Ribeirao Preto History, Brazil

Ribeirao Preto, Brazil: History of a Productive City 

Ribeira Preto, Brazil has been the Capital of coffee,   Culture and   Chopp in the earlier days. Founded June 19, 1856, the city has a good climate and soil good for producing crops that farmers were looking for. The crop farmers decided to plant was coffee.

Because it produceed the best coffee, Ribeira Preto earned its title as coffee capital of the world. People from all over the world were attracted. With the Mogiana Railway being constructed, people from everywhere easily went to Ribeira Preto. The end of slavery also paved the way for a greater demand in labor making people from Portugal, Spain and Germany immigrate to the city and work. When the stock market went down in 1929, the people who immigrated bought the farms from the employer who was indebted to them. This made Ribeirao Preto suffer economically  .

After the oil crisis in 1970s,  Ribeirao Preto experienced its second economic success by looking for alternative fuel. Pro-Alcool is an alcohol fuel program that allows ethanol to be used as automotive fuel as well as gasoline additive. Ethanol is made from sugarcane alcohol. This fueling system improves performance of fuel-operated machines as well as decreases pollution. With sugarcane being the primary source, the government urged the farmers to plant sugarcane. This made Ribeirao Preto the largest alcohol and sugar producer of the world.

Another history marker for Ribeirao Preto was in 1911 when the first factory was opened, the Antarctica Brewery Company which is part of AmBev group nowadays. The opening of the company prompted for the opening of bars and beer houses in the city. These bars and beer houses made Ribeirao Preto famous for the quality of draft beer, making it a symbol of the city. The best draft beer in the world is from Ribeirao Preto.

In education, one of the dreams of its inhabitants was to have a university. In 1952, University of Sao Paulo for the creation of medical school was established because the old farm was donated to the university. This is the first school campus of Ribeirao Preto.

The city has a lot to offer, not just in the products they produce, not just  the tourist sites that you can visit. Ribeirao Preto has a lot to offer in history too since you may see how a city’s economy falls then looks for ways to get its economic glory back.