From the top, from left to right: view of the city from thePresidente Dutra Highway; Vicentina Aranha Park; Residence of Olívio Gomes in Parque da Cidade; library of theAeronautics Institute of Technology; Brazilian Aerospace Memorial; Technologic Park; panorama of the Altos da Esplanada region.
Flag
Seal
Nicknames:
Capital of the Valley and The Airplane Capital
Motto:
"Aura terraque generosa"(Latin) "Generous are the winds of my land"
São José dos Campos (Portuguese pronunciation:[sɐ̃wʒuˈzɛdusˈkɐ̃pus],Portuguese for Saint Joseph of the Fields) is a major city and the seat of themunicipality of the same name in the state ofSão Paulo, Brazil. One of the leading industrial and research centers with emphasis in aerospace sciences in Latin America,[4] the city is located in theParaíba Valley, between the two most active production and consumption regions in the country;São Paulo (80 km (50 mi) from the city) andRio de Janeiro (320 km (200 mi)). It is the main city of theMetropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte.[5] A native of São José dos Campos is called ajoseense (Portuguese pronunciation:[ʒozɛˈẽsi]). Being the second most populous non-capital city in Brazil – behindCampinas – São José dos Campos lies in the middle of theExpanded Metropolitan Complex ("Complexo Metropolitano Expandido"), the firstmegalopolis in the Southern Hemisphere, with over thirty million inhabitants. The city's metro area also includesGreater São Paulo,Campinas,Santos andSorocaba.
The municipality concentrates many major companies and industries, such asEmbraer,Panasonic,Johnson & Johnson,Ericsson,Philips,General Motors,Petrobras,Monsanto among others. São José dos Campos also holds relevant education and research institutions, asITA,INPE,CEMADEN,IEAv,IEA [pt],IFI [pt],UNESP,UNIFESP,DCTA,FATEC,UNIVAP andIP%D, holding a position the puts the city as the main and largest Aerospacial Complex in Latin America. Thus, it is also considered the warlike producer centre. TheTechnological Park ("Parque Tecnológico de São José dos Campos"), the largest one in the country, is the only research institute in the world that converges all the three top global plane production companies,Embraer,Boeing andAirbus.
The municipality comprises three districts: São José dos Campos — the city itself (also the seat),Eugênio de Melo andSão Francisco Xavier. The last one is known for its natural sites andecotourism.
The district of São José dos Campos is also subdivided into 2 subdistricts (São José dos Campos and Santana do Paraíba).
However, for administrative purposes, the city is composed of 7 urban regions: Center, North, South, West, East, Southeast and São Francisco Xavier.
Highlands predominate in the northern region of the municipality with altitudes ranging from 660 to 975 m (2,165 to 3,199 ft). The northern border of the municipality lies over the Serra da Mantiqueira Mountains (Mantiqueira Range), with some peaks reaching over 2,000 meters (6,562 ft.). The highest point in the municipality is known as 'Pico do Selado' at an altitude of 2082 meters (6,831 ft).
In the urban area, there are rolling plateaus and hills. The lowest elevation in the city (and also in the municipality) is found in theParaíba do Sul River, at a mean elevation of 550 m.
The municipality is bounded at the south by the 'Serra do Jambeiro' mountains, with an elevation of about 900 m (2,953 ft). Due to the high topographic differences among neighborhoods and the urbanization, the city now experiencesmicro-climates present in distant areas. The downtown tends to concentrate frequent urban heat islands, while the suburb areas get noticeably colder main temperatures.
Municipality: Elevations 550 to 2,082 m (1,804 to 6,831 ft)
City: Elevations 550 to 690 m (1,800 to 2,260 ft).
São José dos Campos has ahumid subtropical climate[9] with significantly less precipitation during winters. Winters are very mild, with the average temperature in the coldest month near 17 °C. Summers are not excessively hot, with the average temperature of the hottest month of 24 °C. Frosts are very rare, happening on average once per decade. However, fogs are common, occurring mostly during the winters.
The origins of São José dos Campos lie at the end of the 16th Century when Jesuits founded a cattle farm,Aldeia do Rio Comprido. The farm was created through a concession of settlements around 1590 to theSociety of Jesus. The farm was located on the banks of the Rio Comprido, natural division between São José and the city ofJacareí today.
The farm status was an artifice to hide a religious outpost, one of the severalJesuit Reductions in Brazil, known for their resistance to enslavement, from thePortuguese expedition leaders and indigenous people hunters, known as theBandeirantes.
On September 10, 1611, the local was officially recognized and the farmers precluded from utilizing the Natives asslaves. However, aturmeric conflict between farmers and the religious led to the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1640 from the region and the consequent dispersion of the mission.
Nevertheless, the Jesuits returned and reestablished a new settlement, where the current city center is spotted. It was about 15 km (9.3 mi) northeast of the previous mission, on a higher plain with a privileged view above a geological depression, which guaranteed security against invasions and floods. Again, despite being a new mission, it was officially treated as a cattle farm.
