São Carlos

The city was founded during the "Golden Age of Coffee", in the year of 1857, by Antônio Carlos de Arruda Botelho, the "Count of Pinhal" (Conde do Pinhal), and was originally called "São Carlos do Pinhal" (pinhal is the Portuguese name, in Brazil, of the woodlands of Araucaria angustifolia). Eventually, the name was shortened to "São Carlos". Nowadays most of the region's agricultural production has shifted from coffee to sugar cane, but the economy of the city is based in industrialized and technological products.

[edit] Geography

São Carlos is located in the geographic center of the state of São Paulo, approximately 234 km from the City of São Paulo. Its altitude is over 800 m what offers a mild altitude climate one. Most of the year the city is windy, sunny and with mild temperatures at night. That's the reason the city has the nickname o " Cidade do Clima" (Weather City) and celebrates once in a year the party called "Festa do Clima" (Portuguese for Weather Party). The city has a total area of 1.141 km², which include two districts to the north: Santa Eudóxia and Água Vermelha.

[edit] Economy and culture

The city has an active industrial profile and certain agricultural importance, backed by technologies developed by Embrapa, owner of two research complexes in the city. Due to the relatively high number of high technology industries situated in the city, it is nicknamed "The Capital of Technology".

The city hosts several locally-grown technology-based companies and factories of multinational corporations such as Faber Castell, Toalhas São Carlos, Tapetes São Carlos, Tecumseh and the Brazilian factory of Volkswagen engines.

São Carlos is also home to the campus of the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCAR) and to two of the campuses, of the University of São Paulo (USP), two of the most important universities in Brazil, as well as some other minor universities. For these, São Carlos has a very high relative number of students, and that fact is reflected by student-focused commercial establishments and the high number of student parties.

The cultural life is marked by the large number of college students that form a good audience for musical concerts of Brazilian contemporary alternative artists that use to include the city in their tours.

There are many cafes where graduate students and professors socialize.