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Sao Paulo is an industrial powerhouse and the largest city in Brazil as well as the largest city in the southern hemisphere. It ranks as the worlds 7^th largest Metropolitan area.

The name of the city honors Saint Paul. Sao Paulo exerts strong regional influence in commerce and finance as well as arts and entertainment.

The city has many landmarks, such as the Paulista Museum, the neo-gothic Metropolitan Se Cathedral, the Sao Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), the Monumento as Bandeiras (Portuguese for Monument to the Flag) and Niemeyer's Ibirapuera Bienal Complex; and more recently the Octvio Frias de Oliveira Bridge (Estaiada Bridge) in the South Side. Paulista Avenue, in Midtown, is the citys most important financial center.

The city is home to the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange, or BOVESPA, the Future Markets, and the Cereal Market Stock Exchanges, the second largest stock exchange in the Americas. So Paulo has been home to several of the tallest buildings in Brazil, including the Mirante do Vale Building and Itlia Building.

The city also lies at the center of the heavily urbanized Sao Paulo metropolitan area, with an estimated 19,889,559 people in 2009 over 7,944 square kilometers (3,067.2 sq miles), is the largest metropolitan area in the nation. Sao Paulo metropolitan area is ranked as the second most populous in the Americas.

People from the city of Sao Paulo are known as paulistanos, while paulistas designates anyone from the whole of Sao Paulo state, including the paulistanos. The city's Latin motto, which it has shared with the battleship and the aircraft carrier named after it, is Non dvcor, dvco, which translates as "I am not led, I lead."

A famous nickname for the city is "Sampa." Sao Paulo is also known for its unreliable weather, the size of its helicopter fleet, architecture, gastronomy, and multitude of skyscrapers.