Londrina

Londrina
—  Municipality  —
The Municipality of Londrina
Skyline of Londrina
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): Flower city
Location of Londrina
Country	Brazil
Region	South
State	Paraná
Founded	December 10, 1934
Government
- Mayor	Homero Barbosa Neto (PDT)
Area
- Total	1,650 km2 (637 sq mi)
Elevation	610 m (2,001 ft)
Population (2009)
- Total	510,707
- Density	300/km2 (777/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-3 (UTC-3)
- Summer (DST)	UTC-2 (UTC-2)
Postal Code	86000-000
HDI (2000)	0.824 – high
Website	Londrina, Paraná

Londrina is a city located in the northern region of the state of Paraná, Brazil, and is 369 km away from the capital, Curitiba. Londrina was originally founded by British settlers. The city exerts great influence on Paraná and south region. Londrina has approximately 500 thousand inhabitants, being the second largest city of Paraná and the third largest city of the South Region of Brazil.

The city has a population of 510.,707 (estimation IBGE, 2009), 766,682 (metropolitan area, estimation IBGE, 2009). It is a regional centre and is made up of commerce, services, agro-industries, and universities, including the State University of Londrina, UEL (Universidade Estadual de Londrina), which is famous for the quality of teaching and attracts students from all over the country.

Demography

Named after the British entrepreneurs who launched railroad stations in the region to ease the transportation of coffee grains from Northern Parana' and SO São Paulo states to the port of Santos, Londrina means "Little London" in Portuguese. The city's population consists of descendants of those settlers, Brazilians from other cities or states, Portuguese, English, Japanese, Italian, German, Polish, African, Spanish, Native, Arabian and Bulgarian Brazilians.

Fonte: Censo 2000

Climate

Average temperatures in summer range from 20-35c and in winter from -5-16c. eder

Economy

Reproduction in scale 2:3 of the first chapel of the city of Londrina. Present in UEL.

Agriculture continues to be a major economic activity for Londrina, although its importance has diminished in recent years. Agricultural activity was diversified beyond coffee, and today corn, wheat, cotton, horticulture, beans, peanuts, rice, sugar cane, soy bean, and fruit plantations thrive due to the rich Northern Paraná/South Western São Paulo State "terra roxa" crimson soil. Although the city has increased its industrial park by adding weaving, textiles and agricultural factories, Londrina's main wealth continues to be agricultural production. Today, Londrina is also known for its commerce and service sectors. Moreover, real estate is another growing sector that has generated jobs and boosted even more the size of this city in Paraná.

It possesses one of the largest universities in the country, the State University of Londrina, as well as several private colleges.

Education

Academical Restaurant of State University of Londrina (UEL).

Portuguese is the official national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools. But English and Spanish are part of the official high school curriculum.

Colleges and universities

• Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL)
• Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR)
• Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná (PUC-PR)
• Universidade Norte do Paraná (UNOPAR)
• Centro Universitário Filadéfia (UniFil)
• Faculdade Pitágoras
• and many others.

Metropolitan region of Londrina

Instituted by State Complementary Law 81 on 17 June 1998, the Metropolitan Region of Londrina includes the cities of Londrina, Cambé, Ibiporã, Sertanópolis, Bela Vista do Paraíso, Jataizinho, Rolândia, and Tamarana, totaling 750 thousand inhabitants.

The city

Londrina in the afternoon

• The Londrina name pays homage to the English capital London (Londres in Portuguese), since an English cotton company made the original investment to settle in this area.
• The famous fertile land of the region, "terra roxa" (purple soil), has this name due to a corruption and attempt to translate into Portuguese the term “terra rossa” (red soil, in Italian), which Italian immigrants used to call it.
• Located in Southern Brazil, Londrina is a somewhat humid city in subtropical zone, with historical extremes ranging from -10.7°C (1975) to 42.8°C (1998)
• The fertility of the soil is said to have originated in the biggest volcanic lava spill of the planet, known as The Spill of Trapp, that to a large extent occurred in the Center-South region of Brazil.
• The inhabitants of Northern Paraná state are often called “pé vermelho" (red foot) because of their dust bowl-like region.
• During its golden era, together with the west bank of the Paraná River, Londrina helped produce 60% of the coffee of the world.

Sports

The city's football clubs include Londrina Esporte Clube, founded in 1956, and the Associação Portuguesa Londrinense founded in 1950. They play at Café stadium, a 45,000 spectator capacity stadium.

Inesul/Londrina, owned by INESUL - Instituto de Ensino Superior de Londrina, an higher education institution, is a city's major basketball club and competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro de Basquete.

Notable sons and daughters of Londrina

• Flavia de Oliveira, model
• Giovane Élber, football player
• Michael Goodrum, skateboarder
• Rafinha, football player
• Naldo, football player
• Michelle Alves, model
• Ivo Pessoa, singer
• Victor Lazzarini, composer
• Gilberto Godoy (Giba), volleyball player, considered by many to be one of the world's best volleyball players (Gold medalist in 2004 Olympics)
• Rogério Romero, swimming, swimmer

External links

• Official homepage (in Portuguese)
• Official homepage (in English)