Campinas

Sister cities

• Fuzhou

History

The city was founded on July 14, 1774, by Barreto Leme. It was initially a simple outpost on the way to Minas Gerais and Goiás serving the "Bandeirantes" who were in search of precious minerals and Indian slaves. In the first half of the 19th century, Campinas became a growing population center, with many coffee, cotton and sugarcane farms. The construction of a railway linking the city of São Paulo to Santos' seaport, in 1867, was very important for its growth. In the second half of the 19th century, with the abolition of slavery, farming and industrialization attracted many foreign immigrants to replace the lost manpower, mainly from Italy. Coffee became an important export and the city became wealthy. In consequence, a large service sector was established to serve the growing population, and in the first decades of the 20th century, Campinas could already boast of an opera house, theaters, banks, movie theaters, radio stations, a philharmonic orchestra, two newspapers (Correio Popular and Diário do Povo), a good public education system (with the Escola Normal de Campinas and the Colégio Culto à Ciência), and hospitals such as Santa Casa de Misericórdia (a charity for poor people) and Casa de Saúde de Campinas (for the Italian community, formerly known as Circolo Italiani Uniti), and Instituto Agronômico de Campinas, the Brazilian research center in agricultural sciences which was founded by Emperor Pedro II. Finally, the construction in 1938 of Anhanguera Highway between Campinas and São Paulo - the first Brazilian highway, was a turning point in the integration of Campinas into the rest of the state. Campinas was the birthplace of opera composer Carlos Gomes (1836 — 1896) and of President of the Republic Campos Salles (1841 — 1913). For 49 years it was…

Geography

According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics the area of the municipality is , of which urban area. It is located at 22°54′21″S, 47°03′39″W and is at a distance of northwest of São Paulo. Its neighboring cities are Paulínia, Jaguariúna and Pedreira, north; Morungaba, Itatiba and Valinhos in the east; Itupeva, Indaiatuba and Monte Mor, south, and Hortolândia in the west. Most of the original vegetation of the city was largely eliminated. Like 13 other municipalities in the metropolitan region of Campinas, the city is subject to some environmental stress, and Campinas is considered one of the areas liable to flooding and silting; it now has less than 5% of vegetation cover in total area. Trying to reverse this situation, several projects have been and are being conducted and planned, such as building corridors, and the regulation of the Management Plan of Environmental Preservation Area (APA) in Campinas. There are also several environmental projects to combat the destruction of riparian forests located along the banks of the Atibaia river, which has a high level of pollution. Today, Campinas houses the area of relevant ecological interest (ARIE) Mata de Santa Genebra, , established in 1985 by the city of Campinas' Fundação José Pedro de Oliveira and regulated by the Brazilian Environment and Renewable Natural Resources Institute (IBAMA). This is the now second-largest urban forest of Brazil, behind only the Tijuca Forest, in Rio de Janeiro. Winters are generally dry and mild (rarely too cold), and summers rainy with warm to hot temperatures. The warmest month is February, with an average temperature of 24 °C, an average maximum of 29.1 °C and average minimum of 19.0 °C. The coldest month, July, sees respective temperatures of…

Most-observed species

• Great Kiskadee

  Pitangus sulphuratus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4,628
• Picazuro Pigeon

  Patagioenas picazuro (Temminck, 1813) · Aves
  4,305
• Sayaca Tanager

  Thraupis sayaca (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4,224
• white-eyed conure

  Aratinga leucophthalma (Statius Muller, 1776) · Aves
  4,069
• Eared Dove

  Zenaida auriculata (Des Murs, 1847) · Aves
  3,999
• Pale-breasted Thrush

  Turdus leucomelas Vieillot, 1818 · Aves
  3,324
• Ruddy Ground-Dove

  Columbina talpacoti (Temminck, 1810) · Aves
  3,126
• Chalk-browed Mockingbird

  Mimus saturninus (Lichtenstein, 1823) · Aves
  3,074