Bento Gonçalves () is a municipality located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Created in 1875, it is one of the centers of the Italian immigration in Brazil. It is also known as the 'wine capital of Brazil' due to its vineyards and wine production. In 2020, its estimated population was 121,803 inhabitants. Ernesto Geisel, President of Brazil from 1974 to 1979 (under the military government), was born in Bento Gonçalves in 1907. Etymology The city has changed names three times in history. Before the Italian immigration began, the place where the city downtown is located today was crossed by horsemen, and since there was well known north–south trail with a small wooden cross at the place, the name Cruzinha ("little cross") was used to name this region. After a decree of the effective governor of the province in the 1870s, the area was renamed Colônia Dona Isabel ("Dona Isabel Colony"), after the Brazilian princess Isabel de Bragança. In 1890, Colônia Dona Isabel separated from the municipality of Montenegro, and was renamed in honour of Bento Gonçalves da Silva, leader of the rebel forces of the Farroupilha Revolution 45 years earlier, and first president of the short-lived Riograndense Republic. History Before 1870, the area where the city is located (then known as Cruzinha) was inhabited, as the rest of the region, by Indigenous people of the "jê" tribe. In 1875, the Brazilian government created, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, four settlements to receive Italian immigrants. In the Cruzinha area, a settlement was created called Dona Isabel. "Dona Isabel" received the first 25 families of Italian settlers in that same year. They mostly came from the region of Trento. During the next few decades, the region was settled by immigrants coming mostly from the Italian regions of Veneto, Trentino, and Lombardia. In 1890, Dona Isabel was elevated to the category of city, changing its name to Bento Gonçalves (named after the military leader of the Ragamuffin War). The Italian immigrants mostly worked in grape and wine production. During the first few decades of the 20th century, the city continued to receive immigrants. Besides the Italians, there were large groups of Polish, German, Swedish, French, and Spanish immigrants. At that time, there were already some functioning wine factories and the furniture and metallurgic industry was just starting to take off. The railways arrived at the city