Caribbean Beat — March/April 2018 (#150)

This was once the site of a village of the indigenous Tupinambá tribe,
known as Upuon Açu. When French settlers arrived in 1612, they named
the town St Louis de Maragnan, after Louis XIII, but the Portuguese soon
ousted them, renaming the city São Luís in 1615. Dutch invaders occupied the
settlement from 1641 to 1645, and when they left the Portuguese made São
Luís one of the most noteworthy outposts of their South American empire,
designating it part of an independent state in the eighteenth century and a
subsequent commercial metropolis.
Its industries were based on plantation economies of sugar cane, cocoa,
and tobacco. The city’s fortunes peaked during the US Civil War, when
São Luís began exporting cotton to Britain, making it the third largest city
in Brazil, but the end of the war initiated a long decline. During the 1950s,
citizens of São Luís had the lowest life expectancy in the entire country, but
the lack of ready finance ironically helped preserve the city’s colonial centre,
sparing it the fate of more prosperous neighbours whose ancient structures
were bulldozed in the 60s and 70s.
São Luís’s complicated history and peculiar
geographical location have rendered it
one of the most ethnically diverse of all
Brazilian cities
An amble around the city’s historic centre today makes it abundantly clear
why São Luís was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. The
heart and soul is the area known as Praia Grande, due to its proximity to the
largest in-town beach, which is also sometimes referred to as the reviver, since
the district is undergoing extensive renovation. It is home to dozens of houses
flanked by ornate azulejos, the distinctive blue tiles brought as ships’ ballast
from Portugal during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A smaller
number of mustard- or rust-coloured tiles were brought from France and
the Netherlands, and sloping tiled roofs, elaborate shuttered windows, and
wrought iron balconies are equally evocative portals of the past.
With so much of historic and architectural importance, UNESCO has
begun the long, slow process of reviving this area of cultural significance, and
although there is much still to be achieved, even the roofless structures of Praia
Grande retain uncommon beauty, such is the dramatic effect the large number
Brazil
Belém
São Luís
Salvador
A distinctive blue-tiled façade in
the historic quarter
of azulejos inevitably have on the eye. Particularly
striking examples can be found on Rua Portugal,
where the Museu de Artes Visuais (or Museum of
Visual Arts) has a whole floor devoted to them.
Surrounding streets such as the narrow Rua Dialma
Dutra and Rua Nazareth have plenty more.
Nearby, the Domingos Vieira Filho Cultural
Centre on Travessa do Giz and Casa do Maranhão
on Rua do Trapiche are both great places to
learn about Bumba meu Boi, Tambor de Mine,
and other local cultural traditions, while Casa
de Nozinho on Avenida Portugal displays local
folk art in handcrafted wood. These venues often
have informal tours in English, offered by local
volunteer guides, with those at Casa do Maranhão
being especially motivated to share their insights
on aspects of the prevailing culture.
The Museu Historico e Artistico (or Historical
and Artistic Museum) of Maranhão on Rua do Sol
is another place to get a sense of the city’s glory
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