity
to invest in
port facilities,
rail lines,
power and water
supplies, while
textile and
other new
industries
emerged, too.
Within a few
decades, the
town of São
Paulo became one
of South
America's
greatest
commercial and
cultural
centres, sliding
from a small
town into a vast
metropolitan
sprawl.
If the
thought of
staying in the
city of São
Paulo doesn't
particularly
appeal to you,
the state does
have other
attractions.
Though crowded
in the summer,
the beaches
north of Santos,
especially on
Ilhabela ,
and around
Ubatuba ,
rival Rio's
best, while
those to the
south - near
Iguape and
Cananéia
- remain
relatively
unspoiled.
Inland , the
state is
dominated by
agribusiness,
with seemingly
endless fields
of cattle
pasture, sugar
cane, oranges
and soya
interspersed
with anonymous
towns where the
agricultural
produce is
processed. To
escape scorching
summer
temperatures -
or for the
novelty in
tropical Brazil
of a winter
chill - make for
Campos do
Jordão , São
Paulo's main
mountain resort.
The State
Away from the
city, it's the
state's
coastline that
has most to
offer. Santos
, Brazil's
leading port,
retains many
links with the
past, and lots
of the
beaches
stretching north
and south from
the city are
stunning,
particularly
around
Ubatuba .
The towns and
cities of the
state's
interior are
not so great an
attraction - the
rolling
countryside is
largely devoted
to vast orange
groves and
fields of soya
and sugar. Good-quality
roads run
through this
region,
including major
routes to the
Mato Grosso and
Brasília.
