Recife, Brazil
Tourism

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Guararapes

History

Until the 17th century Recife (the name means "reef") was merely the port for Olinda, a little town situated at the junction of the Capibaribe and the Beberibe. Its expansion began in 1630 with the Dutch occupation, and within ten years it had grown from a village of something under 200 houses to a town of 2000 houses. The Dutch drained the island of Antônio Vaz (now the district of Santo Antônio, which has some of the city's finest buildings) and built a bridge to link it with the mainland. They imported prefabricated houses from the Netherlands and introduced to Brazil the type of house known as sobrados magros (of two or more stories, with stepped gables).

Recife

Three bridges (Ponte 12 de Setembro, Ponte Maurício de Nassau and Ponte Buarque de Macedo) link Santo Antônio with the Recife district, which lies between the Rio Beberibe and the Pina basin.