Sorocaba () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the interior of the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. With over 723,000 inhabitants, it is the seventh-largest city in the state and the second-largest outside the

Greater São Paulo Greater São Paulo () is a nonspecific term for one of the multiple definitions of the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil. Metropolitan Area A legally defined specific term, ''Região Metropolitana de São Paulo' ...

region, ranking behind only

Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in São Paulo (state), São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's popul ...

. It forms its own

Metropolitan Region of Sorocaba The Metropolitan Region of Sorocaba () is an administrative division of the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It was created in 2014, and consists of the following municipalities: *Alambari * Alumínio *Araçariguama * Araçoiaba da Serra *Boituva * C ...

, comprising 27 municipalities with a total population of 2 million inhabitants, the 15th most populous in Brazil. With a surface area of 450,38 km² (or about 170

sq mi The square mile (abbreviated as sq mi and sometimes as mi2)Rowlett, Russ (September 1, 2004) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved February 22, 2012. is an imperial and US unit of measure for area. One square mile is equa ...

), Sorocaba is integrated with

and the Metropolitan Regions of

Jundiaí Jundiaí is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, in the Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region of Brazil, located north of São Paulo. The population of the city is 443,221, with an area ...

, Paraíba Valley and North Coast and

Baixada Santista The Região Metropolitana da Baixada Santista is a metropolitan area located on the coast of São Paulo state in Brazil, with a population of 1.7 million. Its most populous city is Santos. As an administrative division (''Região Metropolitana ...

, forming the

São Paulo macrometropolis SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of ...

, which is home to over 30 million people, about three quarters of the state's population and the first such urban agglomeration in the Southern Hemisphere. The city is highly industrialized, with its industrial production reaching over 120 countries and a GDP of over R$ 32 billion, the 19th-largest in Brazil, surpassing state capitals such as São Luís,

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará), often called Belém of Pará, is the capital and largest city of the state of Pará in the north of B ...

, Vitória,

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

, and

Florianópolis Florianópolis () is the capital and second largest city of the state of Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, in the South Region, Brazil, South region of Brazil. The city encompasses Santa Catarina Island and surrounding small islands, as we ...

. Over 22,000 companies operate in the city, 2,000 of which are industries.

History

Dom Francisco de Sousa, general governor of

(1591 to 1602), believing in the existence of gold in the region, settled the Pelourinho —a Portuguese translation of the English "

pillory The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, used during the medieval and renaissance periods for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. ...

", symbol of the Royal power, as the village Nova Vila de Nossa Senhora da Ponte de Mont Serrat. When gold wasn't found there, the governor returned to the Royal Court. Twelve years later, Dom Francisco de Sousa changed the name of the village to Itavuvu. Baltasar Fernandes, a member of an expeditionary group called Bandeirantes, laid the foundation of Sorocaba in the 1654. The chapel of Nossa Senhora da Ponte (which is now the Cathedral located in Fernando Prestes square, downtown) was built by him, along with the São Bento de Parnaíba monastery (now São Bento monastery) years later. It was also Fernandes who brought the first

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monks to teach, assist the poor and the ill, and convert the Native Americans of the region. The monastery was donated to the Benedictines in the year 1660, after which Friar Anselmo da Anunciação and Friar Mauro were chosen to take office. The first streets and houses started to spread around the neighborhood. In the year of 1661, Baltasar Fernandes went to São Paulo to request that Sorocaba be named a village from the governor, Correia de Sá e Benevides. Thus, on March 3, 1661, Sorocaba became known as Vila de Nossa Senhora da Ponte de Sorocaba. The organization of the Municipal Council followed shortly, with the main nominees being: Baltasar Fernandes and André de Zunega (judges), Cláudio Furquim and Pascoal Leite Pais (city councillors), Domingos Garcia (procurator) and Francisco Sanches (clerk). With the arrival of colonel Cristóvão Pereira de Abreu and his troops in 1773, begins the main chapter of the history of Sorocaba: the Tropeirismo. The transportation of goods on the back of mules, that traversed the North-South route of the country came across Sorocaba, which was strategically placed in the main route between