The initial urbanization plan is attributed to the Jesuit priestManoel de Leão, whose main occupation was really to be an administrator of the community.
In 1692, documents named the village asResidência do Paraíba do Sul; in 1696 asResidência de São José.
At the beginning of the gold mining economic cycle in Brazil, the settlement goes through serious difficulties due to the exit of labor to the mines.
After the definitiveexpulsion of Jesuits from the Portuguese Empire in 1759, all the religious order's assets, such as farms, colleges and villages were taken under the Portuguese Crown's custody. The governor, D.Luis Antonio Botelho Mourão, had as a priority to turn these new assets into productive units and increase tax collection. For that, Boutelho Mourão successfully requested authorization from theViceroy to createcivil parishes, known asfreguesias, and to change the fiscal status of villages to the category of Vila (town).
Then, on July 27, 1767, São José reached the official status of town, with ahall and apillory, passing over the status of civil parish; and the nameVila de São José do Paraíba was formalized. But for many years it maintained the same rural characteristics. The main difficulty was the fact that theEstrada Real (Royal Road) passed by its limits, far from the village.
In the middle of the 19th century, the village of São José do Paraíba had demonstrated some signs of economic growth through the development of agriculture. Cotton production evolved rapidly in the region, exported to the English textile industry. The production reached a peak in 1864.
In the same year, on April 22, the town became the seat of a municipality, acquiring finally, in 1871, the current name ofSão José dos Campos, followed by the creation of ajudiciary district in 1872. Almost simultaneously, there was development of coffee crops inParaíba Valley, which started to take off in 1870.
In 1886, after the opening of theEstrada de Ferro Central do Brasil railway (1877), the coffee production peaked. Then started to decay, running steady until the 1930s.
Inauguration of the General Motors Factory in São José dos Campos by PresidentJuscelino Kubitschek, 1959.
The call for the municipality of São José dos Campos for the treatment of pulmonarytuberculosis bysanatoriums became noticed at the beginning of last century, due to its supposedly favorable climate conditions. The city became known asthe Sanatorium City. The country's then-largest hospital, the Vicentina Aranha Sanitarium, was opened in town in 1924, and in 1935 the municipality was officially recognized as a health retreat.
With the advent ofantibiotics in the 1940s, tuberculosis begins to be treated anywhere, thus ending the healthcare advantage carried out by São José, whereas the establishment of industries was about just to start.
The industrialization process of the municipality takes hold from the installation of theTechnological Institute of Aeronauticsin 1950 and also with the opening of the Dutra Highway (BR-116), thus making possible a faster connection between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and cutting into the urban area of São José dos Campos. Altogether, these factors allowed the municipality to make strides towards fulfilling its scientific and technological potential.
São José dos Campos has a "strong mayoral" system in which the mayor is vested with extensive executive powers, as it is in all municipalities in Brazil. The mayor is elected to a four-year term by universal voting. The City Council is elected every four years with the mayor.
The state administrative region of São José dos Campos
TheState of São Paulo is divided politically and administratively into 15 regions. São José dos Campos is the seat and the name of the 3rd Administrative Region, which includes the North Coast of São Paulo state and the Paraíba Valley.
The region comprises 39 municipalities with sharp contrasts. São José dos Campos is a densely populated city, with approximately 2,100 inhabitants/km2 (5,43 inhabitants/km2) in urban area, whereas the quiet municipality of São José do Barreiro has only 7 inhabitants/km2 (18 inhabitants/km2).[citation needed] There are both highly industrialized cities and the others in the region are focused on agriculture and tourism. São José dos Campos is well known as theCapital do Vale which means that São José dos Campos is the most important city of the Paraíba Valley.
Although São José is an industrial center, the city still preserves green areas and quiet town districts. Around 62% of the area from the municipality is characterized as an environmental preservation area.[citation needed] On the outskirts of the urban area,Augusto Ruschi Ecology Reserve has many local plant species. Thenatural reserve has 2,500,000 m2 (27,000,000 sq ft), being a government protect area for the localflora. São Francisco Xavier is a community the offers many of those attributes as well.
Furthermore, there is an easy access to the mountain cities (Campos do Jordão, Santo Antônio do Pinhal) and to the beaches of theNorthern Coast of São Paulo, being both of the areas in a distance of only 80 km from São José dos Campos.
The city has three major parks and several sports and country clubs. Tenis Clube and Associação Esportiva São José have hosted the 35thBanana BowlInternational Tennis Federation Juniors Circuit in 2005 and 2006.[citation needed]
The city has two bus stations, having lines to cities in all regions of the country and international routes toArgentina,Paraguay,Uruguay andChile.
São José dos Campos boasts an extensive bus system. Operated by three companies (Expresso Maringa, Julio Simões and Viação Capital do Vale), these lines serve nearly all areas in the city with 319 buses. São José dos Campos also has an alternative system with minivans to supplement the regular buses.
