City stories

The port came first

Recife grew not around a palace or cathedral, but around a natural harbour protected by stone reefs.

In the sixteenth century, the harbour between the Capibaribe, Beberibe and Tejipió river mouths became the gateway of Pernambuco’s sugar economy. That history shaped the long islands of the old centre, its bridges and its life beside the water. The city’s name refers to the sandstone reef line sheltering the port.