SAILING IN BRAZIL: C'YA - Coconut Yacht Adventures

Paraty's foundation date varies from historian to historian. Some say that in 1540/1560 there was already a small settlement devoted to São Roque at Morro de Vila Velha (today known as Morro do Forte); some others mention 1597, when Martim Correa de Sá set up an expedition against the Guaianás Indians in the Paraíba Valley; others say in 1600 a few paulistas settled in, coming from the nearby Capitania de São Vicente (the Capitanias were the first organized administrative land divisions in Brazil, in a hereditary system devised to start settlements and exploration of the colony); finally, others insist that 1606 is the year when settlers from the District of Itanhaém first came.

Monsignor José de Souza Azevedo Pizarro e Araújo, in his book "Historical Memoirs of Rio de Janeiro and Annexed Provinces under the Jurisdiction of the Vice-Roy of the State of Brazil", mentions that the foundation of Paraty occurred around 1600 "and something".

The first written account that mentions Paraty was made by Anthony Knivet, an English sailor that came to Brazil with Thomas Cavendish in his second (1591) attempt to circumnavigate the world. Very ill and unable to walk, Knivet was abandoned to his own luck by Cavendish in São Sebastião; he eventually survived, only to be captured and enslaved by Martim Correa de Sá. With him, Knivet took part in different expeditions, one of them (most probably in 1596/1597) passing through Paraty and the Guaianás original trail. Knivet calls the place Paratec and describes it as a Guaianás Indian village.

In any case, it is assured that in the beginning of the 17^th century, apart from the Guaianás Indians, there was already a growing number of "paratienses" settled there.

Somewhere around 1640 the settlement called Paratii was transferred to the location where the historical center is today, in the land between the rivers Paratiguaçu (nowadays known as Perequê-Açu) and Patitiba. The land was donated by Maria Jácome de Mello under two conditions: that a new chapel be built in honor of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios, and that the safety of the peaceful Guaianás Indians be preserved. Easier said than done, but sadly enough, only the first condition was ever respected.

In 1660, the flourishing settlement rebeled, demanding independence from Angra dos Reis and the status of a village for itself. Thus, in 1667 Paratii became the Village of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios de Paratii. Worth mentioning is the fact that Paraty was the first Brazilian city ever to achieve political autonomy through popular vote.

By the 18^th century, after as much as 600 tons of gold had been sent to Portugal and with the extraction's decadence, Paraty started losing its importance. But the so called Coffee Cycle, beginning in the early 19^th century, and the need for slaves, revived the city's former prosperous days of Portuguese colonial times - at least for a certain time...

Brazil's independence in 1822, saw Paraty as one of the major trading cities in the country: that year's official records registered that "160,914 heads of both men and animals passed through the city". The Gold Route continued to played a key role in all this busy activity: initially, it was the wealth brought by slaves from Minas Gerais to be shipped to Portugal; later, it was coffee from the Paraíba Valley being exported to Europe, while European luxury items, slaves, and spices were imported by the Coffee Barons.

By then, Paraty had ca. 400 houses, some 40 of the typical mansions among them. Its famous sugar cane pinga, for which the city's name became a synonym throughout Brazil, was then sold in more than 20 shops. As a matter of fact, in the year of 1863 alone, more than 700,000 liters of pinga were produced by ca. 150 distilleries, part of it exported to Portugal, France, and then to the rest of Europe. Nowadays, only 5 distilleries still exist, and the most famous sugar cane plantation, open to visitors and worth a visit, is probably the 300-year old Fazenda Murycana.

But, in 1877, the new railway link between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, along the Paraíba Valley, deemed the old horseback trail through the Serra do Mar (the mountain range along the coast) obsolete. Impact on Paraty's trade activity was immediate, and a second economic decadence was just beginning. A few years later, in 1888, slavery abolition was declared in Brazil, and with it came total decadence: from the ca. 16,000 inhabitants in 1851, only "some 600 elderly people, women and children" remained by the turn of the 20^th century.

A new road to Guaratinguetá was opened in 1925, partly using the old Caminho do Ouro, but leaving most of the original trail untouched, especially on the Serra do Mar. Thanks to this, the ruins of the famous Casa de Registro, as well as part of the original cobblestone-paved track was preserved, and can nowadays be visited (Sítio Histórico e Ecológico do Caminho do Ouro). The first automobile to arrive in Paraty through this new road, in 1929, never made it back to Guaratinguetá, so difficult were the conditions !

