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São Luís, Maranhão

Capital city of Maranhão, Brazil

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Photo of São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
Lechenet.com · CC BY-SA 3.0

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São Luís, created originally as Saint-Louis-de-Maragnan, is the only Brazilian state capital founded by France (see France Équinoxiale) and it is one of the three Brazilian state capitals located on islands (the others are Vitória and Florianópolis). The historic center of the city (dating from the 17th century) has its original street plan preserved and was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

The city has two major sea ports: Madeira Port and Itaqui Port, through which a substantial part of Brazil's iron ore, originating from the (pre)-Amazon region, is exported. The city's main industries are metallurgical with Alumar, and Vale. São Luís is home of the Federal University of Maranhão and Estadual University of Maranhão.

São Luís was the home town of famous Brazilian samba singer Alcione, Brazilian writers Aluísio Azevedo, Ferreira Gullar and Josué Montello, Belgian-naturalised soccer player Luís Oliveira, and the musician João do Vale, a Música popular brasileira (MPB) singer.

History

Originally, the town was a large village of the Tupinambá tribe. The first Europeans to settle it were the French, in 1612, who intended to make it the center of a colony named Equinoctial France, under the command of Daniel de la Touche, Seigneur de la Ravardière, and Admiral François de Razilly. They built a fort named Saint-Louis de Maragnan after King Louis XIII and his Saintly ancestor Louis IX, the construction of which marked the date of foundation of the city, September 8. Portugal conquered the settlement in 1615 in the battle of Guaxenduba and renamed the city São Luís.

Because there had been little time for the French to build a city, there is some controversy as to the actual date of the founding of the city, whether by the French or the Portuguese.

São Luís was invaded and occupied by the Dutch on November 1641 as part of the wider Dutch invasion of Brazil. A force of 1,000 troops under Jan Cornelisz Lichthart (died 1646), an admiral of the Dutch West India Company, arrived in the city. The Dutch pillaged the city, notably Catholic imagery and structures. Fighting in the cities continued for 27 months. The Dutch surrendered to José Constantino Gomes de Castro and abandoned Maranhão on February 28, 1644.

In 1677, the city was made the seat of the new Roman Catholic Diocese of São Luís do Maranhão.

Only when those invasions ceased permanently did the colonial government decide to create the state of Grão-Pará e Maranhão, independent from the rest of the country. By that time, the economy was based on agriculture, particularly the exportation of sugar cane, cacao and tobacco. Conflicts amongst the local elites would lead to the Beckman's Revolt. This started due to the struggle between Jesuits and landowners, the first against the Indian slavery and the others against the unfair treatment given by the Portuguese authorities; the situation lead to an uprising against the Portuguese, led by the brothers Manoel and Tomás Beckman and lasted till the intervention of Portuguese troops under the command of the general Gomes Freire de Andrade. After few skirmishes, the rebels were defeated and the Beckman brothers arrested and, after a brief trial, were hanged, drawn and quartered. The last words of Manoel Beckman at the gallows were "Pelo Povo do Maranhão morro contente" ("By the Maranhão people I die happy"). The phrase decorates the main hall of State Council Building.

Soon after the outbreak of the American Civil War, the region started to provide cotton to Great Britain. The wealth generated by this activity was used to modernize the city; to bring religious men to come and teach in its schools; and supplement the water supply. The city came to be the third most populous city in the country. By the end of the 19th century, agriculture was in decay and since then the city's population has been searching for other ways to make a living.

Nowadays, São Luís has the largest and best preserved heritage of colonial Portuguese architecture of all Latin America. The island is known as the "Island of Love" and as "the Brazilian Athens", due to its many poets and writers, such as Sotero dos Reis, Aluísio Azevedo, Graça Aranha, Gonçalves Dias (the most famous), Josué Montello, Ferreira Gullar, among others. The city is also known as "the Brazilian Jamaica" because of the popularity of Reggae Music.

The ancestral composition of São Luís, according to an autosomal DNA study, is 42% European, 39% Native American and 19% African.

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