Guarapari

History

Around the year 1000, the Indigenous people who occupied the southern coast of what is now the state of Espírito Santo were driven inland by the invasion of Tupi peoples from the Amazon. In the 16th century, when the first European explorers arrived in the region, it was inhabited by one of these Tupi peoples: the Temiminós. In 1585, the Jesuit priest José de Anchieta founded a Jesuit mission to catechize the Indigenous people of the region: the village of Rio Verde, or the village of Santa Maria de Guaraparim. The village had a convent and a church dedicated to Saint Anne. For its inauguration, Anchieta composed the Auto Tupi. In 1677, the church of Our Lady of the Conception was built. In 1679, the village of Guaraparim was elevated to the status of a town. In 1835, the district of Guarapari was created. In 1860, the district received a visit from the Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro II. In 1878, it became a municipality. In 1891, it acquired city status. At the end of the 19th century, European settlers (mostly Italians who landed on the Benevente River) settled in the municipality's interior, founding the towns of Todos os Santos and Rio Calçado, among others. These families' main economic activity was coffee, in addition to the cultivation they cultivated for their own subsistence. In 1948, its own town hall was established. In the mid-1960s and 1970s, Guarapari became nationally famous due to the purported medicinal properties of its monazite sands. As a result, there was a growing tourist wave around the city.

Geography

Guarapari is a part of Greater Vitoria, 47 km south of the state capital Vitória. Its population is 126,701 (2020) and its area is 592 km2. It is a well-known tourist destination, known for its curving white sand beaches backed by commercial development, which extend southward to Nova Guarapari and Meaípe. With its heavily built-up coastline like Vila Velha and Vitória, it caters heavily to seasonal tourists, and consequently has quite a dramatic seasonal population fluctuation. The municipality contains the Concha d'Ostra Sustainable Development Reserve, established in 2003 to protect the mangroves of the Bay of Guarapari. It also contains the Paulo César Vinha State Park, which protects an area of dunes, lagoons and marshes along the Atlantic shore. Formerly called the Setiba nature reserve, it is a pristine example of a coastal ecosystem and important for local turtle and bird populations.

Most-observed species

• Great Kiskadee

  Pitangus sulphuratus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  106
• Tropical Kingbird

  Tyrannus melancholicus Vieillot, 1819 · Aves
  101
• Saffron Finch

  Sicalis flaveola (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  99
• Black Vulture

  Coragyps atratus (Bechstein, 1793) · Aves
  97
• Tropical Mockingbird

  Mimus gilvus (Vieillot, 1808) · Aves
  95
• Picazuro Pigeon

  Patagioenas picazuro (Temminck, 1813) · Aves
  73
• Southern House Wren

  Troglodytes musculus J.F.Naumann, 1823 · Aves
  73
• Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture

  Cathartes burrovianus Cassin, 1845 · Aves
  70