Interior-coastal hub of Brazil's southeast industrial heartland, less of a global chokepoint than a national engine.

The largest city in the Southern Hemisphere, with vast metro scale and internal-migration gravity.

Latin America's leading financial and industrial center; B3 and corporate headquarters dominate regional capital.

Limited standalone military-command role compared with Brasília and coastal naval nodes.

State and municipal power is large, but national diplomacy sits in Brasília.

Major Catholic and evangelical center for Brazil, regionally rather than globally decisive.

Coffee-to-industry transformation shaped modern Brazil more than Iberian-colonial origins.