Porto Alegre

Infobox Settlement
name = Porto Alegre
settlement_type = Municipality
official_name = The Municipality of Porto Alegre
nickname = Porto (spoken), POA (written)
motto = Loyal and Valiant city of Porto Alegre

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imagesize = 250px
image_caption = Skyline of Porto Alegre.


image_

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map_caption = Location in the State of Rio Grande do sul
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_type1 = Region
subdivision_type2 = State
subdivision_name = flag|Brazil
subdivision_name1 = South
subdivision_name2 =
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = José Fogaça (PPS)
established_title = Founded
established_date = 1742
area_footnotes =
area_magnitude = 1 E8
area_total_km2 = 496.8
area_total_sq_mi =
area_land_km2 =
area_land_sq_mi =
area_water_km2 =
area_water_sq_mi =
population_footnotes =
population_as_of = 2007
population_total = 1,420,667 (10th)Fact|date=September 2008
population_metro =
population_density_km2 = 2815.6
population_density_sq_mi =
timezone = UTC-3
utc_offset = -3
timezone_DST = UTC-2
utc_offset_DST = -2
latd=30 |latm=01 |lats=59 |latNS=S |longd=51 |longm=13 |longs=48 |longEW=W
elevation_footnotes =
elevation_m = 10
elevation_ft =
blank_name = HDI (2000)
blank_info = 0.865 – high
website = [http://www.portoalegre.rs.gov.br Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul]
footnotes =

Porto Alegre (Audio|Br-PortoAlegre.ogg|pronunciation) is the 10th largest city in Brazil, and the capital city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Porto Alegre is one of the most important cultural, political and economic centers of Southern Brazil. Two Mercosul countries, Argentina and Uruguay, border Rio Grande do Sul.

Porto Alegre was founded in 1742 by immigrants from the Azores, Portugal. In the late 19th century the city received many immigrants from other parts of the world, particularly Germany, Italy, and Poland. The vast majority of the population is of European descent.

The city lies on the eastern bank of the Rio Guaiba (Guaiba Lake), at the point where five rivers converge to form the Lagoa dos Patos (Lagoon of Ducks), a giant freshwater lagoon navigable by even the largest of ships. Located at the junction of five rivers, it has become an important alluvial port as well as one of the chief industrial and commercial centers in Brazil.

The port of Porto Alegre, important for transporting local produce, the "Gaucho capital" has a broad-based economy that lays particular emphasis on agriculture and industry. Agricultural production includes produce such as plums, peaches, rice and cassava grown on rural smallholdings. The shoe and leather industries are also important, especially in Novo Hamburgo, in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre. Porto Alegre has a long coastline on the Guaíba Lake, and its topography is punctuated by 40 hills. In the lake, a very vast body of water, a maze of islands facing the city create an archipelago where a unique ecosystem makes possible an exuberant wildlife. The city area concentrates 28% of the native flora of Rio Grande do Sul, with 9,288 species. [ [http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-84782001000500020&lng=&nrm=iso&tlng= Vegetation in the city] ] Among these, there are many trees which are the vestiges of the Atlantic Forest. Fauna is also diversified, specially in the islands and hills. The portoalegrense way of life includes many parks, squares and wooded streets.

In recent years, Porto Alegre hosted the World Social Forum, an initiative of several Non Government Organizations which criticize the supremacy of capitalism in the international economic relations, and advocate that Governments and corporations should have a deeper social concerns when implementing their politics.

The Salgado Filho International Airport connects Porto Alegre with Brazilian cities and also operates international flights, and the city is home to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.

The city

The city is located at a delta resulting from the junction of five rivers, officially called Guaíba Lake (popularly mentioned as a river too). Although its origins date from the mid-18th century, when immigrants from the Azores settled in the area, the city was officially established in 1742. [ [http://recantodasletras.uol.com.br/mensagensdeaniversario/421892 History of Porto Alegre] ]

Before this, Porto Alegre was the port of Viamão on the shore of Guaíba Lake. Its ancient name was Porto dos Casais (Port of the couples), and it was initially settled by Azorians. Many families of settlers also came from the city of Rio Grande ("Big River") in the litoral Lagunar region, to the south, a military fortress at that time. Today Rio Grande is the most important port of the State of Rio Grande do Sul.

