Ribeirão Preto (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʁibejˈɾɐ̃w ˈpɾetu]) is a city and a metropolitan area located in the northeastern region of São Paulo state, Brazil.
Ribeirão Preto is the eighth-largest municipality in the state, with an area of . In 2021, the municipality proper had an estimated population of 720,216 and the wider metropolitan area had an estimated population of 1,178,910. It is located from the city of São Paulo and from Brasília, the federal capital. Its mean altitude is high. The city's average temperature throughout the year is , and the original predominant vegetation is the Atlantic Forest.
The city of Ribeirão Preto originated around 1856 as an agricultural region. Coffee was a primary source of income until 1929, when it lost value when compared with the industrial sector. In the second half of the 20th century, investment in health, biotechnology, bioenergy, and information technology led to the city being declared a Technological Center in 2010. These activities have caused the city to have the 30th-largest gross national product (GNP) in Brazil.
The city is also an important cultural center. Mayor Luiz Roberto Jábali Park, Maurilio Biagi Park, Carlos Raya Park, Santa Tereza Reserve, and the Zoo are important natural conservation areas and tourist attractions. Pinguim Beerhouse, Theatro Pedro II, and projects such as Ribeirão Preto's Cinema Center are major sightseeing points, along with events such as the Agrishow Agricultural Fair, Ribeirão Rodeo Music, Joao Rock Music Festival, and the National Outdoor Book Fair.
History
The municipality was founded 19 June 1856, being populated initially by farmers and African slaves coming from other areas of São Paulo (especially from Mogi Mirim and São Simão) and Minas Gerais looking for land with good pastures. The city was built by a stream called Ribeirão Preto, meaning "black creek" or "black stream" in Portuguese, and was named after it. The region's fertile soil allowed high crop productivity.
Initially the main rural activities were pasture grazing, cattle breeding and subsistence agriculture. In the 1870s, the coffee crop arrived in Ribeirão Preto. The rapid development of coffee cultivation brought wealth and progress to the region, which by the 1880s had become the largest coffee producer in the world. Coffee, also called "green gold", caused a "gold rush" in the region which attracted workers and adventurous people from many parts of the world. This movement was helped by the new Mogiana Railway, linking Ribeirão Preto to São Paulo and to the port city of Santos, and by the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888. The end of slavery created a strong market for labor, and "coffee barons", as coffee farmers were called, stimulated immigration. Immigrants coming from Europe (mostly Italy, but also from Portugal, Spain and Germany) and from Japan settled on the coffee farms of Ribeirão Preto and neighboring towns. Some of the immigrants, especially the Italians, settled at the Núcleo Colonial Antonio Prado ("Antonio Prado Colonial Nucleus") which was created by the government in 1887. This nucleus originated many of the northern and eastern districts of Ribeirão Preto. Later, after the stock market crash of 1929, some of the immigrants bought the farms from their impoverished former employers.
Demography
Adding to the Native Amerindians already living in the area when foreign migrants began to occupy and settle the land, the population of Ribeirão Preto includes, amongst other groups, descendants of Africans, Italians, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Germans, and Lebanese immigrants who were attracted to the region after the abolition of slavery in 1888, when immigrants were granted lands after being indentured workers. Descendants of enslaved African people constitute a large and important element of the population. By 1902, over 50% of the city’s population was born in Italy.
During the 1990s, migrants from northeastern Brazil came to the region, attracted by São Paulo state's economic development, which was widely broadcast in television documentaries. Because many individuals in Ribeirão Preto's growing population often had no technical skills and were often illiterate, poverty and crime grew considerably. Many migrants boosted the economy by working in sugarcane plantations and orange groves. However, those who performed seasonal duties often found they had no safety net when the season ended. IBGE estimates from 2020 indicated that Ribeirão Preto had a population of 711,825 inhabitants. The urban agglomeration incorporates 34 municipalities, with a population of about 1.4 million inhabitants.
Ribeirão Preto population: 703,293 inhabitants (2019). Metropolitan area: approx. 1.7 million inhabitants Data of the Census of 2010
Total population: 605,114 Metro: 603,401 Rural: 1,713 Men: 290,286 Women: 314,828 Population density (inhabitants/km2): 930.42 Infant mortality up to 1 year (per thousand): 9.90 Life expectancy (years): 74.40 Total fertility rate: 1.89 Literacy rate: 95.56% Human Development Index (HDI): 0.855 HDI GDP: 0.855 HDI longevity: 0.823 HDI education: 0.918 Source: IPEAdata
Ethnicity Ethnic groupsPercentWhite63.6%Mixed27.4%Black8.0%Asian0.8%Amerindian0.1% Source: Census 2022
Region
Ribeirão Preto is the center of a Metropolitan Area with about 1.662 million inhabitants (2017), and comprises the following 34 municipalities:
Altinópolis Barrinha Brodowski Batatais Cravinhos Cajuru Cássia dos Coqueiros Dumont Guariba Guatapará Jaboticabal Jardinópolis Luís Antônio Mococa Monte Alto Morro Agudo Nuporanga Orlândia Pitangueiras Pontal Pradópolis Ribeirão Preto Sales Oliveira Santa Cruz da Esperança Santa Rita do Passa Quatro Santa Rosa de Viterbo Santo Antônio da Alegria São Simão Serra Azul Serrana Sertãozinho Taiuva Tambaú Taquaral
Geography Climate The climate of Ribeirão Preto is tropical, specifically a tropical wet and dry climate (Aw in the Köppen climate classification), with rainy summers and dry winters. The record maximum recorded in the city was 43.6 °C (110.5 °F) on 29 October 2012.Com 43,6°C nesta tarde, Ribeirão tem novo recorde de temperatura G1 Ribeirão e Franca (October 29, 2012); accessed in: November 17, 2018.
