Current Time in Cotia, Brazil

Cotia lies just west of Sao Paulo in south-eastern Brazil, part of the metropolitan region of the largest city in South America yet still surrounded by an unusual amount of forest. It occupies hilly ground on the plateau at around eight hundred and fifty metres above sea level, and its territory stretches from dense suburban districts near the state capital to rural country in the west, where remnants of Atlantic forest protect the reservoirs that supply drinking water to millions of people. The name comes from a Tupi word for the agouti, a forest rodent once common here.

Around two hundred and eighty thousand people live in the municipality, and the population has grown quickly as Sao Paulo has expanded. The eastern district of Granja Viana has become one of the most desirable residential areas in the region, a landscape of gated condominiums, international schools, restaurants and design shops set among trees, attracting families who want space and greenery within reach of the city. Elsewhere the economy rests on logistics warehouses along the highways, industry, commerce, market gardening and services, with distribution centres taking advantage of the position on the road to the interior and the coast.

The settlement began in the sixteenth century as a stopping place on the trail that Portuguese colonists and bandeirantes followed westwards from Sao Paulo towards the interior, and a chapel and small village grew around it. For centuries it remained a modest farming district supplying the capital with produce. The most important chapter of its modern history began in 1927, when Japanese immigrants founded an agricultural cooperative here. The Cooperativa Agricola de Cotia grew into one of the largest organisations of its kind in Latin America, transforming vegetable and potato farming across Brazil before it was wound up in the 1990s, and it left behind a substantial Japanese-Brazilian community whose gardens, temples and festivals remain part of local life.

Visitors are drawn mainly by nature and by weekend life. The Morro Grande forest reserve protects thousands of hectares of Atlantic forest with rare birds and mammals, while the Cotia and Sorocamirim rivers, waterfalls and rural inns are popular for short escapes. The Sanctuary of Sant'Ana, the historic centre with its old church and the Japanese cultural association buildings preserve local heritage, and Granja Viana is known for its gastronomy, its Saturday markets and a strong cycling and running community. The nearby Tiete ecological park and the colonial village of Carapicuiba are close at hand.

Cotia has a broad range of schools, including well known bilingual and international institutions, along with technical colleges and campuses of private universities, while the universities of Sao Paulo are half an hour away. The Raposo Tavares and Castelo Branco highways provide the main connections, together with bus services into the capital.

Cotia is important as a green, prosperous corner of the Sao Paulo metropolitan region and as the birthplace of one of the most influential agricultural cooperatives in Brazilian history.