Fortaleza - History
Ceará
is located in the northeast region of Brazil. Its east and west coasts entice surprise and embrace tourists from all over the world. Fortaleza,
the capital, is a 2,000,000 people metropolis and serves as the headquarters to the beautiful sights around it. The
city lies at the mouth of the Pajeú River.
According to some local historians Vicente Yanez was supposed to have landed on Pria Mucuripe on the 2nd February 1500, two months before Pedro Alvares Cabral arrived in Bahia. It wasn't till about 1612 that the first colonists arrived.
Fortaleza
originated as a small village adjoining a Portuguese fort (built as a defence against Indian
attacks) and took the name of Villa do Forte da Assumpção in 1654.
In
1810 it became the capital of Ceará
captaincy and in 1823 was given city status and became the provincial (later state) capital under the name of Fortaleza Nova de Bragança.
It
was from Fortaleza that the independence movement from Portugal in northern Brazil was organized, and it was one of the few places where the
Portuguese actually made a fight of it, massacring the local patriots in 1824 before being massacred themselves a few months later.
The
city did well in the 19th century, as the port city of a hinterland where ranching
was expanding rapidly. For decades, though, one of
the city's most important exports was the people of the state: shipping lines transported flagelados wholesale from Fortaleza during drought
years to the rubber zones of the Amazon and the cities of southern Brazil.
The
city is the seat of a bishopric, created in 1854, and of the State University of Ceará (1975) and the University of Fortaleza (1973).
These
days, it has something of the same atmosphere as Rio, especially when it comes to the good things in life. It has a safe, relaxed atmosphere,
and the nightlife is superb.
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