Pindamonhangaba

Pindamonhangaba is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, located in the Paraíba Valley, between the two most active production and consumption regions in the country, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. It is accessible by the Via Dutra (BR-116 – SP-60 highway) at the 99th kilometer. This place name comes from the Old Tupi language meaning "where hooks are made" or, according to a different interpretation, "where the river bends". Source: IBGE[3] The region then occupied by the Portuguese was Pindamonhangaba at least since July 22, 1643, registering more remote occupation by a certain Captain João Prado Martins. Six years later, on May 17, 1649, the area was formalized as a land grant and donated to the captain. It seems there is no information about what occurred between that date and August 12, 1672, so 13 years later, a chapel was built in honor of São José by brothers Antônio Bicudo Leme and Braz Esteves Leme. These brothers have acquired of the Countess of Vimieiro (Condesa de Vimieiro), the lands north of the town of Taubaté. There is no news of how the allotment had passed from the hands of Captain Prado Martins to the Countess. Given the uncertainties, two recent mayors of the city solved the problem by fiat: Caio Gomes Mayor officiated at the date of August 12, 1672 (Leme brothers) as the founding date of the city and later, Mayor João Bosco Nogueira decreed magna that date the county was founded was the date of emancipation, July 10, 1705.[citation needed]