Hi people!

This is a map I did to pratice making maps by hand (with no computer). It's done in a A3 Sketch 90 g/m² paper. Pencil and black ink.

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This is the Municipality of Conchas, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil (the place where I was born). Conchas means Shells (Concha = Shell), and it received it's name because of the Rio das Conchas (Shells River). The name of the river came from the incredible amount of shellfish shells at it's margins.

The city was first settled in 1887, as a place to rest for the troopers that travel with goods to Botucatu and Tietê (important neighbor cities).

The new town gained strength with the construction of the Sorocabana Railway (an important railroad in the state) in 1888, but it was only in 1916 that was established the Municipality of Conchas.

In the earlier days, Conchas was an important city for the comerce of cotton and cattle in the state of São Paulo and some other places too. It used to export cattle and cotton, and people from a lot of places came here, mainly from Italy, Portugal, Syria, Lebanon and other parts of Brazil.

The Coat of Arms of Conchas represents all that things from it's time of glory:
- The troopers, in the northwest side;
- The shells and the river in the northeast;
- The handshaking, in the southwest side, represents that the people of Conchas is friendly;
- The cattle and the train to represent the railroad and comerce, and;
- The cotton, what built the importance of the city, surrounding the shield.

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Some geolocation values:
Latitude 23° 00' 55'' south
Longitude 48° 00' 38'' west
Altitude 503 meters
Area 469,4 km²

There's a lot of other things to say about Conchas, storys from my gramps, parents, uncles, friends... but I will leave that for another time.


I would love to see other municipalities or cities, and it's history. It's cool to know things about some "hidden" places of the world.