Votuporanga is a municipality in the Northwest of the São Paulo state, Brazil. The city is located 520 km from São Paulo. The population of the city, according to the IBGE, is 94,692 inhabitants. Votuporanga is the center of a Microregion with 139,475 inhabitants. In 2016, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Votuporanga was formed by Pope Francis.HistoryVotuporanga's history is closely linked to that of the coffee trade in Brazil. The land where the city is located originally belonged to the Marinheiro de Cima Farm, owned by Francisco Schmidt. Schmidt was forced to sell the land to Theodor Wille, owner of the Wille, Schmillinski e Cia. company, to settle outstanding debts. The land was thus divided up into plots and sold at a low price. Little by little the area's population began to grow, until at last, becoming part of the district of Vila Monteiro, now Álvares Florence, and the municipal district of Monte Aprazível.The name, Votuporanga, was suggested by Sebastião Almeida de Oliveira, notary public for the local town of Tanabi. Votuporanga, in Tupi language, means "Good winds" or "Soft breezes". The town on Votuporanga was founded on August 8, 1937. Father Isidoro Cordeiro Paranhos celebrated a Catholic mass on this same day, thus becoming one of the pilars of the town's heritage.