Cultural life
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São Paulo became a prominent cultural and intellectual centre in the 19th century, largely owing to the opening in 1827 of the College of Law, one of the first two in Brazil, where many of the country’s most eminent leaders were educated. The São Paulo Geographical and Historical Institute, founded in 1894, is one of the oldest cultural associations in the state. The city is also a leading centre for libraries, publishing houses, and theatres. The municipal library is housed in one of São Paulo’s skyscrapers.
In 1922 São Paulo’s Modern Art Week, celebrated by a group of young writers, artists, and musicians in the Municipal Theatre, introduced Modernism into the arts of Brazil. By that time, Paulistano writers, led by Oswaldo de Andrade and Mário de Andrade, pushed the city into Brazil’s intellectual forefront, a trend matched in painting and theatre. The São Paulo Art Museum, founded in 1947, is one of the best in South America, and the Museum of Contemporary Art is also outstanding. The city’s rich architectural tradition is highlighted by the Paulistano school of Brutalist architects that gained prominence in the 1950s, notably Paulo Mendes da Rocha, winner of the 2006 Pritzker Prize. The São Paulo state symphony orchestra is similarly advanced in the field of music. Major international orchestras, soloists, dance troupes, and other performing artists appear at São Paulo’s Municipal Theatre, and the city has frequent shows by Brazil’s leading performing artists, including such Paulistanos as Francisco (“Chico”) Buarque de Hollanda and rock star Supla (Eduardo Suplicy, Jr.).
Publishing and broadcasting have long been established in São Paulo. Several of the country’s largest and most influential newspapers are published in the city, including Folha de São Paulo (“Newspaper of São Paulo”; 1921) and O Estado de São Paulo (“The State of São Paulo”; 1875). Editora Abril, publisher of a wide variety of magazines including Veja, one of the popular weeklies, is based there. Dozens of weeklies with one million-plus circulations are produced in São Paulo. Television was introduced in 1950, and several of the country’s largest networks are based in the city. São Paulo also is headquarters of some of the most important Latin American radio stations.
Paulistanos are noted for their enthusiasm for sports. Football (soccer) is the predominant sports attraction, as evidenced by the gigantic Morumbi and Pacaembu stadiums as well as the other major stadiums for the city’s roughly half dozen international-calibre teams. Brazil’s national league brings big-name teams from other states to compete in São Paulo. Also popular are swimming, tennis, volleyball, basketball, and auto racing, for which São Paulo has one of the world’s largest tracks, at Interlagos, on the city’s south side. The city also contains countless parks, plazas, and playgrounds. The São Paulo Zoo (1958) is one of the world’s largest. Although overshadowed by Rio de Janeiro, the annual São Paulo Carnival is a major activity for hundreds of thousands of Paulistanos, particularly those from rural communities.
History
The early period
São Paulo was the first highland settlement established in Brazil. Occupying the lower terraces of the Tietê River in the midst of tall grasses and scattered scrub trees, it began as a small Indian settlement. In 1554 Portuguese Jesuit priests Manuel da Nóbrega and José de Anchieta founded a mission and school there (the Pátio de Colégio). The community grew slowly and had only 300 inhabitants by the end of the 16th century. Yet, São Paulo became a township in 1560 and had a town council that could enact and enforce laws. In 1683 it succeeded São Vicente as seat of the captaincy, or hereditary fief, and the inhabitants already had become known as Paulistanos or Paulistas.
Seventeenth-century São Paulo was a base for expeditions (bandeiras) into the hinterlands by armed pioneers (bandeirantes) in search of Indian slaves, gold, silver, and diamonds. In the process, Portuguese explorers expanded the frontiers of what was to become present-day Brazil into areas claimed by the Spanish. In 1711 São Paulo attained the status of a city, yet it remained an agrarian town that had yet to see any significant prosperity. Large-scale gold and diamond mining brought about remarkable changes in the colony’s economy and stimulated immigration from Europe. But most of the wealth that the explorers had helped to discover escaped their grasp when Minas Gerais was granted status in 1720, and its riches passed through the more accessible and developed Rio de Janeiro.