Name of city: Fortaleza.
Population : 2,551,806, 5th.
Area: 313.8 km2 (121.2 sq mi).
Location: Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
Website: Officialsite.
Fortaleza is the state capital of Ceará,
located in Northeastern Brazil. With a population close to 2.55 million
(metropolitan region over 3.6 million), Fortaleza is the 5th largest city in
Brazil. To the north of the city lies the Atlantic Ocean; to the south are the
municipalities of Pacatuba, Eusébio, Maracanaú and Itaitinga; to the east is
the municipality of Aquiraz and the Atlantic Ocean; and to the west is the
municipality of Caucaia. Residents of the city are known as Fortalezenses.
Fortaleza is one of the three leading cities in the Northeast region together with
Salvador and Recife.
Fortaleza's history began on February 2,
1500, when Spaniard Vicente Pinzón landed in Mucuripe's cove and named the new
land Santa Maria de la Consolación. Because of the Treaty of Tordesillas, the
discovery was never officially sanctioned. Colonisation began in 1603, when the
Portuguese Pero Coelho de Souza constructed the Fort of São Tiago and founded
the settlement of Nova Lisboa (New Lisbon).[3] After a victory over the French
in 1612, Martins Soares Moreno expanded the Fort of São Tiago and changed its
name to Forte de São Sebastião. In 1630 the Dutch invaded the Brazilian
Northeast and in 1637 they took the Fort of São Sebastião and ruled over Ceará.
In battles with the Portuguese and natives in 1644 the fort was destroyed. Under
captain Matthias Beck the Dutch West Indies Company built a new fortress by the
banks of river Pajeú. Fort Schoonenborch ("graceful stronghold")
officially opened on August 19, 1649. After the capitulation of Pernambuco in
1654, the Dutch handed over this fortress to the Portuguese, who renamed it
Fortaleza da Nossa Senhora de Assunção ("Fort of Our Lady of the
Rising"), after which the city of Fortaleza takes its name.
Street
View of Fortaleza
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