Canoas, which earned city status in 1939, is the fourth largest city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Its population is over 300,000 people. The city is adjacent and forms part of the metropolitan area of Porto Alegre. Canoas boasts a strong manufacturing-based economy and has the Canoas Air Force Base, used by the Brazilian Air Force.
According to the IBGE, Brazil's Geography and Statistics Institute, Canoas currently has no rural areas, but it started as a village of large landowners. The first of them was conquistador Francisco Pinto Bandeira, who received from the Portuguese Crown, in 1740, an area north of the Gravataí River
