São Paulo

Leisure travelers often decry the frenetic sprawl of South America's largest city, but business people get it immediately. "Entrepreneurial Brazil," says an executive, "where days are dedicated to work and nights to pleasure." Like the New Yorks, São Paulo city and state share a name. Natives, called "paulistanos," like to compare their town to its Yankee counterpart. A cliche perhaps, but São Paulo really is the Brazil that works. São Paulo was founded in 1554 by Jesuit missionaries. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, waves of foreign immigrants, notably Italians, Japanese and Germans, helped build the city into one of the world's ...

Leisure travelers often decry the frenetic sprawl of South America's largest city, but business people get it immediately. "Entrepreneurial Brazil," says an executive, "where days are dedicated to work and nights to pleasure." Like the New Yorks, São Paulo city and state share a name. Natives, called "paulistanos," like to compare their town to its Yankee counterpart. A cliche perhaps, but São Paulo really is the Brazil that works. São Paulo was founded in 1554 by Jesuit missionaries. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, waves of foreign immigrants, notably Italians, Japanese and Germans, helped build the city into one of the world's most vibrant. In the second half of the 20th century, foreign immigration was replaced by an influx of Brazilians, especially from the poor northeast, in search of jobs. Today, the population of the metro region is about 17 million. The city is a patchwork of distinctive neighborhoods, many of which reflect immigrant cultures.

About the Expert

Bill Hinchberger is the founding editor of the online guide BrazilMax and host of BrazilMax Radio. He is also a former correspondent in Brazil for The Financial Times.