Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre

Port and city(pop., 2005 est.: city, 1,386,900; metro. area, 3,978,263), southern Brazil. Located along the Guaíba River near the Atlantic Ocean coast, it was founded c. 1742 by immigrants from the Azores. It was first known as Porto dos Casais. It received many German and Italian settlers in the 19th century. It is a centre of inland navigation and is the most important Brazilian commercial city south of São Paulo; exports include rice, tobacco, and hides. Industries include shipbuilding and the manufacture of textiles, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals. It is also an educational centre.

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Pôrto Alegre 

a city in southern Brazil and capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Population, 1,548,000 (1970, including suburbs). A port on the landlocked Lagoa dos Patos, it has a railroad station and is an important economic center of southern Brazil. Industry is closely connected with the processing of local agricultural products. The food-processing industry includes flour and vegetable-oil production, meat processing, and alcohol distillation. Other industries include the production of wool and leather goods and footwear, woodworking, and tobacco processing. The 1960’s and 1970’s have seen the development of the metallurgy, machine-building (including electrical engineering), and chemical industries. There are also ship-repair facilities. Porto Alegre exports meat and other livestock products, maté, tobacco, and rice. There are two universities in the city. Pôrto Alegre was founded in 1742.