Sao Paulo tourist information

The city is crossed by many of the most important roads of the country, such as the BR-116, SP-270, SP-280, Rodovia Anhangüera, Rodovia dos Bandeirantes, Rodovia Anchieta, Rodovia Castelo Branco and Rodovia dos Imigrantes. Some railways also cross the city. They are, however, very old and were constructed intending not to transport people, but to transport coffee to the Santos seaport.

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However, there are new projects to build new medium-high speed railway tracks from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro (a project has been announced by the Brazilian government to build a high speed railway service in order to link the country's biggest cities, the trains would go as fast as 280 km/h, and would link São Paulo and Rio in about 1 hour and 30 minutes. These works are still waiting to be officially announced by the government, however some news has been heard on this matter), Campinas and to São Paulo-Guarulhos Airport.

The other important project is the "Expresso Bandeirantes", that is a medium speed rail service (about 160 km/h) from São Paulo to Campinas, which would make the journey go from the hour and a half nowadays to about 50 minutes, linking São Paulo, Jundiaí, Campinas Airport, and Campinas city centre. This service is also going to be connected to the railway service that is going to link São Paulo city centre and Guarulhos Airport. Works on this last railway service between São Paulo city centre and Guarulhos Airport were announced to begin in 2007, which is going to be the beginning of the renewal of Brazilian passenger railway service.

São Paulo has three airports. São Paulo had, in 2005, about 33 million people flying in and out its airports (mainly from Congonhas and Guarulhos airports, that are the ones that have commercial flights), according to the Infraero (the Brazilian state company that makes the administration of almost all the airports in Brazil). This made São Paulo the most crowded air space both in Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere (some figures above Sydney and Mexico City).

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The city was founded on January 25, 1554, by Portuguese Jesuit missionaries José de Anchieta and Manoel da Nóbrega, who established a mission — the Colégio de São Paulo de Piratininga — to convert the Tupi-Guarani Native Brazilians to the Catholic religion. Located just beyond the Serra do Mar cliffs overlooking the port city of Santos, and close to the River Tietê, the new settlement became the natural entrance to the vast and fertile plateau that would eventually become the State of São Paulo.

First named São Paulo de Piratininga, São Paulo officially became a city in 1711. It experienced a boom during the coffee cycle, starting in the late 19th century — chiefly because of its privileged position next to the port of Santos, through which most of the country's exports were shipped.

After 1881, waves of immigrants from Italy, Japan and many other countries arrived in São Paulo, at first to work at the enormous coffee plantations established in the State. In the 20th century, with the increasing industrial development of the country, many of them moved to São Paulo, which also attracted new contingents of immigrants.

São Paulo was home to the Bandeirantes, who were responsible for a great deal of territorial expansion of Brazil and the discovery of great wealth. There are several monuments honoring their history in the city, including the famous Monumento às Bandeiras, one of the symbols of São Paulo.

Another important historical landmark is the Universidade de São Paulo's Law School, also known as Largo São Francisco, claimed to be the first academic institution in Brazil. First installed into a monastery, it was founded on 1 March 1828, right after the beginning of the Brazilian Empire, following the increasing need for lawyers and politicians. As rich Brazilians used to go to Portugal to take undergraduate law courses, the Brazilian Emperor, Dom Pedro I, decided that it was time to create a national law school. It attracted students from all over the country, who gave São Paulo a bohemian lifestyle.

In 1972 a fire disaster occurred in Andraus Building and in 1974 in Joelma Building.