More than 70 neighborhoods (see below) are part of the city and 2/3 of the population are concentrated in the Zona Norte (Northern Zone), where most of the economic activity, including the city center, takes place.

Porto Alegre was the seat of the World Social Forum in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. As the second largest city in southern Brazil, it is also an important industrial center in the mentioned geographical area. It also is a center for "gaúcho" (the popular name for natives of the State) history and culture, famous for its "churrasco" (barbecue) and "chimarrão" (a strong and hot tea prepared from erva mate). Important Brazilian universities, such as UFRGS, UFCSPA and PUCRS are located there.

Porto Alegre is also one of the wealthiest cities in Latin America, and one of the most diverse. It has welcomed immigrants from all over the world, the largest numbers coming from Portugal, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland. There are also significant Arab and Jewish contingents in the population.

Climate

Porto Alegre is located in the subtropical area and so is called its climate. Average precipitation is high and regular throughout the year. Summer temperatures often rise above convert|32|°C|°F and high levels of humidity make the season very muggy. The highest temperature ever registered was convert|40.7|°C|°F in January 1943.

Humid subtropical climate is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and chilly to mild winters. This climate type covers a broad category of climates, and the term "subtropical" may be a misnomer for the winter climate in the cooler areas within this category. Significant amounts of precipitation occur in all seasons in most areas. Winter rainfall (and sometimes snowfall) is associated with large storms that the westerlies steer from west to east. Most summer rainfall occurs during thunderstorms and an occasional tropical storm, hurricane or cyclone.

The winter reveals mild average temperatures, contrasting to the quite changeable, and many times sudden behavioral, windy and rainy weather which also characterizes this time of the year. Usual winter temperatures range from convert|5|°C|°F to convert|25|°C|°F. Snow is very rare, sometimes confused with sleet. The main snowfall events in Porto Alegre were in 1879, 1910 and 1984.

The lowest temperature ever recorded was convert|-4|°C|°F. Autumns tend to be as changeable as winters, but are typically warmer. Spring, stabler akin to summer, is slightly drier than all the other seasons. Occurrence of radiation fog is common, causing several delays in early flights.

Demographics

According to the IBGE of 2007, there were 4,100,000 people residing in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre. The population density was convert|2905.3|PD/sqkm|PD/sqmi. The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 3,300,500 White people (80.5%), 475,000 Pardo (Brown) people (11.6%), 299,000 Black people (7.3%), 24,000 Asian or Amerindian people (0.6%). [cite book |url=ftp://ftp.ibge.gov.br/Indicadores_Sociais/Sintese_de_Indicadores_Sociais_2007/Tabelas |title=Síntese de Indicadores Sociais 2007 |publisher=IBGE |location=Porto Alegre, Brazil |format=PDF |isbn=85-240-3919-1 |accessdate=2007-07-18 |year=2007 |language=Portuguese]

Porto Alegre is mostly composed of Brazilians of European descent. Its colonization started in the mid-18th century, mostly with the arrival of Portuguese colonists from the Azores Islands. From 1748 to 1756, 2,300 Azoreans were sent to the region by the King of Portugal to protect Southern Brazil from neighboring invaders. [ [http://www.riogrande.com.br/historia/colonizacao3.htm RS VIRTUAL - O Rio Grande do Sul na Internet - História - Colonização - Portugueses - Origem da imigração açoriana ] ]

These colonists, mostly composed of couples, established the city of "Porto dos Casais" (Port of the Couples), nowadays Porto Alegre. In 1775, 55% of Rio Grande do Sul's population was of Azorean Portuguese origin. [http://www.atlasesportebrasil.org.br/textos/229.pdf]

Porto Alegre was composed mainly of Azoreans and their African slaves until the first half of the 19th century. Nowadays, Blacks, Pardo people, who may also have some Amerindian ancestry compose, together, 17.1% of the city's population.

