Our next destination, very close to my hometown, is Taubaté, considered a university town in Vale do Paraíba (Paraíba Valley)!
Let’s go!
Its history begins long before Taubaté became a city. Before its foundation, there was a village of Guianá Indians in the region, known as Tabaybaté, which in Tupi means “high village”.
After a while, in 1640, Jacques Félix colonized and formed the first population settlement of Vale do Paraíba (Paraíba Valley), with families coming from São Paulo de Piratininga.
In 1645, this region became a village, with the name of São Francisco das Chagas de Taubaté, thus being the first village in the entire Vale do Paraíba (Paraíba Valley) to reach this position. It became a “radiating center of bandeirismo”, being the starting point of bandeirantes for the foundation of several cities, such as Ouro Preto.
With the end of 'bandeirismo', from 1715, the village’s economy was based on the cultivation of sugar cane. And from 1825, it was replaced by coffee production.
In February 1842, due to its size and importance for the region, the village received the title of city, changing its name to Taubaté (its name is influenced by its first inhabitants the Guaianá Indians).
The new city gained a reputation as the largest population center in the interior of the province, and reached the largest coffee production in the Vale do Paraíba (Paraíba Valley).
Its progressive enrichment and its economic prosperity meant that the city gained a railroad, urban trams, its first newspaper, gas lighting, and much more over the years.
In 1891, Taubaté received one of its first industries, the Companhia Taubaté Industrial, by Félix Guisard.
From the end of the Second World War, factors such as available cheap labor and easy communication with the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, led Taubaté to industrialize.
Today, Taubaté is known as the University City of Vale do Paraíba (Paraíba Valley), land of Monteiro Lobato and is the second largest comercial hub in the region.
TIP
My tip for this destination is to buy homemade sweets at the stalls at Mercadão de Taubaté (downtown mark). It's delicious, and these days, very hard to find!
ATTRACTIONS
Taubaté is considered a tourist destination, but there are several very interesting sights in the city, such as Igreja Santa Teresinha (Santa Teresinha Church), Catedral de Taubaté (Taubaté Cathedral), Monteiro Lobato’s house and Casa do Figureiro (Figureiro’s House – be sure to buy a guinea fowl to call yours!!). Unfortunately I couldn’t visit the Amacio Mazzaropi Museum because it was already closed, but if you had that pleasure, let me know what you think!!
So if you want to know a little bit more about these amazing places and much more, I invite you to watch my video about Taubaté!
PS: the videos are in Portuguese, so remember to activate the subtitles!
I hope you enjoyed our trip through Taubaté!!
Stay tuned here to discover your next destination! Because the world is too big to visit just one destination... so let’s pack our bags and hit the road!
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