1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Campinas

CAMPINAS, an inland city of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, 65 m. by rail N.W. of the city of São Paulo and 114 m. from the port of Santos, with which it is connected by the Paulista & São Paulo railway. Pop. (1890) of the city and municipality, 33,921. Campinas is the commercial centre of one of the oldest coffee-producing districts of the state and the outlet for a rich and extensive agricultural region lying farther inland. The Mogyana railway starts from this point and extends north to Uberaba, Minas Geraes, while the Paulista lines extend north-west into new and very fertile regions. Coffee is the staple production, though Indian corn, mandioca and fruit are produced largely for local consumption. The city is built in a bowl-like depression of the great central plateau, and the drainage from the surrounding hillsides has produced a dangerously insanitary condition, from which one or two virulent fever epidemics have resulted.