Brazil Eco Adventure Tours
Rainforest - Hiking & Biking - Wildlife

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.

The region of Cananéia was Martim Alfonso de Souza´s first landing point before founding São Vicente in 1532. He made successfully contact with the little villages along the coast that were formed by deserted Europeans, corsairs and shipwrecked. In Cananéia he was received by a man called "Bacharel de Cananéia" who had established a little village known as Maratayama or Village of the Tupis where about 200 people were living.

The Bacharel, together with other Europeans as Francisco Chaves, who also lived in Cananéia, facilitated the approximation of Martim Alfonso and his crew to the Indians and the obtainment of information about the area. The calm and protecting waters of the Lagamar were quite favorable for the attraction of embarkations and the preparation of expeditions heading to the interior of the country. They moved up the Ribeira de Iguape river to Serra de Paranapiacaba where they searched for gold and precious stones.

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)