Jundiaí

Jundiaí is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, in the Southeast Region of Brazil, located north of São Paulo. The population of the city is 423,006 (2020 est.), with an area of 431.21 km².Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística
/ref> The elevation is 761 m.
The GDP of the city is U$16.6 billion (R$36.6 billion). The budget for 2013 is U$787 million (R$1.63 billion), according to the official data of the City Hall.

History and Geography

The locally most-accepted history of the first non-native American colonizers of the locale were Rafael de Oliveira and Petronilha Rodrigues Antunes who fled São Paulo for political reasons and who in 1615 then founded what became known as the Freguesia de Nossa Senhora do Desterro ("The Parish of Our Lady of the Landless").

The municipality was officially founded on December 14, 1655, when it was elevated to the category of village. Its first urbanization was carried out in 1657. Jundiaí has borders with Várzea Paulista, Campo Limpo Paulista, Franco da Rocha, Cajamar, Pirapora do Bom Jesus, Cabreúva, Itupeva, Louveira, Vinhedo, Itatiba and Jarinu.

Formerly spelled Jundiahy, the name of the town comes from the Tupi language, '' jundiá'' means "fish with barbs" (the ''Rhamdia quelen'' species) and ''í'' means river. Loosely translated, it means "Catfish River."

The city received massive numbers of Italian immigrants in the late 19th century and early 20th century, making most of the city's inhabitants of Italian descent, which constitutes about 75% of the city's population. Amongst other immigrant groups, there are: Portuguese, Spanish, German and small amounts of Hungarian and Slavic peoples.

Recently, Jundiaí has enjoyed a steep population growth, in large part fueled by a shift of residents from the megalopolis of São Paulo, seeking better living conditions.

Agriculture

The region burst onto the national stage with the production of grapes, especially with the "pink" variety of the Niagara grape. To stimulate the production of grapes, with the support of the Associação Agrícola de Jundiaí e Prefeitura (Agriculture Association of Jundiaí and Town Hall), in 1934 Antenor Soares Gandra created the Festa da Uva (Grape Festival), not to be confused with a festival of the same name in Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul. Since 1964 the Festa da Uva is celebrated every even-numbered year, alternating with the Festa do Morango (Strawberry Festival) in the park Parque Comendador Antonio Carbonari but most known as the Parque da Uva (Grape Park).

The first Festa do Morango was in 1965 in the Poste neighborhood of the city. Later, because of the increase in agriculture participants and of the public interest, the event was transferred to the Parque Comendador Antonio Carbonari.

Tourism

The Serra do Japi (Japi mountain range), situated southeast of the city, is a state park that has a natural reserve with one of the largest forested areas in the state of São Paulo, with beautiful landscapes and many opportunities for ecotourism, large hotel-farms and extreme sports.

The Jundiahy section is a historical area amongst the rivers Jundiai, Guapeva and Mato. It is an affluent neighborhood with fancy houses, gardens and a traditional small community business.

Sports

Paulista is the city's football (soccer) club. The team, which plays at Jayme Cintra Stadium, was the champion of Copa do Brasil 2005 (Cup of Brazil).

Transportation

The Jundiaí Airport serves the city and region for small airplanes.
Jundiaí has a connection in the Jundiaí station with Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM).
It has a system of public transportation that currently costs R$3,00 (USD 1,45) for one wa

Most of the buses have wheelchair lifts and a few have monitors that broadcast videos about the city and education. The lines are all connected by ''terminais'' (terminals), what makes the users' transportation faster and cheaper since there is free circulation in the terminals to the ''linhas alimentadoras'' (feeding lines), which carry the passengers from the terminals to their respective destination

Yellow and reloadable electronic cards that replace cash may be used by regular users that perform a register; students have a blue card that charges only half instead of the ticket's full price; the elderly or disabled own a grey or green card which allows free admittance.

Twin towns and sister cities

: Iwakuni, Japan
: Padova, Italy
: Trenton, USA

Notable people

* Adriano Basso (1975), footballer.
* Ana Carolina Reston Macan (1985–2006), -model.
* Antônio de Queirós Teles, barão de Jundiaí (1789–1870), politician.
* Antônio de Queirós Teles, conde do Parnaíba (1831–1888), politician, and president of São Paulo Province (1886–1887).
* Bianca Bin, actress.
* Dalmo Gaspar
* Décio Pignatari (1927-2012), writer and poet.
* Doni (1979), footballer.
* Duília de Mello (1963), astronomer.
* Eloísa Mafalda