300px, Panoramic view of Barão Geraldo, taken from a hill overlooking ">UNICAMP
Barão Geraldo () is a
district
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
of the
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
of
Campinas
Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in São Paulo (state), São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's popul ...
, in the state of
São Paulo
São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
,
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
. It is named after
Barão Geraldo de Rezende, a
baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...
of the
Empire of Brazil
The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay until the latter achieved independence in 1828. The empire's government was a Representative democracy, representative Par ...
who owned a large
farm
A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...
in the region, in the 19th century.
Barão Geraldo is approximately from downtown Campinas and it is mainly connected to it via the
Rodovia Campinas-Paulínia highway. Barão Geraldo is famous for hosting the main campus of the
State University of Campinas (UNICAMP). The university campus is surrounded by typical suburban communities, the ''Cidade Universitária Campineira'', so named because many professors and a large number of students reside there; as well as by
gated condominiums, such as ''Rio das Pedras'', ''Barao do Cafe'' and ''Santa Eudoxia'', and many old farms, such as ''Pau D'Alho'', ''Santa Eudóxia'', ''Rio das Pedras'' and ''Santa Genebra''. The University itself and the surrounding residential communities were built on a former
coffee
Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
and
sugarcane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
plantation.
Barão Geraldo is one of the greenest districts of Campinas. It has several lakes and the Mata of Santa Genebra, a large preservation area where the original
rain forest
Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...
which covered the region in the past can be seen and is studied by the University. It still has a large diversity of plants and animals, including
capybara
The capybara or greater capybara (''Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris'') is the largest living rodent, native to South America. It is a member of the genus '' Hydrochoerus''. The only other extant member is the lesser capybara (''Hydrochoerus isthmi ...
s and
jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...
s.
Near UNICAMP, the district hosts also a large high-tech industrial zone (with several companies, such as
Nortel
Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It was founded in ...
); three research and development institutions; the ''
Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em Telecomunicações'' (CPqD), in
telecommunication
Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...
s and
information technology
Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...
; the ''
Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron'' and the
Eldorado Institute. It is considered the main part of the so-called
Brazilian Silicon Valley. The expansion of its
technological park has attracted other institutions, which are planned to settle in Barão Geraldo in the near future, such as the Technological Center of the Brazilian Army, the Research and Development Center of
Natura cosmetics company and others.
Barão Geraldo is also a major
health care
Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...
destination in the state, with the large
University Clinics Hospital, the Centro Médico de Campinas, the Centro Infantil Domingos A. Boldrini (a children's cancer hospital), and the Centro de Oncologia Campinas (a
cancer treatment
Cancer treatments are a wide range of treatments available for the many different types of cancer, with each cancer type needing its own specific treatment. Treatments can include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, targ ...
polyclinic).
The district has a sub-mayor and has about 45,000 inhabitants living in 70 sections.
References
External links
Portal Barão GeraldoBarão Geraldo On-LineBarão Em Foco
University of Campinas
Geography of Campinas
Districts of São Paulo (state)
{{MesoregionCampinas-geo-stub