Mogi das Cruzes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 23°31′22″S, 46°11′35″W Mogi das Cruzes, also known as Moji das Cruzes (see controversy on the name below), is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of São Paulo located 40 km to the east of São Paulo, the state capital. It was founded in 1560 by bandeirantes, explorers who left São Paulo for the interior in search of treasure and new lands.

This suburban city is connected to other cities through CPTM's E Line.

Mogi das Cruzes has two universities (Universidade de Mogi das Cruzes and Universidade Braz Cubas), and is part of the Cinturão Verde (Green Belt).

The Mogi das Cruzes industrial park has more than 400 factories, located mostly in the Itapeti industrial district.

Mogi das Cruzes' motto is "A Morada do Progresso" (The Home of Progress).

[edit] Demography

Mogi das Cruzes receives people from all over the world. There is a significant Japanese population descended from the immigrants of the early 20th century who came to work on the coffee, banana and cotton plantations.

  • Population (2003): 347,281 inhabitants
  • Municipality area: 714 square km.
  • Density: 486.39/km²

[edit] "Mogi" or "Moji"

There is a controversial issue on spelling the city’s name, which is originally from Tupi-Guarani m'boîy (river of snakes). The issue can be summarized as orthographic vs. historical.

On the one hand, in Portuguese, grammatical rules dictate that names of Indian (that is, Tupi-Guarani) origin should be spelled with "j". Thus renowned dictionaries such as Houaiss spell the word in this way, "moji." This spelling is followed by IBGE.

On the other hand, in all historical documents the city's name has been written with "g" since its foundation. The city is called "Mogi" by the city government, the state government, the railroad company, its two universities, and its dwellers, with very few exceptions.

In a Google test, the spelling "Mogi das Cruzes" outnumbers "Moji das Cruzes" by 15:1.

[edit] External links

North: Arujá, Guararema, Santa Isabel
West: Arujá, Itaquaquecetuba
Mogi das Cruzes East: Santo André, Santa Isabel and Biritiba-Mirim
South: Bertioga, Santo André, Santos and Suzano