The first non-Portuguese people to settle Rio Grande do Sul were German immigrants. In 1824, the first immigrants from Germany arrived in Porto Alegre, but they were sent to what is now the city of São Leopoldo (28 km away). From 1824 to 1914, 50 thousand Germans arrived in Rio Grande do Sul. [ [http://www.riogrande.com.br/historia/colonizacao4c.htm RS VIRTUAL - O Rio Grande do Sul na Internet - História - Colonização - Alemães - Dezebas de colônias no interior e 50 mil imigrantes ] ]

Most of them had rural communities in the interior of the State as their first destination. The large rural exodus in Brazil in the early 20th century brought many German-descendants to Porto Alegre and, nowadays, they compose a large percentage of the population. Fact|date=October 2008

The other largest group of immigrants who arrived in Porto Alegre are the Italians. They started immigrating to Brazil in 1875, mainly from the Northern Italian Veneto region. [ [http://www.riogrande.com.br/historia/colonizacao5b.htm RS VIRTUAL - O Rio Grande do Sul na Internet - História - Colonização - Italianos - A maior parte veio do Vêneto ] ] As the Germans, Italians were also first sent to rural communities, mainly in the Serra Gaúcha region. After some decades, many of them started to migrate to other parts of Rio Grande do Sul, including Porto Alegre.

Minority communities of immigrants, such as Eastern Europeans from Poland and Ukraine; Arabs from Lebanon and Syria; Asians from Japan and Jews also made Porto Alegre their home. Fact|date=October 2008

Population growth

;Changing demographics of the city of Porto Alegre

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TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text:

"Source: Planet Barsa Ltda. [ [http://brasil.planetasaber.com/default.asp Barsa Planeta Ltda] ] "

Economy

Located at the junction of five rivers, it has become an important alluvial port as well as one of the chief industrial and commercial centers in Brazil. With the advent of the Mercosul accord it should grow and prosper. Products of the rich agricultural and pastoral hinterland, such as soybeans, leather, canned beef, and rice, are exported from Porto Alegre to destinations as far away as Africa and Japan. [ [http://www.uoregon.edu/~sergiok/brasil/portoalegre.html Porto Alegre, Brazil by Sergio Koreisha ] ]

Among the main business located in Porto Alegre are VARIG, Gerdau, Petroleo Ipiranga, Zaffari and RBS. Since last year, General Motors (GM) is operating in Gravataí - located in the Metropolitan Region. Also in this Region, but in Triunfo, there is a Petrochemical Pole, in Alvorada Dell Computers has established a plant. In the health sector, there are two hospitals considered among the best in Latin America (Santa Casa and HPCA). Commerce is a very important economic activity, vith many malls (like Rua da Praia and Shopping Iguatemi). The Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre, directed to the production of shoes (around Novo Hamburgo) and to petrochemical industries, as well as services. [ [http://www.wcams.com.br/poa_now.htm Porto Alegre ] ]

The GDP for the city was R$ 27,977,351,000 (2005). [cite book|url=http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/economia/pibmunicipios/2005/tab01.pdf|title=GDP|publisher=IBGE|location=Porto Alegre, Brazil|format=PDF|isbn=85-240-3919-1|accessdate=2007-07-18|year=2005|language=Portuguese]

The per capita income for the city was R$ 19,582 (2005). [cite book|url=http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/economia/pibmunicipios/2005/tab01.pdf|title=per capita income|publisher=IBGE|location=Porto Alegre, Brazil|format=PDF|isbn=85-240-3919-1|accessdate=2007-07-18|year=2005|language=Portuguese]

Tourism and recreation

The seat of State Government, its construction begun in 1896 after a project by Affonso Hebert, but soon the plan was changed and another project was designed by Maurice Gras, which was erected from 1909 on, and completed only towards the 70's. It shows a blend of baroque and neoclassical features inspired after the french palace Petit Trianon, with rich inner decorations and furniture, and a big garden behind the main building.

