PARANAGU

port, southeastern Paran estado (state), Brazil, on Paranagu Bay, at the foot of the coastal Serra do Mar, 18 mi (29 km) from the open Atlantic. It was founded in 1585 by Portuguese explorers. Surviving colonial landmarks include the fort of Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres (1767), the Baroque Museum of Archaeology and Popular Art (formerly the Colegio dos Jesuitas), the So Benedictus church, and a 17th-century fountain. By the mid-20th century Paranagu had become Brazil's largest coffee-exporting port as well as the chief port (hides, paper, mat , feijo , cotton, plywood, bananas, sugar) of Paran state. An oil terminal was built there in the late 1970s. Paranagu is linked to Curitiba, the state capital (65 mi inland), by rail and highway and serves as a free port for Paraguay. Pop. (1980 prelim.) 68,366.