Current Time in Novo Hamburgo, Brazil

Novo Hamburgo lies in the far south of Brazil, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, about forty kilometres north of the state capital Porto Alegre. It stands in the valley of the Sinos River, a broad corridor of low hills and floodplain that forms one of the most industrialised parts of southern Brazil. The climate is subtropical with genuinely cold winters by Brazilian standards, and the surrounding landscape of small farms and wooded slopes still recalls the countryside that the first settlers cleared.

Around two hundred and fifty thousand people live in the city, which sits at the centre of a metropolitan region of several million. Novo Hamburgo is known throughout the country as the capital of footwear. Tanneries, shoe factories, component workshops, machinery makers and design studios have concentrated here for more than a century, and at its height the region supplied a large share of Brazilian shoe exports. Competition from Asia forced painful adjustment, and the local economy has diversified into services, technology, plastics, metalworking and education, but leather and shoes remain central to its identity.

The city grew out of German immigration. The first colonists arrived in the nearby settlement of Sao Leopoldo in 1824, and their descendants spread up the valley to a place known as Hamburger Berg, later renamed Novo Hamburgo after the north German port. Craftsmen among them worked leather and made harnesses and boots for the cattle country of the pampas, and the railway that reached the valley in 1876 turned that craft into an industry. The town became independent in 1927 and expanded rapidly through the twentieth century as workers arrived from across the state. German surnames, half-timbered buildings and the traditions of the immigrant churches remain visible everywhere.

The historic district of Hamburgo Velho preserves the oldest streets, with restored houses, the Lutheran and Catholic churches facing one another, and small museums recording immigrant life. The National Footwear Museum tells the story of the industry through machinery, workshops and remarkable historic shoes, and the Fenac exhibition centre hosts the international footwear fair that brings buyers from around the world. The city theatre, the municipal cultural centre and a lively calendar of music and street festivals, including celebrations of German food and beer, provide the cultural life, while parks along the river and the hills of the Vale dos Sinos offer walking and cycling.

Feevale University, one of the largest private institutions in the state, has a substantial campus here with strong programmes in design, technology and health, and it anchors a broader technology park. Football is followed passionately, and Esporte Clube Novo Hamburgo has a long history and a famous rivalry with neighbouring clubs. The Trensurb metropolitan railway connects the city directly to Porto Alegre and its airport, and major highways run through the valley.

Novo Hamburgo is important as the centre of the Brazilian footwear industry and as one of the clearest expressions of German immigrant heritage in South America.