Vitória, Brazil

Submitted by editor on Wed, 02/16/2011 - 00:51

Vitória, Brazil

Vitória
—  Municipality  —
The Municipality of Vitória do Espírito Santo
Montages of the city of Vitória

Flag
Seal
Nickname(s): Honey Island
Sun City
Vix
Location in the State of Espírito Santo
Country  Brazil
Region Southeast
State Bandeira do Espírito Santo.svg Espírito Santo
Founded 1535
Government
 - Mayor João Carlos Coser (PT)
Area
 - Municipality 93 km2 (35.9 sq mi)
Population (2005)
 - Municipality 313,312
 - Density 3,360/km2 (8,702.4/sq mi)
 - Metro 1,627,651
Time zone UTC-3 (UTC-3)
Postal Code 29000-000
Website Vitória, Espírito Santo

Vitória (Portuguese pronunciation: [viˈtɔɾjɐ], Victory) is the capital of the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. It is located on a small island within a bay where a few rivers meet the sea. It was founded in 1551. The city proper (area 93 km2 or 35.9 sq mi) has a population of 313,300 (2005) whilst the Greater Vitória metropolitan area has a population of more than 1,612,885 (2005), the 14th largest in Brazil. In 1998, the United Nations rated Vitória as the fourth best state capital in Brazil to live in, rating cities on health, education, and social improvement projects.

Eurico de Aguiar Salles Airport connects Vitória with many Brazilian cities.

The city is home to the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES).

Contents

Geography

Vitória is one of the three island capitals of Brazilian states, the others being Florianópolis and São Luís, and is located in the Southeastern region, the most developed of Brazil. It is strategically located close to the big urban centres of the country and is, on average, an hour by plane from some of the most important cities in Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Belo Horizonte.

Situated on the southern latitude of 20º 19' 09' and 40° 20' 50' longitude west from Greenwich, Vitória borders on the north with Serra, and on the south with Vila Velha, on the east with the Atlantic Ocean and on the west with Cariacica. It is part of a highly urbanized complex known as Região Metropolitana Grande Vitória (Greater Vitória Metropolitan Region), formed by the boroughs of Serra, Fundão, Vila Velha, Guarapari, Cariacica and Viana.

The borough, which is surrounded by Vitoria Bay and the estuary formed by the rivers Santa Maria, Bubu, Marinho and Aribiri consists of a wide variety of types of landscape: islands, hillsides, coves, points, mangroves and beaches.

The borough of Vitoria is an archipelago formed by 34 islands and a portion of the continent. Its total area of 104,26 km2 is formed by the biggest island (denominated Ilha de Vitória), a portion of the continent, all the coastal islands, the estuary islands and the oceanic islands of Trindade and Martim Vaz. Initially there were 50 islands however many of them have been joined to the bigger island by land reclamation.

The city and the continent are linked across the sea by six bridges. The biggest government funded building project ever undertaken in the state was the Darcy Castelo de Mendonça Bridge, or Terceira Ponte (The Third Bridge). Along its 3.33 kilometres a beautiful view of Vitoria bay, its beaches, islands, ports and also of the Convento da Penha (Penha Convent), which is situated in Vila Velha, can be enjoyed.

Geographically speaking the island is an extension of the features of the continent, a granite formation surrounded by sea and areas of mangrove and marshland. The central peak of the island of Vitoria, Morro da Fonte Grande (The Hill at the Great Spring), has an altitude of 308.8 m and the main outcrops of granite are Pedra dos (Dois) Olhos (The two-eyed stone) at 296 m and Morro de São Benedito (The Hill of São Benedito) with an altitude of 194 m. The climate is tropical and humid, with an average maximum monthly temperature of 30.4 °C (86.72 °F) and minimum of 24 °C (75.2 °F), and a heavy rainy season mainly in the months of October to January.

Climate

The climate is tropical, specifically a tropical savanna climate, and humid with an average maximum monthly temperature of 30.4 °C (86.7 °F) and a minimum of 24 °C (75.2 °F). Vitoria features a heavy rainy season mainly between the months of October and January.

