Constantine vs Barra Mansa

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Constantine I (Latin: Flavius Valerius Constantinus; Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος, translit. Kōnstantînos; 27 February c. 272 – 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from 306 to 337. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterranea (now Niš, Serbia), he was the son of Flavius Constantius, an Illyrian army officer who became one of the four emperors of the Tetrarchy. His mother, Helena, was Greek and of low birth. Constantine served with distinction under emperors Diocletian and Galerius campaigning in the eastern provinces against barbarians and the Persians, before being recalled west in 305 to fight under his father in Britain. After his father's death in 306, Constantine was acclaimed as emperor by the army at Eboracum (York). He emerged victorious in the civil wars against emperors Maxentius and Licinius to become sole ruler of the Roman Empire by 324. As emperor, Constantine enacted administrative, financial, social and military reforms to strengthen the empire. He restructured the government, separating civil and military authorities. To combat inflation he introduced the solidus, a new gold coin that became the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. The Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile units (comitatenses), and garrison troops (limitanei) capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. Constantine pursued successful campaigns against the tribes on the Roman frontiers—the Franks, the Alamanni, the Goths and the Sarmatians—even resettling territories abandoned by his predecessors during the Crisis of the Third Century. Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. Although he lived much of his life as a pagan, and later as a catechumen, he joined the Christian religion on his deathbed, being baptised by Eusebius of Nicomedia. He played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which declared tolerance for Christianity in the Roman Empire.

He convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325, which produced the statement of Christian belief known as the Nicene Creed. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built on his orders at the purported site of Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem and became the holiest place in Christendom. The papal claim to temporal power in the High Middle Ages was based on the fabricated Donation of Constantine. He has historically been referred to as the "First Christian Emperor" and he did favour the Christian Church. While some modern scholars debate his beliefs and even his comprehension of Christianity, he is venerated as a saint in Eastern Christianity. The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire. He built a new imperial residence at Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople (now Istanbul) after himself (the laudatory epithet of "New Rome" emerged in his time, and was never an official title). It subsequently became the capital of the Empire for more than a thousand years, the later Eastern Roman Empire being referred to as the Byzantine Empire by modern historians. His more immediate political legacy was that he replaced Diocletian's Tetrarchy with the de facto principle of dynastic succession, by leaving the empire to his sons and other members of the Constantinian dynasty. His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and for centuries after his reign. The medieval church held him up as a paragon of virtue, while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity. Beginning with the Renaissance, there were more critical appraisals of his reign, due to the rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources. Trends in modern and recent scholarship have attempted to balance the extremes of previous scholarship.

Source: Wikipedia

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Barra Mansa is a Brazilian municipality located in the south of the state of Rio de Janeiro. It is in the microregion of the Paraíba Valley, within the mesoregion of the South Fluminense. It is located at latitude 22º32'39 "south, longitude 44º10'17" west and altitude of 381 meters. Its estimated population in 2013 was of 179,472 inhabitants, forming a conurbation with the cities of Volta Redonda and Pinheiral with a population of more than 450 thousand inhabitants. It has an area of 548.9 km². The administrative and legislative center is in the Centro district. In it are located the city hall and the City Hall). The judicial center is the Barbará neighborhood, where the municipal forum is located. In 1954 the district of Volta Redonda was emancipated and, in 1991, it was Quatis's turn, taking with him the districts of Ribeirão de São Joaquim and Falcão. In 1993 Antônio Rocha was elevated to the condition of district, as well as the district Santa Rita de Cássia, in 2006. The population of Barra Mansa is made up of descendants of European immigrants (mainly Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish), but also French and German, as well as a dynamic Syrian-Lebanese colony, as well as Amerindians and African descendants. The municipality has the second largest population of the South Fluminense mesoregion, has more than 528 industrial units, a large rail, road and river junction. It is located in a privileged area, close to the two largest Brazilian cities: Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. It is also close to regional economic centers such as São José dos Campos, Juiz de Fora and Volta Redonda. Barra Mansa has a per capita income above the national average of R $13,956.15 [5], and has a Human Development Index (HDI) considered high by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) of 0.806 (year 2000 ). It is sixth in the ranking of best Human Development Index (HDI-M) among the municipalities of Rio de Janeiro. Barra Mansa has a strong and traditional shopping center, vital to the municipality's economy. Around 1700, arriving in São Paulo was an almost impossible task, because of the natural barrier created by the Serra do Mar. But for the trip to become faster, the governor Luís Vaía Monteiro ordered a way through the Itaguaí mountain range. After completing the route, several incursions were made to the Paraíba do Sul River, but without the commitment to form villages or towns. These incursions were almost always made up of adventurers looking for gold. The first clue to settlement occurred in 1764 when Francisco Gonçalves de Carvalho obtained with the viceroy D. Antônio Álvares da Cunha a sesmaria to found a farm of cattle and supplies (Fazenda da Posse) between the Paraíba River of the South and the river Bananal, exactly in the place where there was a stream called Barra Seca or Barra Mansa. In 1764, the Vice King of Brazil, Antônio Álvares da Cunha, granted a sesmaria to the farmer Francisco Gonçalves de Carvalho. Thus was born in these lands the first building of the Vila de São Sebastião da Barra Mansa.

