- Volta Redonda
Volta Redonda is the name of a city in the Rio de Janeiro state of
Brazil with 182,81 km² of area, located from 350m to 707m from the sea level (22º31'23" S, 44º06'15" W) and with a population of 258.145 inhabitants (estimated in 2006). The area around the city has nearly 700,000. Its name (which is Portuguese for "Round Turn") is due to the round shape of a curve in theParaíba do Sul river around which the city was built.In Volta Redonda is situated Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN), Latin America's largest steel. Today its economy, despite still being based on industry, is quite diverse, and largely focused on the areas of services and trade. Due to this, Volta Redonda is worldly known as "Cidade do Aço" (which is Portuguese for "Steel City").
The city motto is with the municipalities Barra Mansa (North, Northwest, West and Southwest), Barra do Piraí (Northeast), and Pinheiral, Piraí (South and East), and Rio Claro (South) and is a 130 km of city of Rio de Janeiro.
Along with the municipalities Barra Mansa and Pinheiral, is a conurbation that over 450,000 inhabitants, according to the IBGE estimates for 2004, and in this state the largest urban spot outside the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro.
Centre economical South Fluminense, Volta Redonda is a strategic area, close to major cities-pole of other regional states, such as Juiz de Fora (190 kilometers) and Sao Jose dos Campos (220 kilometers).
History
In
1744 , the first tamers named the curious curve of theParaíba do Sul river of Volta Redonda. Big farms were installed in the region and some farm names are the names of some districts nowadays.Between the years of
1860 and1870 , the navigation through the Paraíba do Sul river had its golden period between the cities of Resende andBarra do Piraí and at the same time the railroad D. Pedro II was built in Barra do Piraí andBarra Mansa .With these facts, in
1875 , the village of Santo Antônio de Volta Redonda started to have great impulse. With the freedom of slaves in1888 , the decay of the Vale do Paraíba became visible, destroying the agriculture, that would not recover more satisfactorily.This situation would be reverted in
1941 , when the cycle of industrialization of Volta Redonda began. Chosen as local for installation of theCompanhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN)steel mill in the middle ofWorld War II , it marked the base of Brazilian industrialization. Laborers from diverse regions of the country came to Volta Redonda to work in the mill. When it opened in 1946, it was the first steel mill in South America.A heavily subsidized symbol of national pride, the Volta Redonda mill embodied the
import substitution industrial policies that prevailed in Latin American economies from World War II until theLatin American debt crisis of the 1980s. Since its 1993 privatization, however, the mill--now known as the Presidente Vargas Steelworks--has transcended its "dirigiste" origins to become one of the world's most efficient steel production facilities.ports
Volta Redonda Futebol Clube is the most important football club of the city, playing its home matches atEstádio Raulino de Oliveira , which is also located in the city.External links
* [http://www.portalvr.com PortalVR]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
