Paulistania (region)

Paulistania is a historical and cultural region of south-central Brazil, named as the land of the Paulistas, the people of the old São Paulo country. It is usually described as taking in the states of São Paulo, Paraná, Minas Gerais, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Rondônia, territory that was opened up by the bandeirantes, the expeditions that pushed inland from the Planalto de Piratininga. The idea of a Caipira cultural region was developed from the 1930s by Alfredo Ellis Júnior and later shaped by Joaquim Ribeiro and Antonio Candido. Its administrative limits have shifted over time, so it is defined by a shared Caipira identity, musical traditions such as viola caipira and a cuisine built on corn and pork, rather than by a fixed boundary.