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. Soon Sorocaba had its own Feira de Muares (mule/horse fair), where troops from all states came to feed and rest their cavalry on the way to the mineral and forest expeditions, and buy and sell goods, horses and enslaved Africans. Given the growing number of people working in the city, the commerce and the first industries began to appear. Goods bought in Sorocaba were known from across the Country, spread by the merchant troops. The main events of Tropeirismo comprehended a hundred years of the Sorocaba history, from 1770 to 1870. The Tropeirismo is also responsible for spreading a locally manufactured type of Knife that became known in Brazil is as the Sorocaban Knife. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, English textile industries ran out of cotton, which was imported from the Southern United States. Soon, manufactures from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

started to search around the world for alternative places to cultivate cotton - one of them was the then-Province of São Paulo, which included Sorocaba. In 1862, Lieutenant-Colonel Francisco Gonçalves de Oliveira Machado started the first cotton plantation in Sorocaba. The local environment and weather were ideal, and the plantation flourished. The first harvest exceeded all expectations, starting another cycle of industrial and economic development. Several textile industries from England built branches in the city, changing the landscape with chimneys, saw-styled roofs, large, orange brick-built buildings and smoke. During this time, Sorocaba received the title of Manchester Paulista--"São Paulo native" in Portuguese, given the resemblance with its laboring

twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

city. With the opening of the

Estrada de Ferro Sorocabana Rail transport in Brazil began in the 19th century and there were many different railway companies. The railways were nationalised, nationalized under RFFSA (Rede Ferroviária Federal, Sociedade Anônima) in 1957. Between 1999 and 2007, RFFSA ...

on June 20, 1872 and its transport of cotton products, animals and passengers to São Paulo, Sorocaba had a major leap in development. Six locomotives and 62 bandwagons were brought from

, with seven stations initially planned. Telegraphic services started on April 3, 1873. Years later, the railway expanded to the borders of the state, with Sorocaba station as the hub.

Geography

Location

The city is located in the southeastern region of the state of

, 92 km away from the state capital. The main highways are Castelo Branco (SP-280) and Raposo Tavares (SP-270). It straddles the

Sorocaba River The Sorocaba River ( Portuguese, ''Rio Sorocaba'') is a river of São Paulo state in southeastern Brazil. It is a tributary of the Tietê River. The river runs large and important part of the municipality of Sorocaba. Geography Sorocaba headwate ...

, a tributary of the left bank of the Tiete river. The municipality of Sorocaba is located on the

Tropic of Capricorn The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reach ...

, at latitude 23° 26 '16 " for the season of 2011, passes along the neighborhoods of Aparecidinha and Parque São Bento districts. At the junction of Highway José Ermírio José de Morais (SP-75) with the connection to the Raposo Tavares highway is a milestone signaling the Tropic. Among Brazil's largest cities (by population), Sorocaba is in 30th place. Sorocaba is among the major cities in São Paulo (population), is ranked ninth.

Climate

Sorocaba climate is subtropical, with the coldest month being July and warmest in January and February. Precipitation is around . According to

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

, Sorocaba can be classified as a Cwa climate, featuring a warm climate with summer rainfall and temperature in the warmest month ≥ . The climate table below shows the monthly mean temperatures, maximum and minimum recorded, rainfall and rainy days with monthly and annual averages for the period from 1 January 1995 to January 1, 2011 for the city of Sorocaba.

Land relief

The terrain is classified as a wavy strands and characterized by local ridges, with an average altitude of 632 meters above the sea level. The highest altitude is 1028 meters, in the Serra de Sao Francisco. The lower altitude is 539 meters, in the valley of the

. Sorocaba is located on the edge of the Peripheral Depression of São Paulo state, in the Appalachian Fall Line, as defined by Professor

Aziz Ab'Saber Aziz (; ; ) is a Semitic name from the root two-zayin. In the Hebrew Bible, the root two-zayin () means 'reputable, powerful, sublime'. In the 1 Chronicles, Aziz was the son of Shema and the father of Bela. Azizus ( Latinised), attested as an ...

. This configuration is due to the fact Sorocaba lies at the boundary between the Atlantic Plateau, which covers the area of crystalline rocks, with higher relief and the rocks of the Parana Sedimentary Basin and gently rolling topography with lower altitudes. The

and its hydrographic basin are responsible for the relief dissection.

Soil

The soil is characterized as red-yellow podzolic type, with gravelly clay, heavy clay, Typic dark clayey; oxisol with clay loam. Lithosols also occur, which are usually developed with little depressions.

Vegetation

The original natural vegetation was the Atlantic Forest, with local regions in a Montana Tropical Rainforest. Predominate the savannah vegetation in various stages of secondary succession.

Geology

Sorocaba is located exactly on the limit between the sedimentary rocks of Parana Sedimentary Basin (Itararé Group, in glacial and deltaic palaeoenvironments of Permian-Carboniferous age) and crystalline basement (Neoproterozoic). Important

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

massifs are Sorocaba Massif (calc-alkaline I-Type) and São Francisco Massif (Subalkaline, A-Type). Metamorphic low grade rocks as phyllites, metacalcareous, metarenites, are marine metassediments are included in Sao Roque Group (

Neoproterozoic The Neoproterozoic Era is the last of the three geologic eras of the Proterozoic geologic eon, eon, spanning from 1 billion to 538.8 million years ago, and is the last era of the Precambrian "supereon". It is preceded by the Mesoproterozoic era an ...

