Mollendo vs Canoas

Informations

Mollendo is a town bordering the Pacific Ocean in southern Peru. It is located in the Arequipa Region and is the capital of both the Islay Province and the Mollendo District. Mollendo was the main port in the Peruvian southern coast until Matarani was developed about 50 years ago; the port of Mollendo only serves fishermen for the local economy currently and all the commercial shipping is done through Matarani 12 kilometers north; the old port is in ruins. From about 1830 to 1880 it was important in the Guano trade. The railroad used to run a passenger train daily, but a good highway connects Mollendo to the Panamerican Highway now and the train now only runs the summer express that goes down from Arequipa on Saturday and returns on Sunday; the beach is the main attraction, even though it is visited by the Humboldt Current that brings cold water from Antarctica.

In the summer months, which run from January to March, the population more than doubles as people from the largest city in the region Arequipa use Mollendo and its beaches as a vacation spot, especially on weekends. Mollendo exports wool and has industries producing cement, textiles, canned fish, and cheese. It is also a popular beach resort. The Auxiliary Ship BAP Mollendo (ATC-131) of the Peruvian Navy is named after the town.

Source: Wikipedia

Informations

Canoas (Portuguese pronunciation: [kaˈnoɐs]), which earned city status in 1939, is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. With more than 340,000 inhabitants, it is part of the Porto Alegre conurbation and has the second highest GDP in the state. It is also the fourth largest city in the state by population. Canoas boasts a strong manufacturing-based economy and is the home of the Canoas Air Force Base, used by the Brazilian Air Force. According to the IBGE, Brazil's Geography and Statistics Institute, Canoas currently has no rural areas, but it started as a village of large landowners. The first of them was conquistador Francisco Pinto Bandeira, who received from the Portuguese Crown, in 1740, an area north of the Gravataí River. History has that 1871 was the beginning of the village of Canoas, when the first section of the railway that would link Porto Alegre to São Leopoldo was inaugurated.

Canoas was then part of the municipalities of Gravataí and São Sebastião do Caí. Soon large farms would lose space to small properties. After obtaining city status, Canoas experienced rapid growth, especially after 1945. At that time, it would be called a "cidade-dormitório" (Portuguese for "bedroom city"), because thousands of people would commute to neighboring Porto Alegre to work. However, de-industrialisation in Porto Alegre, the setting-up of numerous manufacturing plants in Canoas and a strong demographic growth have reverted that situation and nowadays Canoas has a per capita GDP higher than Porto Alegre.

Source: Wikipedia