Vila Velha

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Vila Velha in the Espírito Santo state.

Vila Velha is a coastal town in Espírito Santo, Brazil. It lies across from Vitória, the state capital. Its population was 396,323 (2005) and its area is 208.82 km².^[1]

Vila Velha forms part of the Greater Vitória metropolitan area. To the north is Vitória, to the west Cariacica and Viana, to the south Guarapari, and to the east the Atlantic Ocean.

Notable corporations in Vila Velha include Garoto, one of Brazil's largest chocolate manufacturers.

Vila Velha used to have one of the best coastal areas of Espírito Santo. Unfortunatelly, due to intense real estate development, its mains beaches, like Praia da Costa, Itapuã and Itaparica were virtually destroyed by a wall of high buildings. That massive skyline casts a shadow on those beaches during the afternoon hours.

Praia da Costa (Coastal Beach), Vila Velha.

[edit] History

Vila Velha is the oldest township in Espírito Santo, having been founded on the 23rd of May, 1535. First called Vila do Espírito Santo, it was founded by Vasco Fernandes Coutinho and was then the capital of Espírito Santo. Coutinho, owner of the Espírito Santo colony, had to go back to Portugal around 1550 to try and find more colonists, for there were too few. On coming back there had been problems keeping order amongst the colonists, slaves, and Indians, which had forced most inhabitants to flee to the island of Vitória, which Coutinho made into the capital upon his return. Afterward, Vila Velha remained a quiet village until quite recently, as in the census of 1828 there were only 1250 people in the village. Today, Vila Velha is the biggest city in all the state, by having something about 500 thousand of inhabitants. The Police Battalion which is in charge of Police Operations at Vila Velha is the 4ºBPM-PMES