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Coordinates: 20°32′19″S, 47°24′03″W Image File history File links Circle-question-red. ...
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Football (soccer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...
França (born 2 March 1976) is a Brazilian football player who currently plays for Kashiwa Reysol of the J-League. ...
Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...
Franca is a large town in the Northeastern part (also known as Alta Mogiana) of the State of São Paulo in Brazil. Alta Mogiana means The Highlands of Difficult Access. The population of Franca in 2006 was more than 320,000 and the municipal area (urban and rural) is 1209.93 km²[citation needed]. The altitude is 1040 metres at its highest point but the city is built on three rolling hills which average 990 metres at their tops[citation needed]. Flag of São Paulo See other Brazilian States Capital São Paulo Largest City São Paulo City Area 248,176. ...
For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...
Franca is the men's footwear capital of Brazil, with more than 700 medium and large shoe factories[citation needed]. Besides this industry there are more than 30 leather tanneries, 40 rubber sole factories, 2 shoe machine factories, as well as countless other shoe components factories and workshops[citation needed]. With a strong infrastructure for exportation which includes many export offices, freight forwarders, a Dry Port with an efficient customs office in the town, as well as comfortable hotels, Franca is an excellent location to do international business in products like leather skins, rubber products, footwear or even leather apparel, bags and belts.
Besides the shoe and related industries, this town boasts a high coffee production. Coffee plantations near Franca have won national and international awards for excellence in coffee beans[citation needed].
Franca also has its own basketball team. More than 80 years ago basketball started there at a very simple but determined level and today the fame of Francabasquete (Franca basketball) is known worldwide[citation needed]. Nine-time State champions, eleven-time National champions, six-time South American champions, four-time Panamerican champions, two-time runner-ups in World Basketball Club Championships. At present the team is leading both in the State and National championships (2007)[citation needed].
Franca also was one of the diamond centres of South America[citation needed]. It is still rich in diamonds however environmental controls, government incompetence and corruption, clandestine business dealings, and international manoeuvring has taken the shine out of this business activity[citation needed]. There are still experts in the area trying to bring back this industry and make Franca a Diamond Centre once again. Several serious diamond-cutters, diamond-dealers, goldsmiths as well as others dealing with other kinds of gems try to keep up what use to be a thriving industry in this town.
Franca was originally settled by the Portuguese, and then much later immigrants principally from Italy and the Middle East made this town their home[citation needed]. Slavery wasn't so abundant in this area but it did add a small percentage of Afro-origin people who intermixed with both the European, Arab and even Indian population. Though the most prevalent language is of course Portuguese, many Francanos (as they are called) speak English due to a strong tradition of almost 50 years of private English teaching[citation needed]. The last twenty-five years has seen a rapid and extensive growth of private English-language schools. In 1980 there were 5 and today there are 28. This is largely due to the long and intensive exportation activities of the town, and the flux of many Francanos visiting North America and Europe[citation needed]. Besides the private schools, private classes can be obtained through Brazilian as well as foreign teachers.
Besides Portuguese and English, other languages widely spoken are Spanish and Italian, with a smattering of Japanese, French, German and also Esperanto[citation needed].
Franca is also a becoming a very large sugar cane producer. The region has many plantations that have changed from coffee to sugar cane and this crop is destined to alcohol production[citation needed]. This ethanol production is specifically for automobile fuel which is becoming more and more prevalent all over the country. More and more Brazilians are using cars that run on alcohol[citation needed].
Government The mayor, Mr. Sidnei Rocha (from the PSDB party), was elected in October 2004 and took office on January 1, 2005. His term is four years and he is serving office for the second time. The City Council is made up of 15 councillors or aldermen. History Creation The Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (Portuguese for Brazilian Social Democracy Party) is a political party in Brazil. ...
shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ...
2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
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