São Paulo City

　　    São Paulo was founded in 1554 and is the largest city in South America, the capital of São Paulo State, located in the southeastern part of the state. On January 25, 1554, Jesuit priest Manuel built a small chapel where the center of São Paulo stands today — this was the city’s first building. Since the date commemorates the conversion of Saint Paul to Christianity, the settlement was named “São Paulo.” The area around the chapel gradually developed into a town, but it remained an unremarkable small city until the 1870s. By the end of the 19th century, with the flourishing of sugarcane and coffee cultivation and trade in the region, as well as a large influx of immigrants, São Paulo rapidly developed into a modern city. It is now the industrial, financial, commercial, cultural, and transportation hub of Brazil and all of South America. It is the largest city in South America and the fourth-largest in the world.

　　 Brasília, Brazil