Várzea do Carmo
Former area in São Paulo, Brazil / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Várzea do Carmo was the designation of one of the central areas of the city of São Paulo, adjacent to the Carmel Convent and frequently affected by the floods of the Tamanduateí River, formerly known as Piratininga. In 1821, Major Pedro Arbues Moreira submitted to the government a proposal to drain the Várzea do Carmo by opening a 40-meter-wide canal; the work was not carried out as it was too expensive. Many improvements were made to the site during the presidencies of Vicente Pires da Mota and João Teodoro Xavier, including the change in the course of the Tamanduateí River.[1][2][3]
The complete sanitation and recovery of Várzea do Carmo was a slow process. After the canalization of the river, which was completed in the 1920s, the name was disused and today the area is equivalent to Dom Pedro II Park. On April 14, 1895, at Várzea do Carmo, a soccer match was played between Englishmen and Anglo-Brazilians, formed by employees of the Gas Company and the São Paulo Railway. The match, considered to be the first soccer event in the country, ended in a 4–2 victory for the São Paulo Railway.[4][5][6]