Volta Redonda

Volta Redonda
Municipality
Municipality of Volta Redonda
Oscar Cardoso square
Flag Seal
Nickname: Cidade do Aço( "City of Steel" )
Motto: Flumen Fulmini Flexit( "The River Bent Before the Lightning" )
Coordinates:22°31′22″S44°06′14″W
Country	Brazil
Region	Southeast
State	Rio de Janeiro
Founded	July 17, 1954
Government
•Mayor	Antônio Francisco Neto (Progressistas) (2021–2024)
Area
• Total	182.483 km2(70.457 sq mi)
Elevation	390 m (1,280 ft)
Population (2020)
• Total	273,988
• Density	1,500/km2(3,900/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-3(UTC-3)

Volta Redonda(Portuguese pronunciation:[ˈvɔwtɐʁeˈdõdɐ]) is the name of amunicipalityin theRio de Janeirostate ofBrazilwith an area of 182.81 km²,located from 350m to 707m above thesea level(22°31'23 "S, 44°06'15" W) and with a population of 273,988 inhabitants (estimated in 2020). The area around the city has nearly 700,000 km².Its name (which isPortugueseforRound Turn) is due to the round shape of a curve in theParaíba do Sulriver around which the city was built.

Situated in Volta Redonda isCompanhia Siderúrgica Nacional(CSN),Brazil's second largest steel producer. Today its economy, despite still being based onindustry,is quite diverse, and largely focused on the areas of services and trade. Due to this, Volta Redonda is worldly known asCidade do Aço(which isPortugueseforSteel City).

The city borders with the municipalities ofBarra Mansa(north, northwest, west and southwest),Barra do Piraí(northeast),Pinheiral,Piraí(south and east), andRio Claro(south) and is 130 km from the city ofRio de Janeiro.

Along with the municipalities of Barra Mansa and Pinheiral, it is a conurbation of over 500,000 inhabitants, according to the IBGE estimates for 2008, and the state's largest urban spot outside the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro.

Economical center of the South Fluminense region, Volta Redonda is a strategic area, close to major hub cities in other regional states, such asJuiz de Fora(190 kilometers) andSao Jose dos Campos(220 kilometers).

In addition, Volta Redonda has the highest rate of offending drivers in the world, a record certified by Guinness World Records.

History

In 1744, the first explorers named the curious curve of theParaíba do Sulriver "Volta Redonda". Big farms were installed in the region and nowadays some farm names are the names of some districts.

Between the years of 1860 and 1870, the navigation through the Paraíba do Sul river had its golden period between the cities ofResendeand Barra do Piraí and at the same time the railroadD. Pedro IIwas built in Barra do Piraí and Barra Mansa.

With this, in 1875, the village of Santo Antonio de Volta Redonda started to have great impulse, but with the freedom of slaves in 1888, the decay of theVale do Paraíbabecame visible, destroying the agriculture, which would never recover in a very satisfactory way.

Ceremony of installation of the Municipality of Volta Redonda, 1955.National Archives of Brazil.

This situation would be reversed in 1941, when the cycle of industrialization of Volta Redonda began. Chosen as site for installing theCompanhia Siderúrgica Nacional(CSN)steel millin the middle ofWorld War II,it marked the base ofBrazilianindustrialization. Laborers from diverse regions of the country came to Volta Redonda to work in the mill. When it opened in 1946, it was the first steel mill inSouth America.

A heavily subsidized symbol of national pride, the Volta Redonda mill embodied theimport substitutionindustrial policies that prevailed in Latin American economies fromWorld War IIuntil theLatin American debt crisisin the 1980s. Since its 1993 privatization, however, the mill — now known as the Presidente Vargas Steelworks — has transcended itsdirigisteorigins to become one of the world's most efficient steel production facilities - due to this large production ofsteeland minerals, the city is globally nicknamed "Cidade do Aço" (literal Portuguese for "City of Steel" ).

Politics and government

Volta Redonda'smayor(Portuguese:prefeito) is currently Antônio Francisco Neto of theProgressistasparty, elected in2020to serve a four-year term.The 21-member council (Portuguese:Câmara Municipal) was elected at the same time.

Education

In the second half of the 20th century, the city received the boost of technological and higher educational development when in 1961 the Industrial Engineering and Metallurgical Volta Redonda ofFluminense Federal Universitywho later brought more courses the city with the Institute of Exact Sciences and Institute Humanities and Social Sciences, or also higher education institutions University Center or Geraldo Di Biase - UGB, University Centre of Barra Mansa - UBM and University Center of Volta Redonda - UniFOA was created. In the 2000s, theFederal Institute of Rio de Janeirowas launched with technological and industrial emphasis.

Sports

Volta Redonda Futebol Clubeis the most importantfootballclub of the city, playing its home matches atEstádio Raulino de Oliveira,which is also located in the city downtown.

External links

• Official site of thePrefeitura(mayor and city hall)
• Official site ofCâmara Municipal(council)