São Paulo (state)

São Paulo (/ˌsæ̃w ˈpaʊloʊ/; Portuguese pronunciation: [sɐ̃w ˈpawlu] ^ⓘ) is one of the 26 states of the Federative Republic of Brazil and is named after Saint Paul of Tarsus. It is located in the Southeast Region and is limited by the states of Minas Gerais to the north and northeast, Paraná to the south, Rio de Janeiro to the east and Mato Grosso do Sul to the west, in addition to the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is divided into 645 municipalities and its total area is 248,219,481 square kilometres (95,838,077.41 square miles) km², which is equivalent to 2.9% of Brazil's surface, being slightly larger than the United Kingdom. Its capital is the municipality of São Paulo.

With more than 44 million inhabitants in 2022, São Paulo is the most populous Brazilian state (around 22% of the Brazilian population), the world's twenty-eighth-most populous sub-national entity and the most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, and the fourth most populous political unit of South America, surpassed only by the rest of the Brazilian Federation, Colombia and Argentina. The local population is one of the most diverse in the country and descended mostly from Italians, who began immigrating to the country in the late 19th century; the Portuguese, who colonized Brazil and installed the first European settlements in the region; indigenous peoples, many distinct ethnic groups; Africans, who were brought from Africa as slaves in the colonial era and migrants from other regions of the country. In addition, Arabs, Armenians, Germans, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and Greeks also are present in the ethnic composition of the local population.

The area that today corresponds to the state territory was already inhabited by indigenous peoples from approximately 12,000 BC. In the early 16th century, the coast of the region was visited by Portuguese and Spanish explorers and navigators. In 1532 Martim Afonso de Sousa would establish the first Portuguese permanent settlement in the Americas—the village of São Vicente, in the Baixada Santista. In the 17th century, the paulistas bandeirantes intensified the exploration of the colony's interior, which eventually expanded the territorial domain of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire in South America. In the 18th century, after the establishment of the Province of São Paulo, the region began to gain political weight. After independence in 1820, São Paulo began to become a major agricultural producer (mainly coffee) in the newly constituted Empire of Brazil, which ultimately created a rich regional rural oligarchy, which would switch on the command of the Brazilian government with Minas Gerais's elites during the early republican period in the 1890s. Under the Vargas Era, the state was one of the first to initiate a process of industrialization and its population became one of the most urban of the federation.

São Paulo's economy is very strong and diversified, having the largest industrial, scientific and technological production in the country — being the largest national research and development hub and home to the best universities and institutes —, the world's largest production of orange juice, sugar and ethanol, and the highest GDP among all Brazilian states, being the only one to exceed the 1 trillion reais range. In 2020, São Paulo's economy accounted for around 31.2% of the total wealth produced in the country — which made the state known as the "locomotive of Brazil" — and this is reflected in its cities, many of which are among the richest and most developed in the country. São Paulo alone is wealthier than Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia combined; therefore, if it were a sovereign country, its nominal GDP would be the 21st largest in the world (2020 estimate). In addition to the great economy, São Paulo is the most sought after Brazilian tourist destination by national and international tourists due to its natural beauty, historical and cultural heritage —it has multiple sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List—, inland resorts, climate and great vocation for the service, business, entertainment, fashion sectors, culture, leisure, health, education and many others. It has high social indices compared to those recorded in the rest of the country, such as the second-highest Human Development Index (HDI), the fourth GDP per capita, the second-lowest infant mortality rate, the third-highest life expectancy, the lowest homicide rate, and the third-lowest rate of illiteracy among the federative units of Brazil.