Olímpia

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Statistics
State:	São Paulo
Metropolitan Regions:	São José do Rio Preto
Founded:	1917
Location:	20.735°/20°44'14" S, 49.914°/49°54'53" W
Area:	805.79 km²
Population:	47,607 (2004)
Population density:	59.08/km²
Postal code:	15400-xxx
Area/distance code:	(00)55-17
Website:	www.olimpia.sp.gov.br

Coordinates: 20°44′14″S, 48°54′53″W

Olímpia (lit. "Olympia".) is a municipality/county in the northern part of the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2004 is 47,607 and the area is 805.79 km². The elevation is 506 m.

Olímpia is actually not named after the ancient town in Greece (see Olympia, Greece) but it is named after Maria Olímpia Rodrigues Vieria which was first named in December 18, 1916. Olímpia is linked with a highway (partially a superhighway) linking Barretos and São José do Rio Preto and has several interchanges.

[edit] History

Joaquim Antônio dos Santos, a courageous man with a good character founded by the edge of the creek in 1857, a place to live for their family. He constructed a dwelling, the lands which were denominated a farm called Olhos d'Água (meaning literally Water Eyes, due to the river's water spring in the area). The family included Lima, Miranda, Braz, Medeiros, Clemêncio da Silva, Reis, Jesus and Campos. The engineer Robert John Reid arrived, and was in charge of demarcating lands of Fazenda Olhos d'Água In March of 1903, a patrimony of town of São João Batista dos Olhos d’Água was created. In December 18, 1906, the town was elevated to the category of the district of the municipality of Barretos and received the name Vila Olímpia named after Maria Olímpia Rodrigues Vieria, friend of the engineer Reid (born on February 2, 1897). A cinema was first built in 1907 known as Cine São João by Miguel Haidar and Guilherme Costa. In 1910, Cap. Narciso Bertolino founded the first school in town. A cemetery named São José was first opened in 1914 and a railway named São Paulo-Goiás passed through Olímpia. In 1918, the city of Olímpia appeared in the journal of Fidelcino Pinheiro published by the editor Mário Vieira Marcondes (husband of Maria Olímpia) which became the first mayor of the city. The periodical owned by Nino do Amaral which he attrivuted the author of the alias Cidade Menina-Moça (roughly translated as "Girl-Lady City", denoting the city's youthful and beautiful women) given to Olímpia. The creation of the Comarca of Olímpia was installed in February 10, 1919 the following year.