Historic Centre of São Luís
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How it came to be
In 1612 two lieutenants of Louis XIII of France, Daniel de la Touche and François de Razilly, built a fort on an island in northern Brazil. The Tupinambá called the island Upaon-açu, and the fort was named Saint-Louis after the king. The French stayed only about two years: in 1615 the Portuguese Jerônimo de Albuquerque drove them out after the battle of Guaxenduba.
Also in 1615 the chief engineer of the State of Brazil, Francisco Frias de Mesquita, drew up new defences and an urban plan for the town. Unlike the winding streets of Rio de Janeiro or Olinda, it was a regular grid. The Dutch took the town in 1641 but left within a few years. The population was about 10,000 at the end of the 17th century and 17,000 a century later, and in 1755 the Marquis of Pombal set up the General Trading Company of Grão-Pará and Maranhão.
In the 18th and 19th centuries houses of earth and straw gave way to stone, and azulejo tiles on the façades became the town's signature. It was the first town in the region to have trams, gas street lighting and telephones. Economic stagnation from the 1920s kept the old town as it was, and the 200-hectare historic centre, with some 4,000 buildings, was inscribed in 1997.
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