Belém, often referred to as Belém do Pará, is a Brazilian municipality and the capital of the state of Pará. It was founded on January 12, 1616, as the Portuguese colonial settlement of Feliz Lusitânia by Captain Francisco Caldeira Castelo Branco, located on the shores of the Guajará Bay and Guamá River in the Northern region of Brazil. It is situated at a latitude of 01°27'21" South and a longitude of 48°30'16" West, approximately 2,120 km away from the federal capital, Brasília.
The municipality is composed of two parts: the continental area and the Insular area, which consists of forty-two islands, comprising 65% of its territory. Being part of the Eastern Amazon, Belém experiences a hot and humid climate, and it is considered the rainiest capital in Brazil. It is the most populous municipality in Pará and the second most populous in the Northern region, with a population of 1,506,420 inhabitants. Belém is classified as one of the capitals with the highest quality of life in the Brazilian Northern region, with a high Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.746, ranking 22nd among the capital cities.
