Sorocaba () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Sorocaba is the eighth-largest city in the state of São Paulo. Outside the

Greater São Paulo Greater São Paulo ( pt, Grande São Paulo) is a nonspecific term for one of the multiple definitions of the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil. Definitions Metropolitan Area A legally defined specific term, ''Reg ...

region, it ranks behind only

Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian municipality in São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's population is 1,213,792, making it the fourteenth most populous Brazilian ...

São José dos Campos São José dos Campos (, meaning Saint Joseph of the Fields) is a major city and the seat of the Municipalities of Brazil, municipality of the same name in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil. One of the leading industrial and res ...

and

Ribeirão Preto Ribeirão Preto (Portuguese pronunciation: �ibejˈɾɐ̃w ˈpɾetu is a municipality and a metropolitan area located in the northeastern region of São Paulo state, Brazil. Ribeirão Preto is the eighth-largest municipality in the State wi ...

. It is part of the

Metropolitan Region of Sorocaba The Metropolitan Region of Sorocaba ( pt, Região Metropolitana de Sorocaba) is an administrative division of the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It was created in 2014, and consists of the following municipalities: * Alambari *Alumínio *Araçarigu ...

. The population is 687,357 (2020 est.) in an area of 450.38 km². Over the past twelve years the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

has been undergoing extensive

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...

projects, improving streets and avenues, as well as infrastructure for the traffic which the city receives every day. It is the eighth and fourth municipality in the consumer market in the state outside the Greater São Paulo metropolitan area, with a potential annual per capita consumption estimated at $2,400 for the urban population and $917 for rural areas (7200 people) and twenty-ninth-largest city in Brazil with potential for consumption. Still, it is the fourth-largest city of the state in new investments and one of the largest in the country, figuring in the list of 30 cities that create the most jobs in

History

Dom Francisco de Sousa, general governor of

(1591 to 1602), believing in the existence of gold in the region, settled the Pelourinho —a Portuguese translation of the English "

pillory The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the stocks ...

", symbol of the Royal power, as the village Nova Vila de Nossa Senhora da Ponte de Mont Serrat. When gold wasn't found there, the governor returned to the Royal Court. Twelve years later, Dom Francisco de Sousa changed the name of the village to Itavuvu.

Baltasar Fernandes Captain Baltasar Fernandes (also spelled ''Baltazar'' or ''Balthazar'') (c. 1580 - c. 1667) was a Portuguese colonist of Brazil who led the expeditions called Bandeirantes into the interior seeking gold, silver, and iron. He was the founder and o ...

, a member of an expeditionary group called Bandeirantes, laid the foundation of Sorocaba in the 1654. The chapel of Nossa Senhora da Ponte (which is now the Cathedral located in Fernando Prestes square, downtown) was built by him, along with the São Bento de Parnaíba monastery (now São Bento monastery) years later. It was also Fernandes who brought the first

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monks to teach, assist the poor and the ill, and convert the Native Americans of the region. The monastery was donated to the Benedictines in the year 1660, after which Friar Anselmo da Anunciação and Friar Mauro were chosen to take office. The first streets and houses started to spread around the neighborhood. In the year of 1661, Baltasar Fernandes went to São Paulo to request that Sorocaba be named a village from the governor, Correia de Sá e Benevides. Thus, on March 3, 1661, Sorocaba became known as Vila de Nossa Senhora da Ponte de Sorocaba. The organization of the Municipal Council followed shortly, with the main nominees being: Baltasar Fernandes and André de Zunega (judges), Cláudio Furquim and Pascoal Leite Pais (city councillors), Domingos Garcia (procurator) and Francisco Sanches (clerk). With the arrival of colonel Cristóvão Pereira de Abreu and his troops in 1773, begins the main chapter of the history of Sorocaba: the Tropeirismo. The transportation of goods on the back of mules, that traversed the North-South route of the country came across Sorocaba, which was strategically placed in the main route between

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. Soon Sorocaba had its own Feira de Muares (mule/horse fair), where troops from all states came to feed and rest their cavalry on the way to the mineral and forest expeditions, and buy and sell goods, horses and enslaved Africans. Given the growing number of people working in the city, the commerce and the first industries began to appear. Goods bought in Sorocaba were known from across the Country, spread by the merchant troops. The main events of Tropeirismo comprehended a hundred years of the Sorocaba history, from 1770 to 1870. The Tropeirismo is also responsible for spreading a locally manufactured type of Knife that became known in Brazil is as the

Sorocaban Knife The Sorocaban knife (Portuguese: faca Sorocabana) is the name given to a type of knife or short sword developed in Brazil, more precisely the state of São Paulo, around the turn of 18th to the 19th century. Its defining characteristics are the ...

. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, English textile industries ran out of cotton, which was imported from the Southern United States. Soon, manufactures from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

started to search around the world for alternative places to cultivate cotton - one of them was the then-Province of São Paulo, which included Sorocaba. In 1862, Lieutenant-Colonel Francisco Gonçalves de Oliveira Machado started the first cotton plantation in Sorocaba. The local environment and weather were ideal, and the plantation flourished. The first harvest exceeded all expectations, starting another cycle of industrial and economic development. Several textile industries from England built branches in the city, changing the landscape with chimneys, saw-styled roofs, large, orange brick-built buildings and smoke. During this time, Sorocaba received the title of Manchester Paulista--"São Paulo native" in Portuguese, given the resemblance with its laboring

twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

city. With the opening of the

Estrada de Ferro Sorocabana Rail transport in Brazil began in the 19th century and there were many different railway companies. The railways were nationalised under RFFSA (Rede Ferroviária Federal, Sociedade Anônima) in 1957. Between 1999 and 2007, RFFSA was broken up ...

on June 20, 1872 and its transport of cotton products, animals and passengers to São Paulo, Sorocaba had a major leap in development. Six locomotives and 62 bandwagons were brought from

, with seven stations initially planned. Telegraphic services started on April 3, 1873. Years later, the railway expanded to the borders of the state, with Sorocaba station as the hub.

Geography

Location

The city is located in the southeastern region of the state of

, 92 km away from the state capital. The main highways are Castelo Branco (SP-280) and Raposo Tavares (SP-270). It straddles the

Sorocaba River The Sorocaba River (Portuguese, ''Rio Sorocaba'') is a river of São Paulo state in southeastern Brazil. It is a tributary of the Tietê River. The river runs large and important part of the municipality of Sorocaba. Geography Sorocaba headwate ...

, a tributary of the left bank of the Tiete river. The municipality of Sorocaba is located on the

Tropic of Capricorn The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reac ...

, at latitude 23° 26 '16 " for the season of 2011, passes along the neighborhoods of Aparecidinha and Parque São Bento districts. At the junction of Highway José Ermírio José de Morais (SP-75) with the connection to the Raposo Tavares highway is a milestone signaling the Tropic. Among Brazil's largest cities (by population), Sorocaba is in 30th place. Sorocaba is among the major cities in São Paulo (population), is ranked ninth.

Demography

According to IBGE, 2010 Census, the population of Sorocaba was 586,311 inhabitants. There was a growth of 18.81% compared to 2000. The population density is 1,305.46 inhabitants per square kilometer. Women are the majority in Sorocaba, being 51.1% of the total population. In absolute numbers, there are 299,513 women and 286,798 men, 12,715 more women than men. There is a large predominance of urban population in Sorocaba, with only 1% of the population (5,971 residents) living in rural areas, compared with 580,340 in urban areas. Among the largest cities in

(in population), Sorocaba is in 30th place. Among the largest cities in

(in population), it is ranked ninth.

Climate

Sorocaba climate is subtropical, with the coldest month being July and warmest in January and February. Precipitation is around . According to

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

, Sorocaba can be classified as a

Cwa CWA or Cwa may refer to: Organisations * CWA Constructions, a Swiss manufacturer of gondolas and people mover cabins, a division of Doppelmayr Garaventa Group * Catch Wrestling Association, a former German professional wrestling promotion * Contin ...

climate, featuring a warm climate with summer rainfall and temperature in the warmest month ≥ . The climate table below shows the monthly mean temperatures, maximum and minimum recorded, rainfall and rainy days with monthly and annual averages for the period from 1 January 1995 to January 1, 2011 for the city of Sorocaba.

Land relief

The terrain is classified as a wavy strands and characterized by local ridges, with an average altitude of 632 meters above the sea level. The highest altitude is 1028 meters, in the Serra de Sao Francisco. The lower altitude is 539 meters, in the valley of the

. Sorocaba is located on the edge of the Peripheral Depression of São Paulo state, in the Appalachian Fall Line, as defined by Professor Aziz Ab'Saber. This configuration is due to the fact Sorocaba lies at the boundary between the Atlantic Plateau, which covers the area of crystalline rocks, with higher relief and the rocks of the Parana Sedimentary Basin and gently rolling topography with lower altitudes. The

and its hydrographic basin are responsible for the relief dissection.