Vitória
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D
 
 
77
 
32
24
 
 
54
 
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87
 
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72
 
30
23
 
 
46
 
29
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51
 
27
20
 
 
76
 
28
22
 
 
143
 
29
23
 
 
175
 
30
24
Average max. and min. temperatures in °C
Precipitation totals in mm
Source: MSN Weather
Imperial conversion
J F M A M J J A S O N D
 
 
3
 
90
75
 
 
2.1
 
90
75
 
 
3.4
 
90
75
 
 
2.8
 
86
73
 
 
1.8
 
84
70
 
 
1.7
 
82
66
 
 
1.8
 
81
66
 
 
1.8
 
81
66
 
 
2
 
81
68
 
 
3
 
82
72
 
 
5.6
 
84
73
 
 
6.9
 
86
75
Average max. and min. temperatures in °F
Precipitation totals in inches

History

The island was populated shortly after the arrival of Vasco Fernandes Coutinho to Vila Velha, where he first settled colonists, but soon became more popular as the mainland became increasingly dangerous due to potential attacks by indigenous tribes. The city was founded by the Portuguese colonists in 1535. Other considerations, such as better protection from attacks by the Dutch and French traders, in search of sugar cane and gold, also contributed to the choice of this island as home to the first colonists.

During the first half of the 19th century, Vitória was still seen as a backward agricultural town, with narrow and disorganized lanes. The commercial capital at the time was Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, and because of that the revenues of commerce would go to Rio de Janeiro, rather than Vitória. It was only after the adoption of a republican style of government in 1889 that the governors decided to modernize the state capital.

In 1892, Muniz Freire came to power for two four-year terms, and began his leadership by paving roads, planning the town's expansion, and contracting a loan of 700 million French Francs to build a rail connection to Cachoeiro de Itapemirim. Muniz Freire intended to channel exports and revenues through the capital, and thus promote its growth.

By 1894, the town showed signs of growth fueled mainly by the great activity of the port of Vitória, and the high price of coffee, which was the main export product for the state at the time. The money brought in by this increased economic activity spurred on the city's modernization.

In 1908, Jerônimo Monteiro became state governor, and continued urban development. During his time in office he saw Vitória surpass Cachoeiro de Itapemirim as a commercial center. This was helped by the 1911 completion of the railway line linking the two towns and the improvement of port facilities. During this period, many projects such as the building of schools, Moscoso Park, Santa Casa da Misericordia Hospital, and the Santo Antonio cemetery were undertaken. Monteiro was also responsible for other projects such as the creation of the public archive, the state library and state museum.

Demographics

Vitória Beach.

According to the IBGE of 2008, there were 317,817 people residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 52.33% White, 38.46% Pardo (brown), 7.43% Black, 0.78% Asian or Amerindian.

Vitória is the second Brazilian capital with the best quality of life, according to research at the Getulio Vargas Foundation. This same research institution also claims that Vitória is the 9th best city in Brazil to work. The capital of the Espírito Santo has the highest per capita income among the capitals of Brazil.

  • GDP per capita (2007): 60592.00 (1st place among the capitals)
  • Life Expectancy (years) at birth: 70.74 (4th place among the capitals)
  • IDHM R-index of income: 0.858 (3rd position among the capitals)
  • IDHM E-Education Index: 0.948 (3rd position among the capitals)
  • IDHM-L Index Longevity: .762 (4th place among the capital)
  • ICH index of deprivation in the Provision of Essential Services Housing: 0.882
  • Adult literacy rate: 95.48% (5th position among the capitals)
  • Average ENEM 2007: 60.225 (1st place among the capitals of Brazil)
  • Gross rate of school attendance: 93.36% (3rd position among the capitals)
  • Gini Index : 0.61
  • Highest HDI between the capitals of the Southeast and third largest among the capital (0.856)
  • Number of voters: 237 554
  • Annual population growth rate: 2.36%
  • Best capital for young start career
  • Ninth best city to work
  • Vitória Airport is the 14th in passenger movement in Brazil, and it embarked or disembarked 1,661,192 passengers in 2006. It is the 14th in cargo, and transported 13,023,544 kilograms in 2006.
  • Vitória has the largest port in handling a ton of Brazil
  • Fleet of vehicles: 120,826
  • Smaller population of the capitals of Southeastern

Religion

Religion Percentage Number
Catholic 63.36% 185,211
Protestant 22.18% 64,846
No religion 10.53% 30,791
Spiritist 2.04% 5,975

Source: IBGE 2000

Economy

Suá Bay, one of the malls of the island.

Vitória's economy is facing port activities, active trade, industry, and also provide services to business tourism. The capital of Espirito Santo has two ports that are the most important of the country: Victoria Harbour and the Port of Tubarão. The most important industries are capital ArcelorMittal Tubarão (CST old) and Vale (formerly CVRD / Vale do Rio Doce). These ports, along with several other state, form the largest port complex in Brazil.

