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Home > Travel Central America > Central America Destinations > Belem
Belem
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is variably defined either as being a region of the Americas in its own right or as the southern portion of North America. Physiographically, Central America is a tropical isthmus that connects North and South America. It includes 7 countries and many small offshore islands. Overall, the land is fertile and rugged, and dominated through its heart by a string of volcanic mountain ranges with a few active volcanos.
Belem is a city in the northern part of Brazil. It is the capital and also the biggest city of the state of Para. Its metropolitan area has approximately 2.08 million inhabitants. It is the entrance gate and, together with Manaus, the most important city in the Brazilian amazonic region. It is also known as Cidade das mangueiras city of the mango trees due to the amount of those trees found in the city.
Belem is served by the International Airport of Val De Cans BEL that connects the town to rest of the country and other cities in South America. Brazilians often refer to the city as Belem do Para that is Belem of Para rather than just Belem so as to differentiate it from Belem Bethlehem in the West Bank. In 2006 the city has population of 2.086.906, area of city 1.070 square kilometer.
The city was founded on January 12, 1616 by captain Francisco Caldeiras de Castelo Branco, who was sent by the Portuguese crown to defend the region against French, Dutch and British colonisation attempts. For this purpose, he built a fortress called Forte do Presepio currently called Forte do Castelo.
Initially, the city was named Feliz Lusitania. Later it was renamed to Santa Maria do Grao Para as well as Santa Maria de Belem do Grao Para, finally receiving its current name Belem. Distanced from the rest of the county and strongly linked to Portugal, Belem accepted Brazil's independency not before August 1823, almost one year after its declaration.
In 1835 it was a town of about 13,000, and extended on a grid pattern for a mere eight or nine blocks from the banks of the Amazon. A small hill overlooking the main harbour was topped by a colonial Portuguese fort and shore batteries. Between 1835 and 1840 Belem witnessed the Revolta dos Cabanos also known as Cabanagem, a revolt considered as to have the most authentic popular participation in the country's history.
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