Built on the banks of the Barra Mansa River and the Paraíba do Sul River, the Posse farm, dating from 1768. The Barão de Guapi Palace is a historical building of Barra Mansa that received illustrious people like the Princess Isabel. Already hosted the City Hall and the City Hall. It currently houses the Library. In 1765, José Alberto Monteiro also obtained from the viceroy a sesmaria on the bank of the Paraíba River, where it is today the city of Volta Redonda. Over the years, these sesmarias were changed owners, until, around 1827, they arrived, by inheritance, at the hands of Colonel Custódio Ferreira Leite, the Baron of Aiuruoca, founder of the municipality. From there, the site became the obligatory point of passage of troops of travelers on the way to seaports. In 1800, in the lands of Henrique Magalhães, very near the mouth of the river Barra Mansa, already existed a mill and a chapel. Gradually, a small population nucleus began to emerge and the beginning of the settlement encouraged Colonel Custódio Ferreira Leite, who had another chapel built on the right bank of the Paraíba, also dedicated to São Sebastião, located almost in front of Fazenda Ano Bom , on the opposite bank of the river. The small village grew and on October 3, 1832, thanks to a letter addressed to the General Legislative Assembly of the Empire, the village of São Sebastião de Barra Mansa was created, becoming part of the village dismembered lands of the neighboring Resende, Valença and St. John Mark. In 1954, due to a political maneuver, it had emancipated the until then district of Santo Antônio de Volta Redonda and in 1991 the districts of Quatis, Falcão and Ribeirão de São Joaquim. Chronology of historical events [edit | Edit source-code] In 1768, the construction of the first construction of Barra Mansa is made the farm of the Posse; In 1860, Barra Mansa was the largest producer of coffee in the country; In 1861, the Barão do Guapi Palace was erected; In 1874, the Barão do Guapi Palace won a large garden that is now the Centennial Park; Around 1870, the Barao do Guapi Palace was considered the best chamber in the entire province; In 1871, Barra Mansa was visited by Princess Isabel daughter of D. Pedro II, and also her husband Conde d'Eu for the Inauguration of the Railway Station; In 1908, Barra Mansa set up the first soccer club in the region, the Barra Mansa Futebol Clube; In 1911, Barra Mansa Futebol Clube became the first professional club in Brazil; In the 1930s, Barra Mansa was the country's largest milk producer, with five hundred thousand liters; In 1937, Barra Mansa inaugurated the first two metallurgical industries of the region: Siderúrgica de Barra Mansa and Companhia Metallurgica de Barbará; In 1946, Barra Mansa was the first city in southern Rio to encourage basketball, thanks to the encouragement of Nelson Geraidine, the founder of the court of the Baron de Aiuruoca school; In 1962, Barra Mansa was the fourth largest dairy producer in the world Site Guia de Comercio e Serviços em Barra Mansa - RJ

Source: Wikipedia