BELEM

also called Par, city and port, capital of Par state, northern Brazil, on the Baa do Guajar (Guajara Bay), part of the vast Amazon Delta, near the mouth of the Rio Guam, about 80 miles (130 km) up the Rio Par from the Atlantic. Its climate is equatorial, with an average annual temperature of 80 F (27 C) and an annual rainfall of 86 inches (2,175 mm). In 1616 the fortified settlement of Feliz Lusitnia, later called Nossa Senhora de Belm do Gro Par (Our Lady of Bethlehem of the Great Para River) and Santa Maria de Belm (St. Mary of Bethlehem), was established, consolidating Portuguese supremacy over the French in what is now northern Brazil. Belm was given city status in 1655 and was made the state capital when Par state was separated from Maranho in 1772. The early decades of the 19th century were marked by political instability. Uprisings and internecine strife were finally ended in 1836, after considerable loss of life. The sugar trade was important in the Belm region until the end of the 17th century. Thereafter the city's economic importance alternately rose and fell. Cattle ranching supplanted sugar until the 18th century, when cultivation of rice, cotton, and coffee became profitable. With the settlement of southern Brazil, where such crops could be produced more reasonably, Belm declined again. The city subsequently became the main exporting centre of the Amazon rubber industry, and by 1866 its position was further enhanced by the opening of the Amazon, Tocantins, and Tapajs rivers to navigation. The rubber era terminated after the boom of 1910-12, but Belm continued to be the main commercial centre of northern Brazil and the entrept for the Amazon Valley. The most valuable products now exported from the Amazon by way of Belm are nuts (chiefly Brazil nuts), black pepper, cassava, jute, wood veneers, and aluminum. Japanese immigration after the 1930s was an important factor in developing jute and black pepper, notably at Tom-Au, just south of Belm, and near Santarm. Maraj Island, the largest fluvial island in the world, which lies just across the Rio Par from Belm, has some livestock grazing. Electricity is provided by the massive Tucuru Dam, some 200 miles (300 km) southwest of the city on the Tocantins River. Belm has a modern appearance with tree-lined streets, several plazas and public gardens, and many noteworthy buildings. The north's leading educational and cultural centre, it is the seat of a bishopric, and its cathedral, founded in 1917, is one of Brazil's largest. Santo Alexandre, the oldest of Belm's churches, was built in 1616. The Museu (museum) Paraense Emlio Goeldi, the Teatro da Paz (a classical theatre), and the public library and archives are other notable institutions. The Universidade Federal do Par (1957) is in the city, which also has a teachers' training school, an agricultural institute, and an institute for research on tropical diseases. Belm is the main port for Amazon River craft and is served by international and coastal shipping and by inland vessels south to Braslia. Paved roads extend to Piavi and Gois states. A railway leads 145 miles east-northeast to Bragana, and Belm's international airport is northern Brazil's largest. Pop. (1980) 755,984; (1991 prelim.) 765,476, metropolitan area, 1,332,723. also called Santa Maria De Belm, freguesia (parish) within the western limits of the city of Lisbon. A former royal residence, Belm (Bethlehem) is known for its Manueline (early 16th-century) architecture, notably the Jernimos monastery, founded by Manuel I in 1499 in honour of the explorer Vasco da Gama's discovery of a sea route to India, and the white Tower of Belm, built in 1515-21 to protect the entrance of the Tagus. Also notable are the Pao de Ajuda (begun 1802, never completed), a former royal palace, and the Pao de Belm (1770), the official residence of the president of Portugal. The latter contains the National Coach Museum, and there is also a museum of popular art. Pop. (1981) 17,911.