Sao Paulo: A City Overview

Sao Paulo is one of the largest cities in the world, and is by far the largest in South America. It is estimated that close to 19 million people live in this busy city. Sao Paulo is home to many different immigrants from around the world. As such as you move around Sao Paulo you can't help but see and enjoy the many ethnic neighborhoods that make up this interesting city.

Sao Paulo has as its main attraction its various ethnic groups and their associated vibrant culture. You will find large Lebanese, Japanese and Italian communities in Sao Paulo. The array of nationalities living in São Paulo have made it a legendary city among gourmands: Japanese, Italian nuova cucina, Brazilian, Chinese, Jewish, and Arab restaurants are all familiar parts of the city's landscape. It is interesting to note that many people visit São Paulo just to dine out!

Though the food is great and the cultural diversity is excellent, there are of course other reasons why people come to São Paulo. Its museums are among the finest in South America, its surrounding coastline is graced with many lovely beaches, and its entertainment and nightlife have for years attracted some of the best performers in the world. In recent years, the city has evolved into a center for Brazil's own martial art, capoeira, whose dance-like motions are performed to music. The art has its own traditional instruments: drums and the berimbau, a stringed rod used to keep time. Originally developed as the martial art of the slaves of the Bahia, capoeira was banned by the ruling classes. To keep their art alive, the slaves turned capoeira into a dance, and the berimbau, which had warned of an approaching master, began to accompany the dance itself. As late as the 1920s capoeira was still outlawed and practiced only underground; today, it is a well-known and much-loved spectacle.

Many of our students that study and learn Portuguese in São Paulo do so for work-related reasons. After all, São Paulo is the industrial center of Brazil, responsible for over 30% of Brazil's annual GNP, and headquarters to the majority of Brazilian and multinational corporations. Today it is considered one of Latin America's most important industrial and financial center.

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