Porto Alegre History Facts and Timeline

(Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)

While areas of modern-day Brazil came under the control of Portuguese settlers from as early as the start of the 16th century, Porto Alegre's southerly location meant that it remained untouched for centuries longer.

During this period of its history, Porto Alegre was little more than a spreading farm composed of members of various Indian tribes from the surrounding area.

Settlement

The Portuguese finally established a settlement in Porto Alegre, no more than a small village, in the early years of the 1750s. Migrants arrived from the South Atlantic islands of the Azores, forming a colony made up of a mish-mash of Portuguese, along with African slaves, French, English, Germans, Spaniards and Italians. The Acorianos Monument, a 17-metre / 56-foot high structure in the city centre, was built in remembrance of these settlers who defined the early history of Porto Alegre.

Provincial Centre

Nossa Senhora Madre de Deus do Porto Alegre was the original, rather lengthy, name of the settlement (Our Lady Mother of God of the Happy Port), having started out in 1772 as a parish known locally as Sao Francisco do Porto dos Casais. During this period, the rapidly expanding town also became the administrative capital for the provincial government, as the colonists began to develop the area of Rio Grande do Sul.

History of Expansion and Development

When the French biologist August Saint-Hilaire made a brief visit in 1820, he noted landmarks including the Matriz Garden, an area of the city that remains to this day around which the governor's palace, the state parliament and a Catholic church were all built.

Later, in 1864, a local trader, Estacio da Cunha Bittencourt and his French business partner Emilio Gembembre started a horse-powered tramway between the Menino Deus district and the waterfront. Impressively, this was only the second of its kind in the country, an event which established Porto Alegre's long and successful history of tram usage.

Independence

Although Porto Alegre had largely escaped the worst excesses of the Portuguese colonisation of Brazil, namely the slave trade and gold rush, it still benefitted greatly from independence when it came in 1822. At this time, the population stood at just over 10,000 and city status was granted. That number continued to climb steadily following the construction of the main port facilities that followed in the late 1840s and throughout the 1850s, confirming the city as the southernmost sea terminal in the country.

By 1900, there were in the region of 70,000 people living here. A century later, that number had swollen to roughly 1.5 million. Porto Alegre continued to thrive as the largest city in southern Brazil, opening its famous Jardim Botanico (Botanical Gardens) in 1962 and hosting the successful World University Games the following year.