Botucatu, São Paulo, Southeast Region, Brazil

🇧🇷 Botucatu is a city in the south-eastern region of Brazil and is located 224.8 km from São Paulo, the capital of the state of São Paulo. It lies on the top of a plateau. Botucatu became a village in 1855, and a city in 1876.

The region has humid-subtropical weather, with dry, cold winters and hot, wet summers. During winter the temperature rarely falls below 2°C (36 °F). During most of the year, mainly at night, a breeze blowing over São Paulo plateau, from which Botucatu elevates about 200 m (660 ft), cools the city and surroundings; this cold everyday wind from the high plateau's is where the city got its name from.

Botucatu's biggest employer is UNESP, one of the three São Paulo state universities, one of the top universities in all of Latin America and part of several World Top Universities list, making the city an important centre for medical research and education. In particular, the city has two campuses, one centered on biomedical sciences, including a school of medicine, an Institute of Biosciences and school of veterinarian sciences, and the other centered on agricultural sciences. The leading industrial company is Embraer through a subsidiary, Neiva, that has a multipurpose plant there but primarily manufacture the EMB 202 "Ipanemão" crop spraying aircraft. Along with Rondonópolis and Ribeirão Preto, it is one of the centres of the large Brazilian airborne spraying industry. The city has also two bus bodyworks builders, the Brazilian CAIO Induscar and the Basque Irizar. Besides UNESP, there are other private colleges.

The city boasts a higher than usual elementary and mid-level educational network, including public and private institutions. It is also an important centre for "organic" agriculture being the site of a recognised certification body.

History The city of Botucatu, herein referred as such for being the seat of an archdiocese, has experienced many changes during a century and a half of existence, the most substantial being the arrival of the state university in 1960.

The modern name Botucatu derives from the old Tupi name "ybytukatu" meaning "good wind", and was applied in 1720 when the land here was parceled up and granted to settlers. Local legends survive that predate the period of structured settlement, however, relating to the time when Botucatu was the focus of a transit crossing along the route connecting the Atlantic coast with the Peruvian lands.

In the nineteenth century Old Botucatu was a place full of romantic characters such as coffee barons, musicians and poets and hinterland explorers. One of these is Conde (count) de Serra Negra, who is locally considered the father of Lawrence of Arabia and Rhett Butler, who is said to be buried there. Of note, Botucatu's municipal council has declared war on Great-Britain on two distinct occasions, with no actual consequences.

In April 2014 opened the first mall in the city.

Geography Botucatu is located in the south-central region of the state, occupying, today, an area of 1,482.87 km². It borders the municipalities of Anhembi, Bofete, Pardinho, Itatinga, Avaré, Lençóis Paulista, Pratânia, São Manuel, Dois Córregos and Santa Maria da Serra.

It is known as the "city of good air", for the excellent climate and air that is breathed, coming from the cuestas (Cuesta), a formation of singular relief.

Botucatu has two different levels of altitudes: from five hundred to four hundred meters (500m to 400m) in the lowland and nine hundred to seven hundred meters (900m to 700m) in the mountainous region. This fact causes temperature differences. Thus, the highest area has two to three degrees centigrade less than the low, having an average temperature of nineteen degrees centigrade.

Geography: Location Botucatu is located in the state of São Paulo at: • 225 km from São Paulo (Capital) • 120 km from Itapetininga • 88 km from Bauru • 77 km from Avaré • 61 km from Barra Bonita • 55 km from Lençóis Paulista • 79 km from Jaú.

Transport • Botucatu Airport

Transport: Road • SP-209 - Professor João Hipólito Martins Highway • SP-300 - Marechal Rondon Highway

Transport: Rail • Trunk Line of the old Sorocabana Railroad • Bauru Branch of the old Sorocabana Railroad

Tourist Industry The municipality of Botucatu holds in its region more than 70 waterfalls, some of easy access, others of extreme difficulty. The municipality that is located at the top of the Cuesta is also a point of great extreme sports competitions, in the most varied modalities from Paragliding to Rally. For those who like extreme sports, this is the right place to venture.