) with structural trend northeast-southwest. The Ipanema Hill or Araçoiaba Ridge is a prominent and isolated topographic elevation, it comprises ultrabasic-alkaline intrusion age (

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

, Early

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

), remnant of ancient

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

. It was the first iron mine,

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloome ...

and metallurgy of Brazil,

Ipanema Ipanema () is a neighbourhood located in the South Zone (Rio de Janeiro), South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, Leblon and Arpoador. The beach at Ipanema became known internationally with the populari ...

. The ore was exploited from

magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula . It is one of the iron oxide, oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetism, ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetization, magnetized to become a ...

, probably associated to

carbonatite Carbonatite () is a type of intrusive rock, intrusive or extrusive rock, extrusive igneous rock defined by mineralogic composition consisting of greater than 50% carbonate minerals. Carbonatites may be confused with marble and may require geoche ...

body.

Demography

According to IBGE, 2010 Census, the population of Sorocaba was 586,311 inhabitants. There was a growth of 18.81% compared to 2000. The population density is 1,305.46 inhabitants per square kilometer. Women are the majority in Sorocaba, being 51.1% of the total population. In absolute numbers, there are 299,513 women and 286,798 men, 12,715 more women than men. There is a large predominance of urban population in Sorocaba, with only 1% of the population (5,971 residents) living in rural areas, compared with 580,340 in urban areas. Among the largest cities in

(in population), Sorocaba is in 30th place. Among the largest cities in

(in population), it is ranked ninth.

Industry

Sorocaba's industrial park is well-served by roads, highways, and public transportation. The industrial park boasts more than 25 million square meters and over 1,600 industries. Main economic activities are: industrial

machinery A machine is a physical system that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolec ...

, heavy

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

ironmaking Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistory, prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from Meteorite, meteoritic Iron–nickel alloy, iron-nickel. It is not know ...

and

steelmaking Steelmaking is the process of producing steel from iron ore and/or scrap. Steel has been made for millennia, and was commercialized on a massive scale in the 1850s and 1860s, using the Bessemer process, Bessemer and open hearth furnace, Siemens-M ...

, automotive parts, industrial

textiles Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

agricultural equipment Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the farm implements that they tow or operate. M ...

chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...

and

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable s ...

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

production, solar module manufacturing, eolic energy,

pharmaceutics Pharmaceutics is the discipline of pharmacy that deals with the process of turning a new chemical entity (NCE) or an existing drug into a medication to be used safely and effectively by patients. The patients could be either humans or animals. Ph ...

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

and

cellulose Cellulose is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of glycosidic bond, β(1→4) linked glucose, D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important s ...

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...

s, commerce and services. Its tools, automotive parts and pharmaceutics industry are the biggest in

. The Ferroban railroad (formerly Sorocabana Railway and FEPASA) are connected to

and the Santos Seaport, the largest seaport in South America. The railroad is also an important link to

Mercosur The Southern Common Market (commonly known by abbreviation ''Mercosur'' in Spanish and ''Mercosul'' in Portuguese) is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full me ...

, reaching both

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. Sorocaba also boasts a dry port terminal, which provides efficient road linkages to the various ports and airports of the region including Bertram Luiz Leupolz Airport, which has one of the busiest cargo terminals in the State. A second airport, with much higher traffic and passenger capacity is currently being planned for the upcoming years.

Economy

Sorocaba's economic development is fifth in the state, with investments in the order of US$3,5 billion, with US$3 billion in

Gross Domestic Product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...

. Its industries export to over 115 countries, with an income of US$370 million per year. There are over eight thousand commerce organizations and another 8,000 service businesses.

