Nova Odessa, a small city 130 km North of São Paulo, was founded on May 24, 1905, by Carlos José de Arruda Botelho, Secretary of Agriculture of the state of São Paulo, and then settled by Ukrainians and Latvians.
The city was named due to a visit Carlos Botelho made to the city of Odessa (Russian Empire) from where he brought the style of its streets. In the early 20th century, the area of present-day Nova Odessa was classified as an uninhabited land suitable for farming. On May 24, 1905, the Brazilian government founded Nova Odessa as a "Núcleo Colonial" (the "Colonial Nuclei" were agricultural areas to where the Brazilian government wished to attract European immigrants in large-scale).
Nova Odessa is strategically located in the Campinas Metropolitan Region, having excellent roads and surrounded by the most important Brazilian highways, it is 25 minutes from Viracopos International Airport.
Nova Odessa is part of the largest technological pole in the state of São Paulo. Planned and very well localised, next to large urban centers, Nova Odessa is part of The Metropolitan Bus Corridor, with a good public transport system.
Facts and figures of Nova Odessa:
- Official city slogan: “The Green Paradiseâ€.
- Population: 56.674 habitants (IBGE 2015 estimated).
- Patroness: Nossa Senhora das Dores (September the 15th).
- Economic activities: the industrial complex is formed by local and international companies from different areas such as textile, metallurgic, plastic, chemical, petrol and gas equipment, automotive components.
- Three leisure parks: the Manoel Jorge Park, Plantarum Botanical Garden (the biggest in Latin America in number of species) and the Isidoro Bordon Ecological Park, with about 50 species of animals.
- About 100 restaurants, snack bars, ice cream stores from different areas.
This article was edited with the support of the Ukrainian Embassy to Brazil
