The exportation of coffee from the Port of Santos gave rise to the city and
mostly accounted for the wealth of the city at the turn of the 19th to the 20th
century. Exportation and importation through its port have made it the modern
city one finds today and turned it into the indispensable outlet for the
production of the powerhouse that is São Paulo State. Adorning the landscape of
the port city are the canals that are over a hundred years old. In 1899, Santos
was the point of entry for the bubonic plague into Brazil. In 1924, it became
the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santos.
