São Sebastião (Portuguese for Saint Sebastian) is a Brazilian municipality, located on the southeast coast of Brazil, in the state of São Paulo. The population in 2020 was 90,328, its density was 185/km2 and the area is 403 km2. The Tropic of Capricorn lies 25 km north. The municipality existed since 1636 and formed a part of the old hereditary captaincy of Santo Amaro.
The archipelago municipality of Ilhabela is located on the east coast of the city; the largest island of the archipelago is also called São Sebastião. Between the city and the island, there is the São Sebastião channel with 30 kilometres in length, and variable width (2 km being the shortest crossing). There is an oil terminal at the channel, owned by Transpetro, a subsidiary of Petrobrás.
The city is famous for its beaches, which makes it a popular tourism destination, especially for people from the state of São Paulo. Near the boundary with Bertioga, there is a small Guarani village managed by FUNAI. In 2024, it was elected by Time Out magazine as the third most underrated travel destination in the world.
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History
Before the Portuguese first arrived, the area was inhabited by the Tupinambás to the north and the Tupiniquins to the south. Both tribes were separated by the Serra de Boiçucanga (Boiçucanga Mountain range), located 30 km south of the city centre. Both tribes disliked each other. When the French arrived in Brazil via the Guanabara Bay and confronted the Portuguese, the Tupiniquins united with the Portuguese and the Tupinambás, with the French. This battle between them was witnessed and recounted by Hans Staden.
The municipality was named after Saint Sebastian in honor of the day that the Américo Vespúcio expedition sailed through the channel between the city and Ilhabela – January 20, 1502.
The first Portuguese to settle there were Diogo de Unhate, Diogo Dias, João de Abreu, Gonçalo Pedroso and Francisco de Escobar Ortiz, just after the subdivision of Brazil into capitanias hereditárias. São Sebastião was part of the Captaincy of Santo Amaro. The area was first developed as an agriculture and fishing village. The agricultural activities transformed the village into a major sugar cane producer, which later helped the hamlet to earn its village status on March 16, 1636. To gain this status, though, the village had to build a church in honour of Saint Sebastian.
A few years after this, another hamlet developed just north of São Sebastião: São Francisco da Praia (Saint Francis of the Beach). In 1840, the hamlet took the first step to become independent: they asked it to become a freguesia. The request was eventually accepted in the same year, but the freguesia was disestablished in 1859 and re-joined to São Sebastião.
The city kept on basing its economy on the production of sugar cane, coffee, tobacco and fishing. The local port was widely used to load ships with gold from Minas Gerais during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was also used by pirates and smugglers.
When slavery was abolished, in 1888, and the railway linking São Paulo to the bigger Port of Santos was opened, the city's economy entered a period of crisis, and the population decreased. From that moment on, the city began to rely on subsistence agriculture and "handicraft fishing" (Pesca Artesanal), a type of fishing done entirely by hand from the fishing to consumption (in other words, no machinery is used, and most of the people who practice it do it for subsistence as well).
Geography
Virtually everything in the city is located on the narrow plains between the Atlantic Ocean and the mountains, except for some cell phone towers and transmission towers. In the central portion of the city, these plains are never wider than 3 km, although they may measure up to 6 km in the less developed areas to the west. Most of the city concentrates between the Enseada Beach (the last beach before Caraguatatuba) and the Guaecá Beach. From Toque Toque Grande beach to Boracéia Beach (the last beach before Bertioga), hotels, summer houses and nightclubs dominate the terrain. The Guaratuba River marks the border with Bertioga, while the Juqueriquerê River marks the border with Caraguatatuba.
The city has an oceanic climate, with an annual average temperature of 24 °C. Most of the mountainous terrain and the islands are covered by the Atlantic Forest.
Two districts make up the municipality: São Sebastião District (Distrito de São Sebastião) and Maresias District (Distrito de Maresias).
