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Historic Centre of São Luís
| Site number: | 821 |
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| Type of site: | Cultural | |
| Date: | Late 17th c. | |
| Date of Inscription: | 1997 | |
| Location: | South America, Brazil, Maranhão State, Brasil’s North-East Region | |
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| Description: | The late 17th-century core of the town of São Luís has in its entirety preserved its original rectangular street plan. The town was founded by the French, occupied by the Dutch and then came under Portuguese rule. This is an exceptional example of an Iberian colonial town as it retains an exceptional amount of fine historic buildings, that are still standing as a result of a period of economic stagnation in the early 20th century. --WHMNet paraphrase from the description at WHC Site, where additional information is available. | |
| São Luís is the capital of the Brazilian state of Maranhão. The city is located on São Luís island in the Baía de São Marcos, an extension of the Atlantic Ocean which forms the estuary of Pindaré, Mearim, Itapecuru and other rivers. São Luís 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 city has sea ports; Ponta da Madeira, Porto do Itaqui; 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 do Rio Doce. São Luís is home of the Federal University of Maranhão. São Luís was the home town of famous Brazilian Samba singer Alcione, Brazilian writers Aluísio Azevedo, Ferreira Gullar and Josué Montello, Brazil's former President José Sarney, Belgian-naturalised soccer player Luís Oliveira, and Zeca Baleiro, an MPB singer. --Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. | ||
| Source: | http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/821 | |
| Reference: | 1. UNESCO World Heritage Center, Site Page. | |