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São Vicente, São Paulo

São Vicente
Municipality
Flag of São Vicente
Flag
Coat of arms of São Vicente
Coat of arms
Nickname(s): Brazil's first village
Cellula-Mater of Nationality
Birthplace of Democracy in the Americas
Location of São Vicente
Location of São Vicente
Coordinates: 23°57′48″S 46°23′32″W / 23.96333°S 46.39222°W / -23.96333; -46.39222Coordinates: 23°57′48″S 46°23′32″W / 23.96333°S 46.39222°W / -23.96333; -46.39222
Country  Brazil
Region Southeast
State São Paulo
Government
 • Mayor Luís Cláudio Bili
Area
 • Total 147.89 km2 (57.10 sq mi)
Elevation 6 m (20 ft)
Population (2015)
 • Total 355,542
 • Density 2,400/km2 (6,200/sq mi)
Time zone BRT (UTC-3)
 • Summer (DST) BRST (UTC-2)
HDI (2010) 0,768 – high
Website São Vicente City

São Vicente (after Saint Vincent of Saragossa, the patron Saint of Lisbon, Portugal) is a coastal municipality at southern São Paulo, Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Baixada Santista. The population is 355,542 (2015 est.) in an area of 147.89 square kilometres (57.10 square miles).

It was the first permanent Portuguese settlement in the Americas and the first capital of the Captaincy of São Vicente, roughly the present state of São Paulo. Established as a proper village in 1532 by Martim Afonso de Sousa on what was then the Porto dos Escravos ("Port of the Slaves"), operated by three Portuguese colonists who trafficked on slaves captured by allied tribes, São Vicente is titled Cellula Mater (Mother Cell) of Brazil for being the first organized town in the country. The first City Council of all the Americas was democratically elected and established in São Vicente on August 22, 1532.

A battle took place here on 3 February 1583 when three English warships attempting to trade with the Portuguese, was set upon by three Spanish galleons. The Spanish ships were repelled and retreated leaving one galleon sunk.

São Vicente is located on the western half of coastal São Vicente Island, being mostly a bedroom community for the larger and wealthier neighbouring port and commercial city of Santos on the island's eastern half. A small north-south hill range separates for the most part the two cities' urban areas, but they are contiguous in the north and on a narrow beach strip in the south. A narrow strip of land of the basin of the small Cubatão River extends west out of the central area of São Vicente, north and parallel to the municipality of Praia Grande.


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