In the next year, 1930, tanks and other army military vehicles used during the Revolução de Trinta, on their way to São Paulo, totally destroyed the road. For more than two decades it would remain abandoned...

Not even the attempt to build a railroad between Paraty and Guaratinguetá, during the first decade of the 20^th century, proved successful.

Neglected by the rest of the country, Paraty remained isolated for long decades... At the time new roads were being built throughout Brazil, Paraty remained unaccessible except by boat from Angra dos Reis, and, from 1954 on, through the lousy dirt "road" winding down the Serra do Mar range from the city of Cunha. This road, still in use to this day, has always been so precarious that it becomes useless in rainy seasons.

Paradoxically, it was that very same involuntary isolation that preserved Paraty's colonial architecture and its social customs.

When the Rio-Santos highway was opened to traffic in the beginning of the 80's, Paraty once again revived an economic boom. In the beginning, the reason for Paraty to exist was the gold from Minas Gerais, later came the coffe from the Paraíba Valley, and now it's the tourists flowing in from all over the world !

First declared a State Heritage in 1945, an then National Artistic and Historical Heritage in 1958, Paraty finally rose to National Monument status in 1966. Pending UNESCO's approval, Paraty will soon become a World Heritage Monument.

After your charter, you may find the cobblestoned streets a bit tricky underfoot, especially because the roads dip in the middle to allow the spring tide to sweep the streets once a month, but spending at least a couple of days in Paraty should be part of your program. The white stucco buildings, with brightly colored wood trim and inviting courtyards lining these narrow streets, make really beautiful pictures. Cars are prohibited within the historic section of the town; deliveries to stores and restaurants are made by donkey and cart.

Perhaps it is the colonial architecture... or maybe the lush rainforest surroundings and the 65 islands and 300+ beaches... or perhaps, the real indians selling their art along the streets... or, who knows, that back-to-the-past sensation as you listen to pirate, gold, and slavery stories while strolling through the preserved, historic settings... One thing must be taken for granted: Paraty is not to be missed !

SOURCES:

Assessoria de Comunicação da Secr. de Turismo e Cultura de Paraty
Bastide, Roger e Fernandes, Florestan. Brancos e Negros em São Paulo Cia. Editora Nacional. 1959.

Bastide, Roger. Estudos Afro-Brasileiros. Editora Perspectiva.
Câmara Cascudo, Luiz da. Dicionário do Folclore Brasileiro. Instituto Nacional do Livro. 1962.
Costa, Lúcio. Projeto Arquitetônico de Paraty in Tricentenário de Paraty.
Freyre, Gilberto. Carnaval. Grandes Acontecimentos da História. Revista nº 9. 1974.
Gurgel, Heitor e Amaral, Edelweiss. Paraty, Caminho do Ouro. Livraria São José.1973.
Maia, Thereza Regina de Camargo. Paraty, Religião & Folclore. Cia. Editora Nacional. 1974.
Mello, Diuner José. Paraty - Notas Históricas. Instituto Histórico e Artístico de Paraty. 1994.
Mello, Diuner José. Roteiro do Visitante. Informativo Turístico e Cultural. Paraty,1976.
Mello e Souza, Marina. Paraty - A Cidade e Suas Festas. Ed. Tempo Brasileiro.

Pizarro, J.S.A. e outros. Tricentenário de Paraty Notícias Históricas.

Maya, Thereza & Maia, Tom. Paraty.

Cotrim, Cássio Ramiro Mohallem. Paraty: Um Perfil Histórico de sua Riqueza Econômica.

Ribas, Marcos Caetano. A História do Caminho do Ouro em Paraty.

Knivet, Anthony. Vária Fortuna e Estranhos Fados de Anthony Knivet.

Paraty, in the local tupi indian language, means "river fish" or "place where fishes live". This was how the Guaianás indians called the place where the city was built. In fact, the paratis (Mugil Brasiliensis fishes) came and still come during winter to breed in the rivers that flow into Paraty Bay, to later on return to sea.

The first settlers, by their turn, kept the original tupi name. By then, it was spelled with two "i"s, as in Paratii. The traditional spelling with "y" only appears in the 18^th century and was considered official until 1943, when the Brasil-Portugal Ortographic Convention supressed the "y" from the portuguese alphabet. Thus, Paraty became Parati.

Nonetheless, the very traditional local community continued to use the y-spelled version. Such double spelling co-existed until 1972, when senator Vasconcelos Torres submitted, in Brasília, a law determining that historic cities and monuments were allowed to officially spell their names in the traditional, prior to 18/jan/1944, way.