Cananéia

The colonial town of Cananéia (State of São Paulo) is located 270 km southwest of the capital and 70 km southwest of Iguape. It is the main entry point to the Ilha do Cardoso State Park and the Lagamar Complex (Lower Ribeira Valley.

During the pre - colonial time, the first Europeans (shipwrecked, fugitives, adventurers...) came to Cananéia. One of them, Francisco de Chaves, informed Martim Afonso de Sousa about the existence of a misterious trail (Peabiru ?) and gold and silver mines in the hinterland. On September 18, 1532, an expedition of 80 soldiers, under the command of Pero Lobo / Francisco de Chaves left Cananéia in direction to Paraguay.

About one year later, in São Vicente, Martim Afonso was informed, that this expedition was entirely defeated by the Carijó Indians, close to the confluence of the Iguaçu and Paraná river.

In the first decade of the 17th century, Cananéia presented a reasonable agricultural and fishing production, serving as a food provider for the Portuguese troops who fought against the Spanish at Rio Prata. There were lots of sugar cane and manioc mills distributed all over the place, many products entered and left Cananéia and the maritime transport increased significantly.

Several shipyards were constructed in Cananéia, the first ones at that time in Brazil, where carpinters coming from Rio de Janeiro produced vessels which were famous for their excellent qualtity . In 1782, there were 16 shipyards in Cananéia having produced more than 200 vessels.

As fishing was not any longer sufficient to guarantee the subsistence of the population, whale hunting was increasing substantially. At the Bom Abrigo island, there was a factory installed where products from the whale processing could be purchased. Those activities were very important for the local economy because the oil which was obtained from the blubber and other parts of certain species of whales could be widely used such as lubricant, candle and detergent or even as combustion for the illumination of houses and streets.

See also: São Paulo - Curitiba (guided tour)
                 São Paulo - Curitiba (trail maps)