Tourism palaeontologicalAlthough Porto Alegre is not in the geopark of Paleorrota, has the largest number of paleontologists of Rio Grande do Sul. The city has a large number of museums, and the UFRGS as a center for the study of paleontology and there can see the animals of Triassic. We can see Rhynchosaur, thecodonts, exaeretodons, Staurikosaurus, Guaibasaurus, Saturnalia tupiniquim, Sacisaurus, Unaysaurus and many others.

Farroupilha Park

It is located in the Farroupilha Neighborhood. Its 370 thousand sq. meters of extension hosts 45 copper and marble monuments, a luminous fountain and the "O Expedicionário" (The Expeditionary One) monument, representing a double Triumph Arch with relief sculptures which are a homage to Brazilian soldiers who fought in Italy during the World War II. It also hosts a mini-zoo, an amusement park for children, a solar retreat, a market, football and bowling fields, cycleways, athletic sports track, gymnastics equipment, and an auditorium for 4,500 people.

Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho Park

Located at Cidade Baixa District, it occupies 300 thousand sq. meters, hosting in its area a replica of a traditional gaucho farm, the Harmonia Ranch, designed to maintain and practice the regional culture. It also has an aero modelling track, a nautical modelling tank, playground, football and bowling fields, volleyball courts, and over 100 barbecue grills available in different areas of the park.

Botanical Gardens

With an area of approximately 43 hectares, the Botanical Gardens are in the neighborhood named after it, between Cristiano Fischer Avenue and Salvador França Avenue. It harbours scientific collections with over two thousand issues, 725 vegetal species, spread over the different open areas of the park. It also has a Germplasm Bank, a Seed Bank and a Sapling Terrarium, in addition to developing environmental educational activities. The Natural Sciences Museum is headquartered at the Gardens and preserves flora and fauna species from the State Natural Heritage.

Saint Hilaire Park

Located on RS-040 highway, at about km 02, this park is 17 km away from Downtown Porto Alegre. It occupies 11.8 sq. km, 240 hectares of which are designed for leisure and 940 hectares reserved for permanent conservation. Its name is a homage to scientist Augustin François César Prouvençal de Saint-Hilaire, an internationally renowned French traveller and naturalist who lived in Brazil for many years. The park infrastructure has football fields, bowling fields, volleyball courts and indoor football fields, aero modelling and skating tracks, a playground and approximately 100 barbecue grills.

Lami Biological Reserve

The city has a Biological Reserve 170 hectares long within its territorial limits. Lami Biological Reserve shelters a meteorological station and a terrarium of native saplings. The diverse atmospheres enable growing over 300 vegetal species and a higher number of animal species; the swamps and reeds are home to many aquatic organisms.

Panorama simple

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fullheight = 200
caption = Panoramic picture of Ipanema Beach in Porto Alegre.
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Education

Portuguese is the official national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools. But English and Spanish are part of the official high school curriculum. There are also international schools, such as the [http://www.panamerican.com.br/ Pan American School of Porto Alegre.]

Educational institutions

* Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS);
* [http://www.uergs.edu.br/ Universidade Estadual do Rio Grande do Sul] (UERGS);
* Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS);
* Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFCSPA);
* [http://www.fargs.br/ Faculdades Riograndenses] (FARGS);
* [http://www.espm.br/ Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing] (ESPM-RS)
* [http://www1.fapa.com.br/php/home.php Faculdade Porto-Alegrense de Educação] (FAPA);
* [http://www.usen.com.br Universidade SEBRAE de Negocios] (USEN);

Culture

Museums

Rio Grande do Sul Museum of Art – MARGSWith an eclectic style, the building was designed by German architect Theo Wiederspahn. Originally it was the headquarters of the Fiscal Surveillance Agency of the Federal Revenue Office. Nowadays, it hosts the largest public collection of art works in Rio Grande do Sul.