Soil

The soil is characterized as red-yellow podzolic type, with gravelly clay, heavy clay, Typic dark clayey; oxisol with clay loam. Lithosols also occur, which are usually developed with little depressions.

Vegetation

The original natural vegetation was the Atlantic Forest, with local regions in a Montana Tropical Rainforest. Predominate the savannah vegetation in various stages of secondary succession.

Geology

Sorocaba is located exactly on the limit between the sedimentary rocks of Parana Sedimentary Basin (Itararé Group, in glacial and deltaic palaeoenvironments of Permian-Carboniferous age) and crystalline basement (Neoproterozoic). Important

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

massifs are Sorocaba Massif (calc-alkaline I-Type) and São Francisco Massif (Subalkaline, A-Type). Metamorphic low grade rocks as phyllites, metacalcareous, metarenites, are marine metassediments are included in Sao Roque Group (

Neoproterozoic The Neoproterozoic Era is the unit of geologic time from 1 billion to 538.8 million years ago. It is the last era of the Precambrian Supereon and the Proterozoic Eon; it is subdivided into the Tonian, Cryogenian, and Ediacaran periods. It is ...

) with structural trend northeast-southwest. The Ipanema Hill or Araçoiaba Ridge is a prominent and isolated topographic elevation, it comprises ultrabasic-alkaline intrusion age (

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...

, Early

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

), remnant of ancient

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

. It was the first iron mine,

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...

and metallurgy of Brazil,

Ipanema Ipanema () is a neighbourhood located in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between Leblon and Arpoador. The beach at Ipanema became known internationally with the popularity of the bossa nova jazz song, "The Girl from Ipane ...

. The ore was exploited from

magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe2+Fe3+2O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. With the ...

, probably associated to

carbonatite Carbonatite () is a type of intrusive rock, intrusive or extrusive rock, extrusive igneous rock defined by mineralogic composition consisting of greater than 50% carbonate minerals. Carbonatites may be confused with marble and may require geoche ...

body.

Industry

Sorocaba's industrial park is well-served by roads, highways, and public transportation. The industrial park boasts more than 25 million square meters and over 1,600 industries. Main economic activities are: industrial

machinery A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecule ...

, heavy

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

ironmaking Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from o ...

and

steelmaking Steelmaking is the process of producing steel from iron ore and carbon/or scrap. In steelmaking, impurities such as nitrogen, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur and excess carbon (the most important impurity) are removed from the sourced iron, and all ...

, automotive parts, industrial

textiles Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

agricultural equipment Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that they ...

chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wi ...

and

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sou ...

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...

production, solar module manufacturing, eolic energy,

pharmaceutics Pharmaceutics is the discipline of pharmacy that deals with the process of turning a new chemical entity (NCE) or old drugs into a medication to be used safely and effectively by patients. It is also called the science of dosage form design. The ...

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...

and

cellulose Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell wall ...

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...

s, commerce and services. Its tools, automotive parts and pharmaceutics industry are the biggest in

. The Ferroban railroad (formerly Sorocabana Railway and FEPASA) are connected to

and the Santos Seaport, the largest seaport in South America. The railroad is also an important link to

Mercosur The Southern Common Market, commonly known by Spanish abbreviation Mercosur, and Portuguese Mercosul, is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full members are Argentina ...

, reaching both

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. Sorocaba also boasts a dry port terminal, which provides efficient road linkages to the various ports and airports of the region including Bertram Luiz Leupolz Airport, which has one of the busiest cargo terminals in the State. A second airport, with much higher traffic and passenger capacity is currently being planned for the upcoming years.

Economy

Sorocaba's economic development is fifth in the state, with investments in the order of US$3,5 billion, with US$3 billion in

Gross Domestic Product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a money, monetary Measurement in economics, measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjec ...

. Its industries export to over 115 countries, with an income of US$370 million per year. There are over eight thousand commerce organizations and another 8,000 service businesses.

