Tietê River

Tietê River, a waterway originating in the mountains on the Atlantic coast of Brazil and flowing westerly through the state of São Paulo until joining the Paraná River. Formerly called the Anhembi, the Tietê River's headwaters are the closest to the ocean of all Brazilian rivers. From the many falls and rapids that characterize its course, it got its name "Tietê," meaning "river of many waters."

Through its riparian connections, the Tietê afforded the bandeirantes access to the interior of much of Brazil. These explorers used the river to explore for mineral wealth and to capture and enslave the Tupi Indians who lived in the river valley. In the eighteenth century travelers journeyed from the port of Aritaguaba to the mines of Minas Gerais by way of the Tietê. After an 1838 typhoid epidemic decimated most of the boatmen and pilots who knew how to navigate the river, there were fewer water voyages. Eventually railways replaced the Tietê canoe route that had served the Paulistas for two hundred years.

In modern times the Tietê suffers from pollution originating from the city of São Paulo.

See alsoBandeiras; São Paulo (City).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Richard M. Morse, ed., The Bandeirantes (1965).

E. Bradford Burns, ed., A Documentary History of Brazil (1966).

Additional Bibliography

Jorge, Janes. Tiete, o rio que a cidade perdeu: São Paulo, 1890–1940. São Paulo: Alameda, 2007.

Kahtouni, Sade. Cidade das águas. São Carlos: RiMa, 2004.

Nicolini, Henrique. Tiete: O rio do esporte. São Paulo: Phorte Editora, 2001.

                                      Sheila L. Hooker