page_title: Curitiba
section_title: Topography
hierarchical_section_title: Curitiba / Geography / Topography
context_page_description: Curitiba is the capital and largest city in the Brazilian state of Paraná. The city's population was 1,879,355 as of 2015, making it the eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in Brazil's South Region. The Curitiba Metropolitan area comprises 26 municipalities with a total population of over 3.2 million, making it the seventh most populous metropolitan area in the country.
  The city sits on a plateau at 932 metres above sea level. It is located west of the seaport of Paranaguá and is served by the Afonso Pena International and Bacacheri airports. Curitiba is an important cultural, political, and economic center in Latin America and hosts the Federal University of Paraná, established in 1912.
  In the 1700s Curitiba's favorable location between cattle-breeding countryside and marketplaces led to a successful cattle trade and the city's first major expansion. Later, between 1850 and 1950, it grew due to logging and agricultural expansion in Paraná State. In the 1850s, waves of European immigrants arrived in Curitiba, mainly Germans, Italians, Poles and Ukrainians, contributing to the city's economic and cultural development.
context_section_description: The city covers 432.17 square kilometres (166.86 sq mi) on the First Plateau of Paraná. Curitiba has a topography of smooth, rounded hills, giving it a relatively regular shape. The city has an average altitude of 934.6 metres (3,066 ft) above sea level. The highest point is to the north at 1,021 metres (3,350 ft), and with lower altitudes at 864 metres (2,835 ft) to the south. Mountain ranges and sets of rocky hills surround parts of the city, including the Serra do Mar, a hill range between the shore of the Atlantic Ocean and the First Plateau in Paraná.
caption: The Mountain Range of the Sea, "Serra do Mar."
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