Education

Sorocaba has nine universities, seven private: University of Medical and Health Sciences at the Catholic University of São Paulo ( PUC-SP), University of Sorocaba (UNISO), ESAMC Sorocaba, Anhanguera, Uirapuru Superior, Academia de Letras de Sorocaba, University Paulista (UNIP), and two public Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho , Universidade Estadual Paulista ( UNESP) and University of São Carlos ( UFSCar). It also has nine colleges: Law School of Sorocaba (FADI), recommended by OAB the year 2007 the FADI received the seal of quality issued by the institution to law courses that have had the best quality indexes in recent years. Engineering College of Sorocaba ( FACENS), College of Technology of São Paulo - Sorocaba (FATEC-SO), College of Physical Education

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

Sorocaba (FEFISO), Manchester Paulista Institute of Higher Education (IMAP), Academy of Higher Education (AES), Graduate School of Management, Marketing and Communication (ESAMC) Anhanguera Educational Sorocabano Uirapuru Education Center and the Union of Educational Institutions of São Paulo (UNIESP), among others schools. There are four hundred public schools between municipal and private ones from elementary to high school, many with professionalizing courses. National Industry and Commerce Service Institutions like

SENAI SENAI, or ' (), is a network of secondary level professional schools established and maintained by the Brazilian Confederation of Industry (a patronal syndicate). SENAI is one of the most important institutions in the country providing formal tr ...

SENAC , Senac, are also present in the city, besides the State Technical School of London , State Technical School and Rubens de Faria e Souza, State Technical School of São Paulo , Technical School Fernando Prestes de Albuquerque and the Polytechnic School of Sorocaba (free of charge), which also houses the Standart School of Sorocaba, Antonio Padilha school.

Health

The city's health care is well served with many hospitals like Hospital Santa Lucinda, Conjunto Hospitalar de Sorocaba, Santa Casa de Misericórdia (founded over 200 years ago), Evangelical Hospital, Samaritan Hospital, Hospital Unimed, etc. The Ophthalmological Hospital is the hospital that performs more transplants and corneal uptake in Brazil. It was honored at the Distinction Award in Organ Donation of the Secretariat of Health of Brazil and has succeeded in eliminating the waiting list for transplants in the region of Sorocaba and the entire city of São Paulo. Hospital Santa Lucinda achieved its 100th kidney transplant in 2004. In 2007, we opened 12 rooms with high-tech equipment, the result of an investment of about $2.5 million from the St. Paul Foundation. The Sorocaba Hospital Complex is responsible for servicing the tertiary level of 48 municipalities in southwest São Paulo with a population of over 3 million inhabitants. Reference state is the treatment of burn victims and in 2009 over R$5 million were investing into building a new maternity ward. The scientific work in the area of burns in the year 2009 awarded by the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery and was coordinated by Dr. Hamilton Aleardo Gonella and held at CHS. For a year, Gonella's team researched the application of nanocrystalline silver dressings. The technique, tested in five patients of CHS, showed positive results, expanding the range of dressing change which reduces the patient's suffering and costs in hospital care. The Plastic Surgery Service CHS has 34 awards for scientific work in various areas. About burns, are at least ten. The Ambulatory Hernia Surgery is the CHS model, several training sessions are conducted for surgeons throughout the country. Sorocaba is a technique performed the cut is between 2 and 2.5 cm, smaller than the procedures used elsewhere. The Faculty of Medicine of Sorocaba - the first medical school in the interior of Brazil - was founded in 1950 and is one of the most responsible for Sorocaba be a reference center for health in Brazil having formed many renowned professionals.

Media

In telecommunications, the city was served by Telecomunicações de São Paulo. In July 1998, this company was acquired by Telefônica, which adopted the Vivo brand in 2012. The company is currently an operator of cell phones, fixed lines, internet (fiber optics/4G) and television (satellite and cable).

Resources

Two International Convention Centers are available. Sorocaba's three main newspapers are the ''Jornal Bom Dia'', ''Cruzeiro do Sul'' and the ''Diário de Sorocaba''.

Sights

There are many parks open to the public, such as historical churches, walking and racing courses, historical monuments, museums, mausoleums and memorials, various spas and horse farms. The municipal

Zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

"Quinzinho de Barros", is one of the largest zoos in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Sport

The main sporting venue in the city is

Estádio Municipal Walter Ribeiro Estádio Municipal Walter Ribeiro is a stadium in Sorocaba, Brazil. It has a capacity of 13,722 spectators. It is the home of Esporte Clube São Bento and Clube Atlético Sorocaba Clube Atlético Sorocaba, usually known as Atlético Sorocaba, w ...

. The city's main association football team is EC São Bento. There is also a second team

Atlético Sorocaba Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

which in October 2016 the professional team licensed the professional competitions.

Liga Sorocabana de Basquete Liga Sorocabana de Basquete, or simply LSB, as it is known, is a Brazilian basketball team from Sorocaba, São Paulo state. The team receives financial support from partners such as Case, Flextronics, Intermédica and Objetivo Sorocaba. History ...

is the city's main basketball team. There is a futsal team named Magnus Futsal which the main title were 2016 and 2018

Intercontinental Futsal Cup The Intercontinental Futsal Cup is an international futsal club competition. Invited clubs from Europe and South America play against each other. History The Intercontinental Futsal Cup is held every year. The first event was held in 1997, in ...