Júlio de Castilhos MuseumCreated in 1903, being the oldest museum in the state. Its collection comprises thousands of pieces related to the local history, from Indian relics to objects and iconography about the War of Tatters and the War of the Triple Alliance, including an important section showing fine scupltures from the Jesuitic Reductions.

Joaquim José Felizardo Museum

An important museum with a large collection of archaeological artifacts and fotographies of Porto Alegre's old times. Its historical building, dating from 1845-55, is one of the few intact relics of colonial architecture inside the modern urban environment. Fact|date=October 2008

Rio Grande do Sul Memorial

Showing a huge collection of documents, maps, objects, prints and other items related to the state's history. Its building, designed by Theodor Wiederspahn, is one of the finest examples of eclectic architecture in the city.

Events

* World Social Forum: At several occasions (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005) the World Social Forum has been hosted in Porto Alegre.
* Farroupilha Week: this cultural celebration takes place in mid September with parades, food and musical exhibitions.
* Bookfair: Held each November at Alfândega Square.

Infrastructure

International Airport

Salgado Filho International Airport serves flights operated by major Brazilian airlines to many areas in Brazil and other South American countries. With 37.6 thousand square meters of constructed area and four levels, the passenger terminal at Porto Alegre International Airport can receive 28 large airplanes simultaneously. The terminal has 32 check-in counters, ten boarding bridges, nine elevators and ten escalators. It has a totally automated aircraft movement control center and the main spaces are air conditioned. The apron, surfaced with prestressed concrete, can serve jumbo jets like the Boeing 747-400. The garage structure has eight levels, 44 thousand square meters and 1,440 parking spaces.

Another terminal, with 15 thousand square meters and capacity for 1.5 million passengers a year, serves general, executive and third-tier aviation (conventional piston-engine and turboprop planes). Porto Alegre Airport was the first one administered by Infraero to have integrated check-in. This service offers flexibility in use of terminal facilities and installations, enabling carriers to access their own data centers via shared-use computers from any check-in counter position. This makes it much easier to allocate counter space according to demand fluctuations, making for less idle space.

The Aeroshopping area, a center for commerce and leisure, operates 24 hours a day with shops, services, a food court, along with a triplex cinema, the first to be established at a Brazilian airport. Salgado Filho International Airport also has an air cargo terminal, built in 1974, with 9,500 thousand square meters of area and capacity to handle 1,500 tons of export cargo and 900 tons of imports each month. The average daily movement (arrivals and departures) is 174 aircraft, flying scheduled routes connecting Porto Alegre directly or indirectly to all the country's other major cities, as well as smaller cities in the interior of the states of the South Region and São Paulo. There are also international flights with direct connections to cities of the Southern Cone.

Port

The Port of Porto Alegre is situated in the Eastern margin of lake Guaíba. Its geographical position enables a permanent traffic between Porto Alegre and Buenos Aires, transporting steel-industry products and mainly agricultural produce.

Metro

The metro is operated jointly by the federal government, the state government of Rio Grande do Sul and the city of Porto Alegre through the company Trensurb (Company of Urban Trains of Porto Alegre) and has 17 stations, totaling convert|42|km|mi of extension, carrying about 130,000 users a day.

