History of Porto Alegre

On 24 July 1773, Porto Alegre became the capital city of the province, when the administration of Manuel Sepúlveda, who used the fictitious name or pseudonym José Marcelino de Figueiredo (fictitious name), to hide their identity, officially started. In 1824, immigrants from all over the world started arriving, especially German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Jewish, and Lebanese. This mosaic of diversity in appearance, ethnic origin, religions and languages is what makes Porto Alegre, nowadays with nearly 1.5 million inhabitants, a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. The city is an example of diversity and plurality.

The history of Porto Alegre was written with hard work and bravery. The capital city of Rio Grande do Sul is also the capital city of the Pampas region, the name given to the region of fauna and flora typical of the vast plains that dominate the landscape of the South of Brazil, part of Argentina and Uruguay. This is where the Gaúcho comes from, the historical figure of a brave warrior that fought legendary battles and wars in the quest to conquer the borders of the Kingdoms of Portugal and Spain in the 16th century.

There were many wars, but it was the nineteenth century that marked its people, after they fought a long for their independence from the Portuguese Empire. The Farrapos War started with the confrontation in Porto Alegre, near the Azenha bridge on 20 September 1835. Albeit terminated, this conflict etched in the pages of history the myth of the gaucho that is until our days praised in songs and celebrated in annual pageants and honored as names of streets and parks.

When the Farrapos War ended, the city continued to