Wanderlust of a Flâneur: São Paulo City (São Paulo, Brazil)

The flag is the red cross of the Portuguese Order of Christ on a white field, set toward the hoist Scandinavian style (Nordic Cross). On the center of the cross, inside a red ring, is the city coat of arms, which depicts an armoured Christian knight's arm holding a white banner with the cross of the Order of Christ. The shield is flanked by coffee branches. The motto on the scroll is Non ducor, duco, which means "I am not led, I lead." (edited from CRWflags)
The coat of arms of São Paulo City designed in 1917 was created by the poet Guilherme de Almeida and José Rodrigues Wasth who won a public contest set on March 8 for the designt of São Paulo's coat of arms.

City: São Paulo City

State: São Paulo

Country: Brazil

GPS Coordinates

My Commentary: I was proudly born in São Paulo City and I can say that is an amazing and extremely interesting place, surely one of the most diversified places on Earth. You can find everything in that Cosmopolitan city, from underground to popular. São Paulo City is the financial and cultural centre of Brazil and I remember I could pick a new place to go every weekend. The problems we used to face while there were criminality and high population density, also because of a migration problem of people who constantly come from Northeast to try the luck as they have nothing to loose which causes constant culture shock considering that the differences are clear. As a cosmopolitan place, São Paulo had also immigrants (apart of migrants) who came to live in specific neighbourhoods but soon got adapted to the speed and dynamism of the capital.

Links:

São Paulo Antiga (Old São Paulo) in English

São Paulo in Foco

What you need to know about São Paulo City (Forbes)

São Paulo at WikiTravel

Discovering São Paulo

Interesting Facts:

- São Paulo City has 15% of the GDP of Latin America and 12% of Brazil's GDP

- São Paulo is the 10th richest city in the world

- The most eaten food in São Paulo City is Pizza (because of the large number of people of Italian ancestry), followed by Churrasco (barbecue) and Sushi. (author's note: São Paulo City has the best pizza in the world)

- São Paulo City has an average of 90.000 events per year, the highest number in Latin America

- Currently, São Paulo city has the largest populations of Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Lebanese people out of their respective countries.

- Liberdade is the "Paulista Chinatown". It's a neighbourhood for Asian immigrants, mainly Japanese.

- The first skyscraper built in Latin America was Martinelli in São Paulo City

- Galeria do Rock (Shopping Centre Grandes Galerias) has 450 stores and the majority works with the many variations of rock and heavy metal music.

- The first chocolate factory in São Paulo City was Sönksen, which was founded in 1888 by the German-Paulista Alfred Richter with the first name of La Bombinière

- The first name of São Paulo City was São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga (Saint Paul of the Fields of Piratininga)

- Jaraguá Peak is the highest point in São Paulo City

- Paulistanos (people from São Paulo City) are natural enemies of Cariocas (people from Rio de Janeiro City). The conflict goes in many aspects as lifestyle, accent, cities' characteristics... Paulistanos have also demonstrated problems with migrants from Northeast.

- Paulistanos have problems with almost all aspects that are known as typical Brazilian as for example: the love for carnival samba and music from Northeast (Paulistanos traditionally love rock, electronic music and mpb), being late for appointments (Paulistanos are always on time, if not it's because of traffic!), being too calm and laid back (Paulistanos are dynamic but stressed), dislike about work (Paulistanos are extremely hard workers)

- São Paulo has the title of IMPERIAL CIDADE (Imperial City) which was granted in the Monarchy times for the cities of importance.

History of São Paulo City: Today, São Paulo is the richest and most important State of Brazil, and São Paulo (besides being one of the oldest) is the largest city in Brazil. However, until the early 18th century, São Paulo was not that important.

São Paulo didn't have the same priviliged position of Bahia, which was in the middle of the shortest path between Portugal and the Eastern Indians and became the first administrative center of Brazil. Likewise, the culture of sugar cane which flourished for a while in the 16th century in São Paulo could not compete with the producers of Pernambuco, in the Northeast of Brazil, much closer to markets in Europe.

In the 17th century, thanks to the persistence of the bandeirantes, the gold mines in Brazil were found; the mines were originally situated in São Paulo, but the King of Portugal decided to create a new province, Minas Gerais, with jurisdiction over the mines, and a new capital, Rio de Janeiro, through which the gold should be exported to Europe.

It was only in the 19th century that São Paulo started to gain relevance. Coffee had first been introduced in Rio de Janeiro, but soon the lands of São Paulo proved to be much more propicious for the new culture.

Coffee became the major Brazilian product. With the movement to abolish slavery, farmers from São Paulo realized that it would be better to hire European salary-men rather than slaves. The Europeans brought their culture and a huge willing to work and succeed. When the coffee importance declined, the Europeans moved to the cities and started businesses. In the 20th century, after Brazil became a Republic, São Paulo took also the political power.

The mixture of money, power and hard work led São Paulo to become the largest and most important State in Brazil today.

Anthem of São Paulo City:
Even though São Paulo has the highest puissance, the city has never had an official anthem. One hypothesis is that as capital of the State of São Paulo, it has been the representation of the State in a form of city, so everything which refers to the State of São Paulo, applies directly to its proud capital. Of all cities of Brazil São Paulo City is the one which has more songs about it. Even outsiders from other parts of Brazil sing about the city's greatness.