The municipality is also the world's 4th largest city proper by population. It exerts strong international influences in commerce, finance, arts and entertainment. The city has the 11th largest GDP in the world , [11] representing alone The city has cultural, economic and political influence nationally and internationally. The city's Latin motto, which it has shared with the battleship and the aircraft carrier named after it, is Non ducor, duco , which translates as "I am not led, I lead.
Other tribes also lived in areas that today form the metropolitan region. The region was divided in Caciquedoms chiefdoms at the time of encounter with the Europeans. They first had a small structure built of rammed earth , made by American Indian workers in their traditional style. The priests wanted to evangelize the Indians who lived in the Plateau region of Piratininga and convert them to Christianity. The site was separated from the coast by the Serra do Mar mountain range, called by the Indians "Serra Paranapiacaba".
The college was named for a Christian saint and its founding on the feast day of the celebration of the conversion of the Apostle Paul of Tarsus. The settlement of the region's Courtyard of the College began in It was then named "College of St.
Paul Piratininga". The new location was on a steep hill adjacent to a large wetland, the lowland do Carmo. It offered better protection from attacks by local Indian groups. Paul, designating it the "Head of the captaincy". The new capital was established on April 23, , with public celebrations. It was also the center of interior colonial development. Because they were extremely poor, the Paulistas could not afford to buy African slaves , as did other Portuguese colonists.
The town became a center for the bandeirantes , intrepid explorers who marched into unknown lands in search for gold, diamonds, precious stones, and Indians to enslave. The bandeirantes , which could be translated as "flag-bearers" or "flag-followers", organized excursions into the land with the primary purpose of profit and the expansion of territory for the Portuguese crown. Trade grew from the local markets and from providing food and accommodation for explorers.
