PORTO ALEGRE

city, capital of Rio Grande do Sul state, southern Brazil. It lies near the Atlantic coast at the northern end of the freshwater Lagoon dos Patos along an arm of the lagoon known as the Guaba River. The city is situated at the junction of five short but deep rivers that flow into the Lagoon dos Patos. Founded in 1742-43 by colonists from the Azores, it was first known as Prto dos Casais (or Prto dos Cazaes). In 1825 the first German immigrants settled near the site, to be joined later by Italian settlers. The administrative centre of Rio Grande do Sul was moved in 1773 from Rio Grande to Prto Alegre, which officially became the state capital in 1807. One of the nation's largest cities, it is second only to So Paulo in commercial and industrial importance in southern Brazil. Its rural hinterland yields a variety of agricultural and pastoral products, including meat and hides, wool, rice, feijo (beans), cashews, avocados, wheat, grapes, and tobacco; from the forests comes lumber. The city's industries are chiefly concerned with processing these products and include meat-packing, lard refining, leather tanning, shipbuilding, and the manufacturing of textiles, metallurgic goods, electrical and communications equipment, plastics, pharmaceuticals, perfume, beer, and chemicals. Power comes from coal mined at nearby So Jernimo and from a hydroelectric plant at Salto. An oil terminal and petrochemical complex were built in the late 1970s. The city has many business and financial institutions and is also an educational centre, being the seat of the Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (founded 1948) and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (1934). Points of interest include the Governor's Palace and Nossa Senhora das Dores church. Prto Alegre's growth has stemmed from its strategic location. Because the lower courses of the rivers forming the Guaba River are all navigable, the city has become Brazil's most important centre of inland navigation. Its products can be shipped across the Lagoon dos Patos and transferred to ocean vessels at Pelotas or Rio Grande. The city's railroad service is excellent, with connections to Uruguayan and Argentine lines as well as to So Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (via Santa Maria). All-weather highways also link the city with the rest of Brazil and with neighbouring countries, as does domestic and international air service. Pop. (1985 est.) 1,275,483.