Valinhos 6.39

Valinhos is a municipality (municipio) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is the birthplace of Adoniran Barbosa. Valinhos is famous for its purple fig, the theme of its annual Fig Fest. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. The population is 120,258 in an area of 148.54km2. Its elevation is 660m. Its name means 'little valleys' in Portuguese.HistoryThe city was founded on 2 December 1732 by Alexandre Simoes Vieira. A throughway between São Paulo and Valinhos passing through Jundiai had been opened. As known nowadays, Campinas region, was in the past a neighbourhood belonging to the city of Jundiai. The town of Valinhos was created with the goal of starting coffee, fig and grapes plantations. Later on, a railway was created to transport the products to the Santos’ seaport.Since the fig has been the symbol of the city, they usually have the traditional Fig Fest which more than 75,000 people attend each year. The city is mainly composed by closed neighbourhoods, formed mostly by houses and without any tall buildings. There is also branch of the school Colégio Visconde de Porto Seguro.GeographyMostly two thirds of the area is a rural community scattered around 89km², however, the urban area is growing as soon as the neighbourhoods are built. Around the city are the most important highways of the state of São Paulo, which are named Anhanguera, Bandeirantes and Dom Pedro I. They connect all parts of the state and are considered the best highways in the country.EconomyThere are small centres of chamber commerce as all cities have, such as banks, hotels, motels, streets and city hall. Industry (commerce) Since 2005, many industries have been built by other entrepreneurs from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro mostly, when they are invited to come to the interior and start a new life. There are many natural resources in the region too.