Trade

The main shopping center in Victoria is the Vitória Mall, featuring over 400 shops, a large food court and a complex cinematic, with most of the state. There is also the North South Mall, with 99 stores, the Shopping Centre Beach, Shopping Boulevard, among others

Education

Portuguese is the official national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools. A secondary language is also required as part of the official curriculum for both elementary schools and high school. The second most taught language is English, followed by Spanish, French and Italian.

Curiously, within the state of Espirito Santo, the German language has probably as many speakers as the French and Italian languages, although it is not available as part of the official curriculum for most of the schools.

Carlos Gomes Theatre

Educational institutions

Transportation

Vitória in the afternoon

Airport

Eurico de Aguiar Salles Airport (Goiabeiras) is located on a land plot of just over 5.2 million square meters. Since construction of its first step, finished in 1946, Vitória Airport has undergone several expansions and modernizations, but current demand has surpassed its capacity of 560,000 passengers a year. The passenger terminal is air conditioned, with a constructed area of nearly 4,000 square meters, a check-in concourse, 25 check-in counters and boarding and arrival lounges. The recent construction of new aircraft parking boxes on the aprons has improved the airport's operational efficiency.

In 2003, more than 1.2 million passengers used the airport, and in 2004 this rose to some 1.25 million. Vitória is one of the 32 airports in the Infraero network that has a cargo terminal. In May 1999, the first direct international freight connection to the United States (Miami) began operating to Vitória, facilitating imports to the state of Espírito Santo. Today there are five such flights a week.

Vitoria's harbour entrance with the tallest bridge in Brazil and Camburi Beach in the background.
Bay and bridge

Highways

The main access roads are the BR-101, a motorway linking the Brazilian south and northeast with the Metropolitan Region of Greater Vitória, the BR-262 that connects the Central region with Vitória and the Rodovia do Sol (Sun Motorway) – ES-060 which links the local coastal regions.

Ports

The city has two ports: the Port of Vitória and the Port of Tubarão.

The Port of Vitória is the most difficult port for ships to access in all of Brazil. The Bay of Vitória is extremely narrow, with stones and mountains that complicate the access by freighters and maritime cruisers to the docks. Ships, cars, and people all compete for space. There are restrictions on traffic, limiting the use of the port. Today the port is mostly used by cruise ships and for the repair of ships and oil platforms.

The Port of Tubarão was designed in the 1960s by Companhia Vale do Rio Doce when the Port of Vitória began showing signs of saturation. It has far easier access to the sea. From its opening in 1966, its capacity has gradually increased, reaching 80 million tonnes/year in the last decade. Although originally created to export iron ore, in recent years it has added silos for storing grains and soybean meal. The port is located at one end of Camburi Beach.

Railways

The Vitória-Minas Railway, which carries cargo from the Central Region, also carries passenger from Vitória to Belo Horizonte.

Bridge

The Bridge Mr Darcy Castelo de Mendonça, also known as Third Bridge (Portuguese: Terceira Ponte), is the second tallest bridge in Brazil, connecting and reducing the distance between the cities of Vila Velha and Vitória.

Sports

Football

There are two professional football teams in the city, Rio Branco Atlético Clube, usually known simply as Rio Branco, and Vitória Futebol Clube (ES), usually known simply as Vitória (or as Vitória-ES), both currently playing in Campeonato Capixaba.

Sister cities

Main sights

Praia do Canto and Enseda do Suá.
A view of Vitória.
  • Penha Convent - Although located in Vila Velha, it is widely recognized as a city landmark.
  • Carlos Gomes Theatre
  • The Metropolitan Cathedral
  • Old Town Houses
  • Costa Pereira Square
  • The Chapel of Santa Luzia
  • São Gonçalo Church
  • Anchieta Palace
  • Domingos Martins Palace
  • The monastery of Sâo Francisco
  • Church of the Rosario
  • Santo Antônio Sanctuary

Other cities in the greater Vitória Metropolitan Region

  1. ^ (in Portuguese) (PDF) Síntese de Indicadores Sociais 2000. Vitória, Brazil: IBGE. 2000. ISBN 85-240-3919-1. http://www.sidra.ibge.gov.br/bda/tabela/listabl.asp?z=cd&o=7&i=P&c=2094. Retrieved 2009-01-31. 
  2. ^ Religion in Vitória by IBGE
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