Education

Sorocaba has nine universities, seven private: University of Medical and Health Sciences at the Catholic University of São Paulo ( PUC-SP),

University of Sorocaba A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

(UNISO), ESAMC Sorocaba, Anhanguera, Uirapuru Superior, Academia de Letras de Sorocaba, University Paulista (UNIP), and two public Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho , Universidade Estadual Paulista ( UNESP) and University of Sao Carlos ( UFSCar). It also has nine colleges:

Law School of Sorocaba The Faculty of Law of Sorocaba is a law school in the state of Sao Paulo and Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At ...

(FADI), recommended by OAB the year 2007 the FADI received the seal of quality issued by the institution to law courses that have had the best quality indexes in recent years. Engineering College of Sorocaba ( FACENS), College of Technology of São Paulo - Sorocaba (FATEC-SO), College of Physical Education

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

Sorocaba (FEFISO), Manchester Paulista Institute of Higher Education (IMAP), Academy of Higher Education (AES), Graduate School of Management, Marketing and Communication (ESAMC) Anhanguera Educational Sorocabano Uirapuru Education Center and the Union of Educational Institutions of São Paulo (UNIESP), among others schools. There are four hundred public schools between municipal and private ones from elementary to high school, many with professionalizing courses. National Industry and Commerce Service Institutions like

SENAI :For the Malaysian town with the same name, see Senai.'' Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial (SENAI), Portuguese language for ''National Service for Industrial Training'' is a network of profitable secondary level professional schools es ...

SENAC , Senac, are also present in the city, besides the State Technical School of London , State Technical School and Rubens de Faria e Souza, State Technical School of São Paulo , Technical School Fernando Prestes de Albuquerque and the Polytechnic School of Sorocaba (free of charge), which also houses the Standart School of Sorocaba, Antonio Padilha school. The

(FADI), recommended by the Bar Association of Brazil in 2004 and 2007, received the seal of quality issued by the institution to law courses that have had the best quality indexes in recent years.

Health

The city's health care is well served with many hospitals like Hospital Santa Lucinda, Conjunto Hospitalar de Sorocaba, Santa Casa de Misericórdia (founded over 200 years ago), Evangelical Hospital, Samaritan Hospital, Hospital Unimed, etc. The Ophthalmological Hospital is the hospital that performs more transplants and corneal uptake in Brazil. It was honored at the Distinction Award in Organ Donation of the Secretariat of Health of Brazil and has succeeded in eliminating the waiting list for transplants in the region of Sorocaba and the entire city of São Paulo. Hospital Santa Lucinda achieved its 100th kidney transplant in 2004. In 2007, we opened 12 rooms with high-tech equipment, the result of an investment of about $2.5 million from the St. Paul Foundation. The Sorocaba Hospital Complex is responsible for servicing the tertiary level of 48 municipalities in southwest São Paulo with a population of over 3 million inhabitants. Reference state is the treatment of burn victims and in 2009 over R$5 million were investing into building a new maternity ward. The scientific work in the area of burns in the year 2009 awarded by the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery and was coordinated by Dr. Hamilton Aleardo Gonella and held at CHS. For a year, Gonella's team researched the application of nanocrystalline silver dressings. The technique, tested in five patients of CHS, showed positive results, expanding the range of dressing change which reduces the patient's suffering and costs in hospital care. The Plastic Surgery Service CHS has 34 awards for scientific work in various areas. About burns, are at least ten. The Ambulatory Hernia Surgery is the CHS model, several training sessions are conducted for surgeons throughout the country. Sorocaba is a technique performed the cut is between 2 and 2.5 cm, smaller than the procedures used elsewhere. The Faculty of Medicine of Sorocaba - the first medical school in the interior of Brazil - was founded in 1950 and is one of the most responsible for Sorocaba be a reference center for health in Brazil having formed many renowned professionals.

Resources

Two International Convention Centers are available. Sorocaba's three main newspapers are the ''Jornal Bom Dia'', ''Cruzeiro do Sul'' and the ''Diário de Sorocaba''.

Sights

There are many parks open to the public, such as historical churches, walking and racing courses, historical monuments, museums, mausoleums and memorials, various spas and horse farms. The municipal

Zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes. The term ''zoological g ...

"Quinzinho de Barros", is one of the largest zoos in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Sport

The main sporting venue in the city is

Estádio Municipal Walter Ribeiro Estádio Municipal Walter Ribeiro is a stadium in Sorocaba, Brazil. It has a capacity of 13,722 spectators. It is the home of Esporte Clube São Bento and Clube Atlético Sorocaba Clube Atlético Sorocaba, usually known as Atlético Sorocaba, ...

