Caraguatatuba

Caraguatatuba, widely known by its abbreviation Caraguá, is a city in the eastern part of the southern state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 113,317 (2015 est.) in an area of 485.10 km². Caraguatatuba is the largest city of São Paulo north shore. The economy of the Caraguatatuba is driven by agriculture and tourism. The urban area and farmlands are within the coastline and valley areas, the majority of the northern part are heavily forested and rarely serves any roads to that area. The postal boundary dividing the 00000s and the 10000s lies to the southwestern boundary with Salesópolis.

Population

Geography

Caraguatatuba is located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Serra do Mar and is home to the Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar. Its neighboring cities are Natividade da Serra to the north, Ubatuba to the northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast (with the island of Ilha Bela to the south), São Sebastião to the south, Salesópolis to the west and Paraibuna northwest.

Microregion of Caraguatatuba

The Microregion of Caraguatatuba (Portuguese: Microrregião de Caraguatatuba), often referred as Litoral Norte (Northern Coastline), is a microregion in the easternmost coastal part of São Paulo State, Brazil. The microregion is bordered by the state of Rio de Janeiro to the east. It is a famous touristic destination, mainly because of the 160 beaches. According to IBGE, Caraguatatuba Microregion has a GDP of R$2,019,94,.048,00 and a population of 281,532 people spread over an area of 1,947.702 km², which means that the density is 144.5/km². The population increases considerably during the summer, because of the tourists.

Municipalities

The microregion consists of the following municipalities:

History

The first city to be settled was São Sebastião, in 1636. Ubatuba came next, in 1637, and then Ilhabela in 1805. Caraguatatuba was the last one, in 1857. However, it is important to note that the channel between Ilhabela and São Sebastião had already been sailed by the Portuguese in 1502.