Vitória (Portuguese pronunciation: [viˈtɔɾjɐ], Victory), spelled Victória until the 1940s, is the capital of the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. It is located on a small island within a bay where a number of rivers meet the sea. It was founded in 1551. The city proper is 93 square kilometres (36 square miles) and has a population of 365,855 (2020), whilst the Greater Vitória metropolitan area has a population of more than 1,857,616 (2013), the 14th largest in Brazil.
Vitória is a riverine island surrounded by Vitória's Bay. In addition to Vitória, the main island, another 34 islands and a mainland portion are part of the municipality, totalling 93.381 square kilometres (36.05 square miles). Originally there were 50 islands, many of which were joined to the largest island by landfill.
In 1998, the United Nations rated Vitória as the fourth best state capital in Brazil to live in, rating cities on health, education, and social improvement projects. Among the Brazilian capitals, Vitória currently maintains the second best human development index (HDI) (after Florianópolis) according to research from the Getulio Vargas Foundation. It was considered the fourth best Brazilian city to live in by the United Nations in 2013, behind São Caetano do Sul, Águas de São Pedro and Florianópolis, and it was ranked as having the highest GDP per capita.
The city has two major ports: the Port of Vitória and the Port of Tubarão. These ports are part of the largest port complex of the country, which are considered the best in quality of Brazil. The city, which lies on the coast, is close to the mountains of Espírito Santo. Through the city's port authority, the city council also manages the Trindade and Martim Vaz islands, 1,100 kilometres (680 miles) off the coast, which are important meteorological bases because of their strategic position: located in an area of dispersion of air masses.
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