Place · city

São Luís, Maranhão

1612 · 17th century

São Luís is the capital of the Brazilian state of Maranhão, on an island off Brazil's northern coast. It grew from Fort Saint-Louis, built in 1612 by the French colonists of Equinoctial France and named after Louis XIII. The Portuguese captured it in 1615, and it became the centre of the State of Maranhão. Its colonial centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

São Luís, Maranhão
Image: Lechenet.com · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Equinoctial France

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). São Luís, Maranhão. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sao-luis-maranhao
MLA
“São Luís, Maranhão.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sao-luis-maranhao. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “São Luís, Maranhão.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sao-luis-maranhao.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘São Luís, Maranhão’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sao-luis-maranhao (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