The Line 1 of the subway built in Porto Alegre was started in 1980, linking the center of Porto Alegre to cities to the north of the metropolitan area, as Canoas, Esteio, Sapucaia do Sul, São Leopoldo and Novo Hamburgo. The choice of path was made to relieve the heavy traffic of highway BR-116, only option before the construction of this line, which already had serious problems with the transit at the time. The Line 1 was inaugurated on March 2, 1985 between the Central Public Market and Sapucaia do Sul. In December 1997 was extended to Unisinos. An extension of 2.4 miles São Leopoldo-Museum was added in November 2000, after two months of trial service. [ [http://www.clicrbs.com.br/zerohora/jsp/default.jsp?uf=1&local=1&section=Geral&newsID=a1642209.xml Metro (Porto Alegre)] ]

Highways

There are only two highways on the city, and they roughly border the North and the Northwest sides of the city. This happens because even though this is the capital city and most populous in the region, there are no major destinations to the southeastern and southern of Porto Alegre (regarding the east side of Lagoa dos Patos). BR-290 runs across the state East-West, linking the Northeast coast of the state to the Uruguay-Argentina-Brazil border. It runs across the north border of the municipality.

BR-116, which runs Northeast-South across the state, linking the city to most of its satellite cities and most of Brazil northbound, and to eastern Uruguay southbound. Within the municipality, it only touches the Northwest side of the city, close to the end of Rio Gravataí (Gravataí River). Avenida Presidente Castelo Branco (Castelo Branco President Avenue), also bordering the Northwest side of the city, is a rather short (convert|4|km|mi) highway and the only one that is fully contained within the borders of the municipality. It links downtown with these other highways.

ports

Soccer is a passion of the people from Porto Alegre. There is a big rivalry between two soccer teams, Sport Club Internacional, founded in 1909; and Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense, founded in 1903. The regional championship is usually won by one of these teams. The confrontation between Internacional and Grêmio is known as Gre-Nal.

Porto Alegre is one of the 18 remaining candidates to host matches of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, for which Brazil is the only South American bidder.

ister cities

Porto Alegre's sister cities are:cite web |url=http://www2.portoalegre.rs.gov.br/captare/default.php?p_secao=36 |title=Mayor's International Council Sister Cities Program |publisher=Porto Alegre, RS |accessdate = 2008-08-22]

Notable people

Notable people related to Porto Alegre:
* Adriana Calcanhotto, singer and instrumentist
* Alex Klein, oboist
* Anderson, football player with Manchester United
* Daiane dos Santos, gymnast
* Diogo Rincón, football player, former Dynamo Kyiv member
* Elis Regina, singer
* Ernesto Geisel, military general and dictator
* Humberto Gessinger, musician, singer and songwriter
* Isaac Karabtchevsky, conductor
* João Derly de Oliveira Nunes Júnior, judo world champion
* Jorge Furtado, film writer and director
* Luís Carlos Prestes, Communist leader
* Érico Verissimo, writer
* Luis Fernando Verissimo, writer (son of Erico Verissimo)
* Mario Quintana, poet
* Moacyr Scliar, writer and physician
* [http://www.westfalia-separator.com/index.php Iloi Wasen] , engineer
* Ronaldinho Gaúcho, football player with AC Milan
* Emerson Thome, former Sheffield Wednesday football player.
* Fabricio Werdum, professional mixed martial artist of PRIDE and UFC fame and member of the Chute Box academy.
* Luiz Adriano, football player of FC Shakhtar Donetsk
* Yamandú Costa, acoustic guitar player
* Jose Ramirez Barreto, football player with Mohun Bagan AC, India

Neighborhoods

Neighborhoods of Porto Alegre are geographical divisions of the city. There is no devolution of administrative powers to neighborhoods, although there are several neighborhoods associations devoted to improve their own standards of living. Porto Alegre has nowadays 78 official distinguished neighborhoods and 4 territories.

ee also

* List of Hills of Porto Alegre

References

External links

sisterlinks|Porto Alegre
* [http://www.portoalegre.rs.gov.br/ Official homepage] (some pages available in en)
*
* [http://www.portoalegre.tur.br/ Maplink - Porto Alegre Street Guide and Maps]
* [http://www.nosbairros.com.br/ Calendar of Events and Histories of the Neighborhoods of Porto Alegre]
* [http://www.portoalegreonline.net/ History, Old and Actual Photos, Parks History, Porto Alegre maps, Brazilian Hymns and another stuffs about the city]