Islands and islets
There are a number of islands and islets spread along the city's coastline, all of them created by ancient volcanic activities. The largest and most famous is the Ilha de São Sebastião (São Sebastião Island), which is part of the municipality of Ilhabela.
Viewed from north to south, the Toque-Toque Grande island comes first after Ilhabela, and is located in front of the beach of the same name. There are neither beaches nor people there, but it is popular for scuba diving. The nearby Toque-Toque Pequeno Island is smaller, and resembles a sea turtle when seen from the Santiago Beach.
The Ilha dos Gatos (Island of the Cats, located 1.8 km (1.1 mi) from Ponta da Baleia (Whale Point), a hill between Camburi Beach and da Baleia Beach), is an island open to the public. It is said that it was once owned by a member of the Rockefeller family, and that the ruins on top of its hills are from a mansion Rockefeller himself tried to have built, but that was prohibited by the Brazilian government. It is adequate for freediving. The waters surrounding Gatos Island are full of snooks, and they are also frequently visited by whales during the winter.
The Alcatrazes Archipelago is formed by five bigger islands (Alcatrazes Island, Sapata Island, Paredão Island, Porto Island (aka Farol Island) and Southern island), and some smaller unnamed islands. It is the farthest island of São Sebastião, being some 30 km (18.6 mi) away from the southern tip of Ilhabela and 35 km (21.7 mi) from the nearest continental beach, Boiçucanga. Several birds, whales and other sea animals stop there seasonally to reproduce. The main island was once used by the Brazilian Navy as a howitzer shooting exercise range. As the shots were harming the environment of the island (either because of the noise or because of damage), the Brazilian Navy abandoned this practice. However, the island is still ruled by the military, who forbid fishing, diving and visiting on the island, except for researchers. The islands are within the Tupinambás Ecological Station.
Two species of frogs (Cycloramphus faustoi and Ololygon alcatraz) and a pitviper species (Bothrops alcatraz) are only found on the Alcatrazes Island.
Despite its name (which means The Islands), As Ilhas are actually formed by only one island. It differs from other islands because there is a beach that is frequently visited by tourists from the nearby Barra do Saí and Juqueí beaches, both located around 2.4 km (1.5 mi) from the island.
Economy
As of 2005, the city has a GDP of R$1,107,595,000.00 and a GDP per capita of R$15,138.
Sites of interest
Apart from its 36 beaches (listed below), the city has a few places to visit, like the Igreja Matriz de São Sebastião, the Museu de Arte Sacra (Sacred Art Museum), the Convento da Nossa Senhora do Amparo and the Convento Franciscano. The city centre can be divided in two parts. One of them is located around the Igreja Matriz, and is filled with houses from the colonial period, most of them containing bars, hotels and restaurants. The other part is located near the sea and concentrates most of the nightlife. There are a number of bars and ice cream shops, a handicraft fair and a large recreational square, which includes the largest skatepark in Brazil, measuring 7,000 m2.
Beaches
There are 37 beaches along the more than 100 km (63 mi) of coast of the city. From North to South, they are:
Media
In telecommunications, the city was served by Companhia de Telecomunicações do Estado de São Paulo until 1975, when it began to be served by Telecomunicações de São Paulo. In July 1998, this company was acquired by Telefónica, which adopted the Vivo brand in 2012.
The company is currently an operator of cell phones, fixed lines, internet (fiber optics/4G) and television (satellite and cable).
Transportation
The only way to access the city is via the BR-101, called Avenue Dr. Manoel Hipólito do Rego in the central portion of the city and Prestes Maia Highway on the rest of the city. It is possible to come from Caraguatatuba to the north or Bertioga to the south. The highway is the most important road of the city, connecting it from north to south, and having a regular bus line running all through it. Bicycles are also widely used in the city.
Notable people
Diogo Silva - Taekwondo practitioner
Gabriel Medina - Surfer
Sister city
São Sebastião has one sister city designated by Sister Cities International:
Fort Lauderdale, Florida