Atibaia

Atibaia, also called Estância de Atibaia, is a Brazilian municipality in the state of São Paulo, about 64 kilometres north-east of the state capital and 88 kilometres south-east of Campinas. Together with neighbouring Bom Jesus dos Perdões it forms the largest urban agglomeration of the Bragantina region, with more than 180 thousand inhabitants. The settlement traces back to 1665, when the bandeirante explorer Jerônimo de Camargo and his expedition found a hill near a river then called Tubaia, later the Atibaia River. The municipality covers 478 square kilometres, of which about forty percent is urbanized, at an average altitude of 800 metres, and the Museu João Batista Conti, opened in 1954, preserves arms, furniture and religious art. Goyang in South Korea is its sister city.