World
Sao Paulo, the Brazilian metropolis that counts as the third-biggest city in the world, celebrated its 454th birthday by hailing its diversity -- and indulging in a giant cake.
Updated : Nov 19, 2013, 11:17 PM IST
SAO PAULO: Sao Paulo, the Brazilian metropolis that counts as the third-biggest city in the world, celebrated its 454th birthday on Friday by hailing its diversity -- and indulging in a giant cake.
The 454-meter long cake (orange and vanilla flavored, with marshmallow topping) unveiled in the center of town took 30 people more than five days to prepare. And less than 10 seconds for hundreds of people to consume.
That was just the first course for a day of festivities that included concerts, parties and an exodus to nearby beaches and nature reserves for the three-day weekend.
Some 10.8 million people live in the city itself, making it one of the largest metropolises in the world, after Tokyo and Seoul (or Mumbai and Mexico City, depending on methodology).
When the surrounding areas that are part of its sprawl are counted, the city has a total population of around 20 million.
Sao Paulo was founded by the Portuguese as a Jesuit college on January 25, 1554. It achieved city status in 1711 when a gold rush sparked interest in its region, but it was only in the 19th century that real urban development took place, pushed along by the burgeoning coffee industry.
Since then, it has become a culturally and ethnically diverse center, home to descendants of Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Africans. It is also the financial capital of Brazil.
Visitors today often only see a confusing high-rise cityscape with no natural features to help orientation or to drive tourism, and a constant threat from armed robbers.
Locals though love the place for its cultural and gastronomic riches, which include 280 cinemas, 12,500 restaurants, 15,000 bars and 71 museums -- a smorgasbord of urban entertainment unparalleled in Latin America.