São Paulo, city in southeastern Brazil, the most populous city in South America, and one of the largest cities in the world. The city is the capital of São Paulo state and the commercial and financial center of Brazil. It is situated among the hills of the Serra do Mar on the Piratininga Plateau at an elevation of about 730 m (about 2400 ft). It is crossed by the Tietê River. A steep mountain slope, known as the Great Escarpment, extends along much of the coastal region of southeastern Brazil. It separates São Paulo from its port city of Santos, located about 60 km (about 40 mi) to the south on the Atlantic Ocean. São Paulo was founded on January 25, 1554, by Jesuit missionaries who came to the region seeking to convert Native Americans to Christianity. The settlement was named after the 1st-century Christian missionary Saint Paul, who was converted to Christianity on January 25.
São Paulo has great significance in Brazil. The population of the metropolitan area was estimated at more than 19 million in 1995 and accounts for about 12 percent of the nation's total. Industrial production in the state, most of which occurs in the São Paulo metropolitan area or its environs, accounts for about 50 percent of the nation's output. This large population and industrial base have combined to make São Paulo the most important city in Brazil. Industrialists and labor unions are both powerful political forces in São Paulo, and their influence on the nation's economy and politics reaches far beyond the confines of the city and state of São Paulo. Many prominent Brazilian politicians are from São Paulo, including President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995- ).
