Piratininga

Piratininga is a historical and geographical term referring to a highland region in the interior of the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The name is of Tupi origin, and its exact meaning is uncertain. It is associated with the plateau where the early Jesuit mission that founded the city of São Paulo was established. In 1554, the mission São Paulo de Piratininga was founded on the plateau by Father Manuel da Nobrega and Father José de Anchieta. The mission attracted settlers and formed the nucleus of a permanent settlement along the Tietê River, which over subsequent decades grew into the urban center that would become the state capital, São Paulo. The region and the settlement played a pivotal role in the early colonization of the interior of São Paulo and in the development of trade routes connecting the coast with the hinterlands. Today, Piratininga is mainly a historical reference, used to denote the origin of the city of São Paulo and the early colonial landscape of the interior. The term also appears in historical writings and in the names of places that preserve the memory of this epoch.