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Brazil's cities are known as beautiful with lots of history, and most cities with over half a million people are located in the south and south east. The rest are strung out along the coast and only a few are inland. Several of the big coastal cities were founded when Brazil was first setteled by the Portuguese in 1500s. As time went by, these early settlements became ports for the export of products like sugar and coffee from nearby regions. They also became capitals of the States which developed around them. For instance, Salvador, the third biggest city, is the capital of the State of Bahia - in fact it was capital of the whole country for almost 200 years until 1763. The inland cities developed as service centres for agriculture or industry. Curitiba, the capital of the State of Paraná, is the commercial centre for a rich agricultural region. Its factories process farm products. Manaus in the State of Amazonas stands where the rivers Negro and Solimões meet to form the Amazon, so it has always been a river port. It grew into a wealthy city at the end of the nineteenth century as the centre of the trade in natural rubber. Here is more information about the most important cities in Brazil. |
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