Located in a region inhabited by man for 11,000 years, Porto Alegre was established as a city only in the 18th century. Until then, the territory of Río Grande do Sul officially belonged to the Spaniards, but from the 17th century the Portuguese began to direct efforts for its conquest, penetrating progressively from the northeast, arriving through the Camino de los Conventos (an extension of the Estrada Real) to Vacaria, and from there they descended to Viamão. The penetration was carried out by Bandeirantes, who came in search of slaves, indigenous people and drovers who hunted the large herds of cattle, mules and horses that savagely inhabited the State. Another route of penetration was through the coast, and in 1737 a fortress was founded where the Río Grande is today with the aim of providing assistance to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay.
After the Treaty of Madrid was signed in 1750, the King of Portugal determined that a total of 4,000 couples from the Azores be gathered to populate the south, but only about 1,000 were transported, which were distributed mainly in the interior, remaining barely 500 people on the shores of Lake Guaíba, in the so-called Port of Viamão, the first name of the current Porto Alegre.
The Portuguese and the Spanish were not contained by the Treaty. Rio Grande was invaded by Spaniards in 1763, the Portuguese population immediately fled to Viamão. The Port of Viamão was elevated to a parish with the name of the Parish of São Francisco do Porto dos Casais, in 1772, today established as the official date of the founding of the city.
With the peace between Portugal and Spain achieved through the Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1777.
They built the Clay Palace, the first seat of government, a cemetery, a prison, a small theater and a church, the streets were improved, a postal service was created, trade was expanded, port activity intensified and the capital began to grow rapidly, in 1798 it had 3,000 inhabitants and in 1814 it already had 6,000 inhabitants.
The old names of the city are:
- Porto do Viamão (since 1730)
- Porto dos Dorneles (since 1740)
- Porto dos Casais (since 1752)
- Porto de São Francisco dos Casais (since 1772)
- Nossa Senhora Madre de Deus of Porto Alegre (since 1773)
- Viamont or Viamonte (since 1776)
- Vila de Nossa Senhora Madre de Deus of Porto Alegre (since 1809)
- City of Porto Alegre (since 1822)
- Mui Leal e Valorosa Cidade de Porto Alegre (from 1841)
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