Fortaleza History Facts and Timeline

(Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil)

Currently the fifth-biggest city in Brazil, Fortaleza has a history which dates back to the year 1500 AD. It was at the beginning of February in that year that Spanish explorer Vicente Yánez Pinzón landed on the shores of Mucuripe, giving this new land the name 'Santa Maria de la Consolacion'.

As a result of the Treaty of Tordesillan, an agreement signed in 1494 which divided newly found lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain (along a line of longitude), the discovery was never formally recognised.

Colonisation

The colonial history of Fortaleza commenced just three years into the 17th century, when the Portuguese began to colonise the area, after building their Fort of St. James (Fortim de Sao Tiago) alongside the mouth of the Ceará River. The Dutch later gained control of north-eastern Brazil and built Fort Schoonenborch here in 1649.


Five years later, the Portuguese successfully reclaimed the region, expelling the Dutch from the Province of Ceará and renaming the fortress 'Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora da Assuncao', which is Portuguese for 'Fort of Our Lady of the Rising'. The provinces of both Ceará and Pernambuco split at the end of the 18th century, and Fortaleza was named as the new capital of Ceará.

Growth, Industry and Trade

In the 19th century, the city soon grew and became a major urban hub in the province, with its status further enhanced by the successful development of the cotton trade. Meanwhile, as direct navigational communications between Europe and Brazil increased, the Customs of Fortaleza was introduced in the year of 1812, to safeguard duties and control the flow of goods.

The mid-1840s saw the start of a prosperous time in Fortaleza's history, lasting for just over three decades and witnessing a period of much economic wealth. A series of improvements were also made to the city's infrastructure and a number of new public buildings were completed, including schools and a library. In addition, the distinctive Ceará and Mucuripe Lighthouse came into being in 1845, while the Santa Casa de Misericordia de Fortaleza hospital followed at the turn of the 1860s. Public transport was updated in 1870, when work started on the Baturite Railroad. Importantly, this time included a boom period for the cotton industry, since this product was traded overseas.

The 20th Century

In the early years of the 20th century, the city underwent some major changes as improvements were made to its infrastructure. Large numbers of people from the surrounding rural areas chose to migrate here. This resulted in Fortaleza becoming one of the most densely populated of all Brazil's cities.

During the 1950s, Fortaleza virtually doubled in size, as neighbourhoods on the outskirts started to expand in a dramatic fashion. The city's first university, the Federal University of Ceará (Universidade Federal do Ceará) was created in 1954. As the 1970s drew to a close, the city started to make itself known as the future industrial hub of north-eastern Brazil and its Industrial District was established.

After Brazil's military regime was abolished in 1985, the people elected the first female mayor in Fortaleza's history, Maria Luiza Fontenele. This period of political opening in the country saw Fontenele's left-wing party command the first City Hall (Prefeitura).

Towards the end of the last millennium, the City Hall's administration and Fortaleza itself experienced extensive structural changes. Several hospitals and new roads were opened, while a number of cultural attractions were introduced, helping the city develop into one of Brazil's most popular and most tourist-friendly cities.