In 1554 two Jesuit priests founded a small mission on the site that became São Paulo. During its first several hundred years of existence, the city grew only modestly. It achieved notoriety as the home of the bandeirantes—adventurous explorers and frontiersmen who mounted large-scale and extensive expeditions into the interior of the continent. Over the next 150 years, from about 1600 to 1750, the bandeirantes roamed what are the now the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Mato Grosso in search of Native American slaves, gold, diamonds, and other riches. These expeditions had an enormous impact on São Paulo and the future nation of Brazil. They extended the geographical limits of Brazil deep into the interior of the continent, far beyond those originally envisioned by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494). The treaty was an agreement between Portugal and Spain, sanctioned by Pope Julius II in 1506, that established boundaries defining the overseas territories of the two countries. The bandeirantes opened up new transportation and communication routes between the coast and the continent's interior, helping to establish new settlements and build greater unity among Brazil's far-flung peoples and communities.
Despite the considerable wealth brought to São Paulo by the bandeirante expeditions, the city grew slowly. It was officially recognized as a city in 1711, but for much of the 18th century São Paulo's economy revolved around subsistence agriculture, local crafts production, and limited government functions.
