Jaú

: "This article is about a city in São Paulo state. For the national park in Amazonas, see Jaú National Park."

Jaú is a municipality/county in the center of the state of São Paulo, in Brazil. The population in 2004 is 121,333 and the area is 690.18 km². The elevation is 522 m. This place name comes from the Tupi language; in fact, the town was formerly known as Jahu, named after a fish species which was found in the only river which runs through the town center. It is considered a rather old town for Brazilian standards and the people is generally regarded as quite conservative.

History

The history of the city goes back to 1853, when a group of people decided to gather and found a village. Not until 1889, however, it gained the status of town. Its most widely known inhabitant turned to be João Ribeiro de Barros, the first man who travelled from Europe to South America by plane, in 1927.

Economy

Jaú is placed in a tropical weather region, known for its very fertile lands, which were called "terra rossa" (red land) by the abundant Italian immigrants. Due to a language misinterpretation, it eventually became "terra roxa" (purple land) in Portuguese. The fertility of the land was responsible for the agriculture success of the region which the town belongs to, and whose production of sugar and coffee played an important part in the economy of the state in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Although Jaú continues to be a focus of important sugar and coffee production, agriculture has lost much of its importance.

The economy of the town is centered on industry, as Jaú is one of the biggest shoemakers pole of the whole country. There are around 180 shoe industries that produce between 70,000 and 120,000 pairs a day, 86% of which are destined to women. The city is known as the national capital of female shoes, which are exported to the whole world.

Sports

Esporte Clube XV de Novembro is a traditional sport club of the town, founded in 1924. The club plays its home matches at Estádio Zezinho Magalhães. Jaú is also the birthplace of freestyle swimmer Renata Burgos, who represented Brazil at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.