Mauritsstad

Mauritsstad (Portuguese: Cidade Maurícia) is Evenaria's largest city. It is located in and is the capital of the eastern state of Pernambuco. The city was built on the island of Antonio Vaz opposite Recife, and designed by architect Pieter Post. It was named after Governor Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen, who had founded the city and the adjoining palace Vrijburgh.

The city is located at the confluence of the Beberibe and Capibaribe rivers before they flow into the South Atlantic Ocean. Mauritsstad is a major port on the Atlantic and was the cultural center of the New World, with the first botanical garden and the first zoo in America, and a museum with three hundred stuffed monkeys. The city's Jewish population constructed the first synagogue in the Americas.

The Metropolitan Region of Mauritsstad is the main industrial zone of the Province of Pernambuco, major products are those derived from cane (sugar and ethanol), motor vehicles, ships, oil platforms, electronics, software, and others. With fiscal incentives by the government, many industrial companies were started in the 1970s and 1980s, most nationalized during the Communist era.

History
Mauritsstad began as a collection of fishing shacks, inns and warehouses on the delta between the Capibaribe and Beberibe Rivers in the captaincy of Pernambuco, sometime between 1535 and 1537 in the earliest days of Portuguese colonisation of Terra de Santa Cruz on the northeast coast of South America. It was a settlement of colonial fishermen and way station for Portuguese sailors and passing ships.

The first documented reference to the settlement with its "arrecife dos navios" (reef of the ships) was in the royal Charter Act of March 12, 1537, establishing Olinda, 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) to the north, as a village, with its port where the Beberibe River meets the sea. Olinda (and Igarassu before it) had been settled in 1536 by Captain General Duarte Coelho, a Portuguese nobleman, proprietor and administrator of the captaincy of Pernambuco.

Portugal experienced competition from other foreign powers throughout its colonial history, and preventing these rivals from expanding in the New World was one motivation for its colonization of Brazil. When the kingdom of Portugal fell under the rule of the Spanish Hapsburgs in 1580, however, Brazil became a prime target for the new colonial power of the Netherlands. After the Dutch failed to take Bahia, they invaded and occupied Pernambuco and continued to expand northward to the Amazon River.

The Dutch occupation of Pernambuco was resisted by the Portuguese colonists for its duration. This period of Pernambucano history can roughly be divided into three periods: six years of fighting from 1630 to 1636; relative pacification under the governorship of Johan Maurits, from 1636 to 1644; and renewed struggle in the decade after Maurits' recall, from 1644 and onward.

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Buildings

 * Johan Maurits Memorial
 * Old City Hall
 * Frederik Hendrik Fortress
 * De Bruyn Fortress
 * National Museum
 * Evenarian National Gallery
 * Ernestus Fortress
 * Eveneth Tower
 * Waerdenburg Fortress
 * Aurora Street
 * Evecom X Tower
 * Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue
 * Metropolitan Cathedral of Mauritsstad
 * MSX Convention Centre
 * Masjid Al-Noor
 * Technological History Museum
 * Our Lady of Carmo Portuguese Cathedral

Schools

 * Federal University of Evenaria
 * Mauritsstad Catholic University
 * Pernambuco Provincial University
 * Saint Dominic College
 * National Amerindian University
 * Calvinist University

Malls

 * RioMar Shopping Center
 * Open Mall
 * Shopverse
 * Orange Shopping Arcade

Convenience stores/supermarkets available

 * 7-Eleven
 * Lawson Station
 * Evecoop
 * Spar
 * Aplus

Retail outlets available

 * Octagon Computer Superstore
 * Hollister
 * Nike
 * Levi's
 * 2nd and Charles
 * Apple Store
 * CD-R King
 * Toy Kingdom
 * CVS Pharmacy

Restaurants

 * Burger King
 * Domino's Pizza
 * P.F. Chang's
 * Tim Horton's
 * Tastes of Suriname
 * Grão-Pará Brazilian Cuisine
 * JJ's House of Snax
 * OSO Diner Mauritsstad

Banks

 * Citibank
 * NBE
 * Post Office Bank
 * NCSB

Others

 * Imagination Land
 * Evecom Gamers' Lounge and Arcade
 * EscapeXPerience Mauritsstad
 * Kidzania Mauritsstad
 * Metropolitan Arena
 * Mauritsstad FC Stadium
 * Jan Rutger International Airport

Tourism
Celebrations, holidays and other events are numerous throughout the year. The New Year begins at the beach, Boa Viagem-Strand and in Recife Town. The carnival of Mauritsstad begins many weeks ahead in March with innumerable balls and parades to commemorate the 1630 seizure of Recife by the Dutch.

Transport
The main rail commuter transport systems are the Tram (LRT) and Metro (MRT). The Metro, the largest of its kind in Evenaria, reaches from Mauritsstad central station to Jaboatão, Timbi and Coenstraad, being complemented by a light rail, with connections at Curado and Coenstraad stations, which links Centraal and Jaboatão to Kaap Sint-Augustinus.

The city's main airport is Jan Rutger International Airport. It has been open in its newest structure since July 2004 and is 52,000 square m in area. Mauritsstad Air Force Base - BARF, a base of the Evenarian Air Force, is located in Mauritsstad.