Q467421

Americana ( Portuguese pronunciation: [ameɾiˈkɐnɐ]) is a municipality (município) located in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. The population is 237,240 (2022 Census) in an area of 133.91 km (51.70 sq mi). The original settlement developed around the local railway station, founded in 1875, and the development of a cotton weaving factory in a nearby farm.

After 1866, thousands of former Confederate soldiers and sympathizers from the American Civil War settled in the region. Following the Civil War, slavery was abolished in the United States. In Brazil, however, slavery was legal until 1888, making it a particularly attractive location to the defeated Confederates, among whom was a former member of the Alabama State Senate, William Hutchinson Norris.