Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul
Model of F-8 Gloster Meteor plane display in Santos Dumont Park (Praca Santos Dumont)
Flag of Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul
Official seal of Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul
Location in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Location in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul is located in Brazil
Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul
Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul
Location in Brazil
Coordinates: 29°55′12″S 51°10′48″W﻿ / ﻿29°55′12″S 51°10′48″W﻿ / ﻿-29.92000; -51.18000
StateRio Grande do Sul
EstablishedJune 27, 1939
 • MayorJairo Jorge da Silva (PT)
 • Total131.097 km2 (50.6 sq mi)
Elevation8 m (26 ft)
Population (2010)
 • Total323,827
 • Density2,542.56/km2 (6,585.2/sq mi)
Time zoneBRT (UTC-3)
 • Summer (DST)BRST (UTC-2)

Canoas (Portuguese pronunciation: [kaˈnoɐs]), which earned city status in 1939, is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. With more than 300,000 inhabitants, it is part of the Porto Alegre conurbation and has the second highest GDP in the state. It is also the fourth largest city in the state by population. Canoas boasts a strong manufacturing-based economy and is the home of the Canoas Air Force Base, used by the Brazilian Air Force.

According to the IBGE, Brazil's Geography and Statistics Institute, Canoas currently has no rural areas, but it started as a village of large landowners. The first of them was conquistador Francisco Pinto Bandeira, who received from the Portuguese Crown, in 1740, an area north of the Gravataí River.

History has that 1871 was the beginning of the village of Canoas, when the first section of the railway that would link Porto Alegre to São Leopoldo was inaugurated. Canoas was then part of the municipalities of Gravataí and São Sebastião do Caí. Soon large farms would lose space to small properties.

After obtaining city status, Canoas experienced rapid growth, especially after 1945. At that time, it would be called a "cidade-dormitório" (Portuguese for "bedroom city"), because thousands of people would commute to neighboring Porto Alegre to work. However, de-industrialisation in Porto Alegre, the setting-up of numerous manufacturing plants in Canoas and a strong demographic growth have reverted that situation and nowadays Canoas has a per capita GDP higher than Porto Alegre.

City conditions and subdivisions

Canoas ("Canoes" in English) consists of mostly large sprawling neighborhoods and a lively business district, as well as numerous large factories, among them the Refinaria Alberto Pasqualini (REFAP), a Petrobras oil refinery. The city's neighbourhoods follow a common pattern in Brazil, combining new high-end districts showing rapid urban development with working-class areas which turn into slums as one moves away from the city centre.

The city's poorest neighbourhoods were originally unplanned. The Guajuviras subdivision, the old Guajuviras Farm that was developed by the government, was originally settled by squatters before the government officially opened the property for inhabitation. Although traditionally crime-ridden, Guajuviras has experienced lower criminality levels as of lately due to government intervention and the better living conditions experienced by Brazilians in general.

Canoas has one of the richest and most important universities in southern Brazil: the Ulbra (Lutheran University of Brazil), as well as catholic La Salle University( UnilaSalle) and Centro Universitário Ritter dos Reis. In sports, volleyball team Canoas Vôlei plays in the Brazilian Superliga de Vôlei, whereas football team Canoas Futebol Clube plays in the Campeonato Gaúcho.

Other Languages
العربية: كانواس
Avañe'ẽ: Canoas
Bân-lâm-gú: Canoas
български: Каноас
brezhoneg: Canoas
català: Canoas
Deutsch: Canoas
eesti: Canoas
español: Canoas
Esperanto: Canoas
euskara: Canoas
فارسی: کانواس
français: Canoas
galego: Canoas
客家語/Hak-kâ-ngî: Canoas
한국어: 카노아스
Ido: Canoas
বিষ্ণুপ্রিয়া মণিপুরী: কানোয়াস
italiano: Canoas
қазақша: Каноас
lietuvių: Kanoasas
Malagasy: Canoas
日本語: カノアス
norsk: Canoas
occitan: Canoas
polski: Canoas
português: Canoas
română: Canoas
русский: Каноас
српски / srpski: Каноас
srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски: Canoas
suomi: Canoas
svenska: Canoas
Tiếng Việt: Canoas
Volapük: Canoas
Winaray: Canoas
粵語: 卡諾阿斯
中文: 卡諾阿斯