Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre
	— Municipality —
O Município do Porto Alegre; The Municipality o Porto Alegre
	Frae upper left: Usina do Gasômetro; the Laçador statue (seembol o the ceety); panoramic view o the port; Public Market; Monument to the Azorean people with the Admeenistrative Center o the State o Rio Grande do Sul.
; Banner	; Seal
	Eik-name(s): Porto (spoken), POA (written)
	Motto: Loyal and Valiant city of Porto Alegre
	; Porto Alegre Location in Brazil
	Coordinates: 30°01′59″S 51°13′48″W / 30.03306°S 51.23°W
Kintra	Brazil
State	Rio Grande do Sul
Mesoregion	Metropolitana de Porto Alegre
Microregion	Porto Alegre
Foondit	26 Mairch 1772
	Govrenment
- Mayor	José Fortunati (PDT)
	Aurie
- Municipality	496.827 km2 (191.8 sq mi)
Hicht	10 m (33 ft)
	Indwallers (2010)
- Municipality	1,509,939 (10t)
- Densitie	394/km2 (1,020.5/sq mi)
- Metro	4,405,769 (4t)
Demonym	Porto-alegrenses
Time zone	UTC-3 (UTC-3)
- Simmer (DST)	UTC-2 (UTC-2)
Postal Code	90000-000
Aurie code(s)	+55 51
Wabsteid	Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul

Porto Alegre (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpoɾtu aˈlɛɡɾi] ( listen), Happy Harbour) is the tent maist populous municipality in Brazil, wi 1,409,939 inhabitants, an the centre o Brazil's fowert lairgest metropolitan aurie (3,979,561 inhabitants). It is an aa the caipital ceety o the soothrenmaist Brazilian state o Rio Grande do Sul. The ceety is the soothrenmaist caipital ceety o a Brazilian state.^[1] Porto Alegre is ane o the maist important cultural, poleetical an economic centers o Brazil. Twa Mercosul kintras, Argentinae an Uruguay, border on the State o Rio Grande do Sul.

Porto Alegre wis foondit in 1742 bi immigrants frae the Azores, Portugal. In the late 19t century the ceety received mony immigrants frae ither pairts o the warld, particularly Germany, Italy, an Poland. The vast majority o the population is o European descent.

The ceety lies on the eastren bank o the Rio Guaiba (Guaiba Lake), whaur five rivers converge tae form the Lagoa dos Patos (Lagoon o the Ducks), a giant freshwater lagoon navigable bi even the lairgest o ships. This five-river junction haes become an important alluvial port as well as a chief industrial an commercial center o Brazil.

The port o Porto Alegre is important for transportin local produce. The "Gaucho caipital" haes a broad-based economy that lays particular emphasis on agricultur an industry. Agricultural production includes produce such as plums, peaches, rice an cassava grown on rural smahauldins. The shoe an leather industries are an aa important, especially in Novo Hamburgo, in the Metropolitan Region o Porto Alegre.

Porto Alegre haes a lang coastline on the Guaíba Lake, an its topography is punctuatit bi 40 hills. In the lake, a vast body o water, a maze o islands facin the ceety creates an archipelago whaur a unique ecosystem gives shelter tae abundant wildlife. The ceety aurie concentrates 28% o the native flora o Rio Grande do Sul, wi 9,288 species.^[2] Amang these, there are mony trees which are the vestiges o the Atlantic Forest. Fauna are an aa diversified, specially in the islands an hills. The Portoalegrense environs include mony pairks, squares an woodit streets.