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São Carlos
São Carlos
	View of São Carlos
; Flag	; Coat of arms
	Nickname(s): The Capital of Technology,; Weather City and Sanca
	Motto: "A bandeirantibvs venio" (Latin); "Proceed from bandeirantes"
	Location in the São Paulo state.
	Coordinates: 22°01′04″S 47°53′27″W / 22.01778°S 47.89083°W
Country	Brazil
Region	Southeast
State	São Paulo
Founded	4 November 1857
Incorporated	1880
	Government
- Mayor	Oswaldo Barba (PT)
	Area
- City	1,140.92 km2 (440.5 sq mi)
- Urban	67.25 km2 (26 sq mi)
Elevation	856 m (2,808.4 ft)
	Population (2006)
- City	218,702
- Density	191.7/km2 (496.5/sq mi)
- Metro	265,000
Time zone	UTC-3 (UTC-3)
- Summer (DST)	UTC-2 (UTC-2)
Website	São Carlos
	HDI (2000) 0.841 – high

For other uses, see São Carlos (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 22°01′04″S 47°53′27″W / 22.01778°S 47.89083°W / -22.01778; -47.89083

São Carlos (Portuguese pronunciation: [sɐ̃w̃ ˈkaɹlus] ( listen); named after Saint Charles Borromeo) is a city of 220,000 inhabitants in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is located at 22°01′04″S 47°53′27″W / 22.01778°S 47.89083°W / -22.01778; -47.89083. Liverpool F.C. full-back Fabio Aurelio was born in Sao Carlos.

[edit] History

The city was founded during the "Golden Age of Coffee", in the year of 1857, by Antônio Carlos de Arruda Botelho, the "Count of Pinhal" (Conde do Pinhal), and was originally called "São Carlos do Pinhal" (pinhal is the Portuguese name, in Brazil, of the woodlands of Araucaria angustifolia). Eventually, the name was shortened to "São Carlos". Nowadays most of the region's agricultural production has shifted from coffee to sugar cane and dairy products, but the mainstay of the city's economy is industrialized and technological products.

[edit] Geography

São Carlos is located in the geographic center of the state of São Paulo, approximately 231 km (143 miles) from the City of São Paulo. Its altitude is over 856 m, offering a mild altitude climate. Most of the year the city is windy, sunny and with mild temperatures at night. For this reason the city is nicknamed "Cidade do Clima" (Weather City) and celebrates once a year an event called "Festa do Clima" (Portuguese for 'Weather Party'). The city has a total area of 1.141 km², which includes two districts to the north (Santa Eudóxia and Água Vermelha), one district to the west (Bela Vista São-carlense), and one district to the east (Vila Nery).

[edit] Economy and culture

The city has an active industrial profile and certain agricultural importance, backed by technologies developed by Embrapa, owner of two research complexes in the city. Due to the relatively high number of high technology industries situated in the city, it was nicknamed "The Capital of Technology".

The city hosts several locally-grown technology-based companies, such as Opto Eletrônicos, and factories of multinational corporations such as Faber Castell, Electrolux, Husqvarna, Tecumseh and the Brazilian factory of Volkswagen engines, and companies national corporations such as Toalhas São Carlos, Tapetes São Carlos, Papel São Carlos, Prominas Brasil and Latina.

São Carlos is home to two University of São Paulo (www.saocarlos.usp.br) campi and Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), two of the most important universities in Brazil. Moreover, other minor and private universities are also based in São Carlos. Because of this, São Carlos has a very high relative number of students, and that fact is reflected on the abundance of student-focused commercial establishments and the high number of student parties.

The cultural life is marked by the large number of college students that form a good audience for musical concerts of Brazilian contemporary alternative artists that usually include the city in their tours. There are many cafes where graduate students and professors socialize.