Description : São Paulo (Portuguese for Saint Paul) is a municipality in the Southeast Region of Brazil. The metropolis is an alpha global city (as listed by the GaWC) and the most populous city in Brazil, the Americas, the Western Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere. Additionally, São Paulo is the largest Portuguese-speaking city in the world. The municipality is also the world's 4th largest city proper by population. The city is the capital of the surrounding state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest state in Brazil. It exerts strong international influences in commerce, finance, arts and entertainment. The name of the city honors the Apostle, Saint Paul of Tarsus. The city's metropolitan area, the Greater São Paulo, ranks as the most populous in Brazil and the 12th most populous on Earth. The process of conurbation between the metropolitan areas located around the Greater São Paulo (Campinas, Santos, Sorocaba and São José dos Campos) created the São Paulo Macrometropolis, a megalopolis with more than 30 million inhabitants, one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The Portuguese village of São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga was marked by the founding of the Colégio de São Paulo de Piratininga on January 25, 1554. The Jesuit college of twelve priests included Manuel da Nóbrega and Spanish priest José de Anchieta. They built a mission on top of a steep hill between the Anhangabaú and Tamanduateí rivers. They first had a small structure built of rammed earth, made by American Indian workers in their traditional style. The priests wanted to evangelize the Indians who lived in the Plateau region of Piratininga and convert them to Christianity. The site was separated from the coast by the Serra do Mar mountain range, called by the Indians "Serra Paranapiacaba".
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