The city uses aring road system, that interconnects it to important national and state highways:
BR-116 (federal highway), which crosses the urban area of São José. It runs in a north–south direction in the country, near but not on Brazil's coastline. The section that connects Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo is known as Presidente Dutra. It is widely used inside the urban area of São José dos Campos for commuting purposes;
SP-070 (state highway) also known as Rodovia Carvalho Pinto which connectsSão Paulo toTaubaté;
The city is also served by a railway (the formerCentral do Brasil), administered byMRS Logística, which today only carries freight.
The ports ofSão Sebastião andSantos can be reached by the highways SP-099, SP-155, and BR-101. The transportation of cargo to the domestic and foreign markets is made through both ports.
TheSão José dos Campos Airport (IATA: SJK,ICAO: SBSJ) has a heavy passenger flow, mainly business trips during weekdays, and it is an important connection between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. With a 3,000 m (9,800 ft) runway, the airport also serves people who come to visit thetourist city of Campos de Jordão. The airlinesAzul Brazilian Airlines andTRIP Linhas Aéreas fly from São José dos Campos to several destinations and presently are the only commercial airlines operating on São José dos Campos.
It is also used for the transportation of cargo from the several industries located in the so-called Cone Leste Paulista ("São Paulo's East Cone").Infraero and the Federal Revenue Agency are also introducing a new concept called airport-industry, that will offer fiscal incentives and fast importation and exportation procedures. The municipality has also a Customs Station for the Hinterland (dry port), controlled by the Federal Revenue Agency.
São José dos Campos receivesnatural gas from two gaspipelines, and large companies such as General Motors, Kodak, Monsanto and Embraer are among the main users. The city is the third largest in the country referring to the distribution net of natural gas for residential use.[citation needed]
The company is currently an operator of cell phones, fixed lines, internet (fiber optics/4G) and television (satellite and cable).[20]
It has also a large network offiber optics, withbroadband services covering 75% of the city. There is 1 telephone for each 3 inhabitants and a vast service network of cellular telephones.[citation needed]
The municipality cultivates different crops: rice, tomato, potatoes, orange and many vegetables; cattle are raised for beef and milk supply. There are also farms for production of eggs and chicken.[citation needed]
Embraer Aircraft: the third largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, the company is headquartered at São José dos Campos
In contrast to the rural town in 1950s, today São José is an important manufacturing center and holds a large array of industries. Over 1,251 industries are in the municipality and nearby 49,000 inhabitants work for industries. The three main industries areautomotive,oil/petrochemical andaerospace. There are significantpharmaceutical,consumer durables,chemical, andtelecommunication companies in the city.[specify]
It is also known as the "Brazilian aeronautics capital" because it is home ofCTA and one of the biggest aircraft manufacturers in the world,Embraer.
In 2014 São José dos Campos ranked as the 5th largest exporter, by value, of all Brazilian municipalities exporting US$4.6B worth of materials.[24] In that year, betweenaircraft and aircraft parts categories, São José Dos Campos exported US$3.57B or 81.9% of the total exports of the municipality.[25][26]
Since the 1990s, the local economy has been evolving in a different direction. The manufacturing economy has been downsized or replaced bytertiary andquaternary sectors of industries.
For instance, the Entrepreneurial District of Chacaras Reunidas concentrates companies of micro, small and medium size, which are mainly the result of downsizing from old large local industries. Although most of these are industries, these companies provide service as well.
Two technological parks and five (one in project)business incubators have been created within universities or with industrial facilities.
There are incubators with technological start-up companies installed at Univap and at Henrique LageRefinery ofPetrobrás. The CTA houses other incubator, Incubaero, specialized in the aeronautical field.
As a result of its geographical location, the city became an important distribution center, having severallogistics providers. Activities like purchasing, transport, planning and warehousing have employed many people recently.
Commerce and real estate ventures have developed in the last years, reflecting the changes in the economy. For instance, the largest shopping mall in the region was an old manufacturing facility. Serving the region's population of approximately one million, the city is the regional hub for shopping and services for theVale do Paraíba, the northern coast of São Paulo and southernMinas Gerais.
All the major hypermarkets, supermarket chains and discount and department stores are in the city.[clarification needed] The largest malls are:
CenterVale Shopping;
Shopping Colinas;
Vale Sul Shopping;
Shopping Calçadão;
Shopping Centro;
Shopping Esplanada;
Shopping Jardim Oriente;
Shopping Faro
Besides those malls, the most important[clarification needed] commercial centers include:
The Old Downtown area including:
Rua Sete de Setembro – Calçadão – a popular street shopping area.
Rua XV de Novembro – located in Praça Afonso Pena, thetown square. This street was themain street in São José dos Campos in the 1950s and 1960s. On the weekends, handcraft exhibitions are held there and in other squares.
Other streets:Rua Rubião Júnior,Rua Vilaça,Rua Siqueira Campos andRua Sebastião Hummel.
.jpg)
.jpg)