Average temperature: Winter 18.6 °C; Summer 23.9 °C Altitude: 531 m (between 504 and 852 meters) Average precipitation: 1508 mm of rain (annual total) Relative humidity: 71% (yearly average)
Hydrography Pardo River Ribeirão Preto ("Black Creek", origin of the city's name) Retiro Saudoso Creek Tanquinho Creek Laureano Creek Das Palmeiras Creek Dos Catetos Creek Dos Campos Creek Vista Alegre Creek Antarctica Creek Olhos d'Água Creek California Creek Limeirinha Creek
Tourism, culture and events
At the beginning of the 20th century and during its first three decades, Ribeirão Preto was a rich city, boasting several mansions, European-style cafés, cabarets and even two opera houses, as result of the coffee economy. One of the opera houses – the Carlos Gomes Theatre (in honour of Brazilian opera composer Carlos Gomes) – was demolished in 1949, but the other – the "Pedro II Theatre" (named in honor of Emperor Dom Pedro II), dating from the 1920s – resisted time and was restored and modernized during the 1990s. Its ceiling, completely destroyed in a fire of 1980, was rebuilt and gained a new design projected by Japanese-Brazilian artist Tomie Ohtake. The Pedro II Theatre is now the third largest opera house in Brazil and is the home of the Ribeirão Preto symphony orchestra, one of the oldest and most important in Brazil.
Several events take place in Ribeirão Preto, many of which occur annually, such as the Agrishow (an international fair of agricultural technology), Fair Photo Image, Film Festival Ribeirão Preto, National Book Fair of Ribeirão Preto, Festival Tanabata (Japanese cultural festival), Festitália (Italian cultural festival), João Rock Music Fest, Ribeirão Rodeo Music, Bonfim Paulista Rodeo Show, Ribeirão Skol Folia, Fair ExpoHair, Feitrans (Fair Transport Interior Paulista), Arena Cross, Entorta Bixo, Ribeirão Cana Invest, Expobonsai, AVIRRP, Comida di Buteco, Restaurant Week Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto Tropeada, Mitsubishi Rally Cup, Copa Chevrolet Montana, and others. These events move various segments of the municipality, as the airport, bus system, taxi, hotel chain, bars, restaurants, and more.
The municipality has a hot climate, which makes people go out in the evening to chat and enjoy cold draft beers in bars. Therefore, the municipality is teeming with bars, from the simple "botequins" or "botecos" that one can find in almost every corner, to the most sophisticated pub style bars, which rival their counterparts in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Ribeirão Preto has also many micro-breweries, many of them nationally known.
Ribeirão Preto is considered one of the major centers of business tourism in the country, being chosen by the Ministry of Tourism as an inducer of regional tourism development, between 4 cities of São Paulo and 64 other locations throughout Brazil. Currently the city has 52 hotels in full operation, with 8600 beds (or jobs), beyond 30 motels with 2000 beds, beds totaling 10,600 rooms in the network of the city.
There are still many convention centers and event spaces, such as:
Convention Center Ribeirão Preto, capacity: 2450 people; Convention Center Taiwan, capacity: 400, 1000, 3000 and 5000 people per venue; Events Center CENACON, capacity: 1700 people; Mediterranean Area Events Center, capacity: 3000 people; Events Center Hotel JP, capacity: 1800 people; White Canvas Events Center, capacity: 1700 people; New Event Space Centre, capacity: 4000 people; Events West Shopping Center, capacity: 3000 people; Ribeirão Preto Expo Center. NEO Convention (under construction), capacity: 600 people; Exhibition Park IAC, capacity: 380 people; Exhibition Park: capacity: 1500 people; Santo Antônio Space, capacity 1500 people.
Parks and forests Ribeirão Preto has many parks, gardens and a zoo e.g. Fábio Barreto municipal forest; a municipal park called "Curupira", officially named Luís Roberto Jábali Park; the Botanical Garden Park, named as Luís Carlos Raya Park, both located in the south zone; Tom Jobim Park, located in the northwest region and Maurílio Biagi Ecological Park, located in the central region.
Theatres and museums Ribeirão Preto has some museums and theatres, highlighting the Theatro Pedro II (Pedro II Theatre), which is an opera house, located in the central region, more specifically in the "Quarterão Paulista" (Paulista Square), considered the third largest of the category in Brazil, with capacity for 1580 spectators and a total area of 6500 m2, inaugurated on October 8, 1930. Another highlight is the Municipal Theatre, inaugurated in 1969 with modern lines, which has capacity for 515 people. Being a large and wooded place, is also used for cultural events. There is also the Arena Theater, which is next to the Municipal Theatre, among others.
Some museums stand out in the city, as the "Coffee Museum Francisco Schmidt," which was built in the early 1950s, known for saving the most important collection of pieces of São Paulo on the History of Coffee. Its collection consists of large sculptures, bullock carts, trolleys, coffee machines benefit, plus photos of the golden age of coffee in the region of Ribeirão Preto. Another important museum is the Art Museum of Ribeirão Preto (MARP) - "Manuel Pedro Gismondi". The municipality has other museums, such as the Casa da Memória Italiana (Italian Memory House), Museum of General Order and the Museum of Image and Sound.
Theatres in the city:
Auxiliadora Theatre; Bassano Vaccarini Theatre; Arena Theatre; SESC Theatre; Minaz Theatre; Municipal Theatre; Pedro II Theatre/Opera House; Santa Rosa Theatre; Sesi Theatre.
Cinema