. The city's main association football team is EC São Bento. There is also a second team

Atlético Sorocaba Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

which in October 2016 the professional team licensed the professional competitions.

Liga Sorocabana de Basquete Liga Sorocabana de Basquete, or simply LSB, as it is known, is a Brazilian basketball team from Sorocaba, São Paulo (state), São Paulo state. The team receives financial support from partners such as Case, Flextronics, Intermédica and Objetivo ...

is the city's main basketball team. There is a futsal team named Magnus Futsal which the main title were 2016 and 2018

Intercontinental Futsal Cup The Intercontinental Futsal Cup is an international club competition for futsal. This is a friendly competition and not a FIFA official trophy. A group of invited clubs from Europe and South America play 3 games against each other. These are gener ...

Transport

Railway - Estrada de Ferro Sorocabana

Airport

Sorocaba Airport is used by small aircraft and it is served by almost no commercial flights. The services provided are mainly for cargo transport.

Azul Brazilian Airlines Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras S/A (''Azul Brazilian Airlines''; or simply Azul) is a Brazilian carrier based in Barueri, a suburb of São Paulo. The company's business model is to stimulate demand by providing frequent and affordable air serv ...

offers free bus transfers for its passengers between Sorocaba and Campinas-Viracopos International Airport at regular times.

Highways

* SP-75 - Rod. Santos Dumont (Sorocaba - Campinas) * SP-79 - Rod. Waldomiro Correa de Camargo (Sorocaba - Itu), Rod. Raimundo Antunes Soares (Sorocaba - Piedade) * SP-91/270 - Rodovia Dr. Celso Charuri (interligação entre as rodovias Raposo Tavares e Senador José Ermírio de Morais (Castelinho) * SP-97 - Rod. Emerenciano Prestes de Barros (Sorocaba - Porto Feliz) * SP-264 - Rod. João Leme dos Santos (Sorocaba - Salto de Pirapora) *

SP-270 Rodovia Raposo Tavares (official designation SP-270) is the longest highway in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, with 654 km. The highway starts in the city of São Paulo and continues westward, serving the main cities of Cotia, Vargem Gran ...

- Rod. Raposo Tavares (Sorocaba - São Paulo, Sorocaba - Presidente Prudente) *

SP-280 The Rodovia Presidente Castelo Branco (SP-280) is a tollway in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It was first opened on Saturday, 10 November 1968, by, then, the Governor of the state of São Paulo, Abreu Sodré. The tollway name was given in mem ...

- Rod. Castelo Branco (Sorocaba - São Paulo, Sorocaba - Ourinhos e Norte do Paraná) * SP-354 - Rod. Sorocaba - Iperó

Urban Transport

Sorocaba has four urban bus terminals: São Paulo,Santo Antônio,Vitória Régia and São Bento.

Bike/cycle lanes

The city has 60 kilometers of bike lanes created in the city's main avenues, and it can be crossed only using bicycles for transportation. The planning of the municipality provides for the construction of the largest cycling network in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

in coming years and implement a public bike system, similar to European cities as

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and Paris. Sorocaba is currently the second-largest cycling loop of Brazil, after Rio de Janeiro.

Administration

The current Mayor is Rodrigo Maganhato (Republicans (Brazil), REPUBLICANOS), who has been in office since January 1st, 2021.

Twin towns – sister cities

Sorocaba is Sister city, twinned with: * Anyang, Gyeonggi, Anyang, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea * Nanchang, Jiangxi, China * Wuxi, Jiangsu, China

Notable people

*Átila Abreu, racing driver *Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen, Viscount of Porto Seguro, Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen, diplomat and Viscount of Porto Seguro *José Caldini Crespo, politician *Rafael Tobias de Aguiar, military officer *Viih Tube, YouTuber

References

*Prefeitura de Sorocab
"Conhecendo a sua Cidade"
''Conheça Sorocaba'', November 13, 2007. Accessed November 13, 2007. *Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatístic
"Cidades@"
''Sorocaba'', November 13, 2007. Accessed November 13, 2007.

External links

Prefeitura de Sorocaba
Prefecture, City Hall
Portal da cidade
{{Authority control Sorocaba, Populated places established in 1654 1654 establishments in the Portuguese Empire