Limeira

Limeira is a city in the eastern part of the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The population in 2004 is 270,733 and the area is 582.48 km². The elevation is 588 m. It is 154 km far from São Paulo, the state capital, and 1011 km far from Brasilia, Brazil's capital. The city can be easily reached from São Paulo by two highways: Rodovia Anhangüera and Rodovia dos Bandeirantes.

It is formely known as the "Brazilian orange capital" because of the great citrus fruits production that occurred in the past. Nowadays the main crop cultivated in the city is the sugar cane.

Limeira is also known by its new plated jewelry and semi-jewelry industry which attract customers from all over the world, giving the city the title of "Brazilian plated jewelry capital". There are more than 450 companies that are responsible for half of Brazilian's exports in this sector.

The name and origins of the city comes from a popular legend among the inhabitants that envolves a lime orange tree. This tree is called "limeira" in Portuguese. Historically, the city was founded in 1826 following the construction of a road built for the transportation of the production from the sugar cane farms.