Transport

Railway - Estrada de Ferro Sorocabana

Airport

Sorocaba Airport is used by small aircraft and it is served by almost no commercial flights. The services provided are mainly for cargo transport.

Azul Brazilian Airlines Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras S/A (''Azul Brazilian Airlines''; or simply Azul) is a Brazilian airline headquartered in Barueri, a suburb of São Paulo. The company's business model is to stimulate demand by providing frequent and affordable ...

offers free bus transfers for its passengers between Sorocaba and Campinas-Viracopos International Airport at regular times.

Highways

* SP-75 - Rod. Santos Dumont (Sorocaba - Campinas) * SP-79 - Rod. Waldomiro Correa de Camargo (Sorocaba - Itu), Rod. Raimundo Antunes Soares (Sorocaba - Piedade) * SP-91/270 - Rodovia Dr. Celso Charuri (interligação entre as rodovias Raposo Tavares e Senador José Ermírio de Morais (Castelinho) * SP-97 - Rod. Emerenciano Prestes de Barros (Sorocaba - Porto Feliz) * SP-264 - Rod. João Leme dos Santos (Sorocaba - Salto de Pirapora) * SP-270 - Rod. Raposo Tavares (Sorocaba - São Paulo, Sorocaba - Presidente Prudente) *

SP-280 The Rodovia Presidente Castelo Branco (SP-280) is a tollway in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It was first opened on Saturday, 10 November 1968, by, then, the Governor of the state of São Paulo, Abreu Sodré. The tollway name was given in me ...

- Rod. Castelo Branco (Sorocaba - São Paulo, Sorocaba - Ourinhos e Norte do Paraná) * SP-354 - Rod. Sorocaba - Iperó

Urban Transport

Sorocaba has four urban bus terminals: São Paulo,Santo Antônio,Vitória Régia and São Bento.

Bike/cycle lanes

The city has 60 kilometers of bike lanes created in the city's main avenues, and it can be crossed only using bicycles for transportation. The planning of the municipality provides for the construction of the largest cycling network in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

in coming years and implement a public bike system, similar to European cities as

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Sorocaba is currently the second-largest cycling loop of Brazil, after

Administration

The current mayor is Rodrigo Maganhato (

REPUBLICANOS The Republicans (), formerly the Brazilian Republican Party (, PRB) and originally formed as the Municipalist Renewal Party (, PMR), is a Brazilian political party. Its electoral number, the numerical assignment for Brazilian political parties, ...

), who has been in office since January 1, 2021.

Twin towns – sister cities

Sorocaba is twinned with: *

Anyang Anyang ( zh, s=安阳, t=安陽; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan, China. Geographical coordinates are 35° 41'~ 36° 21' north latitude and 113° 38'~ 114° 59' east longitude. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the eas ...

Gyeonggi-do Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous administrative divisions of South Korea, province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a list of provinc ...

, South Korea *

Nanchang Nanchang is the capital of Jiangxi, China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east by Poyang Lake. Because of its strate ...

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, China *

Wuxi Wuxi ( zh, s=无锡, p=Wúxī, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu, China. As of the 2024 census, it had a population of 7,495,000. The city lies in the southern Yangtze delta and borders Lake Tai. Notable landmarks include Lihu Park, the Mt. Lings ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

, China

Notable people

Átila Abreu Átila Roberto de Abreu (born 10 May 1987 in Sorocaba) is a Brazilian racing driver currently competing for Pole Motorsport in the Stock Car Pro Series. Career Formula BMW Despite beginning his karting career in 1996, 2003 Formula BMW ADAC se ...

, racing driver *

Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name '' Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Com ...

, diplomat and Viscount of Porto Seguro * Rafael Tobias de Aguiar, military officer and politician *

Marinho Peres Mário Peres Ulibarri (19 March 1947 – 18 September 2023), known as Marinho Peres, was a Brazilian association football, footballer who played as a centre-back, in particular with Sport Club Internacional and the Brazil national football team ...

, football player * Diego Farias, football player

References

*Prefeitura de Sorocab
"Conhecendo a sua Cidade"
''Conheça Sorocaba'', November 13, 2007. Accessed November 13, 2007. *Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatístic
"Cidades@"
''Sorocaba'', November 13, 2007. Accessed November 13, 2007.

External links

Prefeitura de Sorocaba
Prefecture, City Hall
Portal da cidade
{{Authority control Populated places established in 1654 1654 establishments in the Portuguese Empire