São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga (Saint Paul on the Fields of Piratininga in Portuguese) was the village that grew into São Paulo, Brazil in the region known as Campos de Piratininga. It was the inland correspondent of São Vicente, founded as a religious Mission and a Jesuit Royal College by priests José de Anchieta and Manoel da Nóbrega in January 25th, 1554 (the date of the first mass and the anniversary of Saint Paul's conversion). The village was initially populated by Portuguese colonists and two tribes of the Guainá Amerindians. later, São Paulo became the origin of the Bandeiras in the great colonial expansion of the 17th century.

In the place of the original modest mud house which was built by the Jesuits in 1554, a much larger and solid building with a church and a seminar was erected in 1653, and was named Pátio do Colégio (Portuguese for School Yard'). It still remains in good shape to this date, the oldest colonial building in São Paulo. It houses the Anchieta Museum and a cultural center.

Related topics

• Portuguese colonization of the Americas
• Colonial Brazil
• Paulistas
• José de Anchieta
• Manoel da Nóbrega
• São Paulo (history)

External links

• City of São Paulo (History)