Paranaguá (Great Round Sea, in Tupi) is a city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. Founded in 1648, it is Paraná's oldest city. It is known for the Port of Paranaguá, which serves as both the sea link for Curitiba, to the west and the capital of Paraná, and as one of the largest ports of Brazil. As of 2020, the city has an estimated population of 156,174 and a population density of 169.92 persons per km², making it the tenth most populated city in the state of Paraná. The total area of the city is . Conservation The municipality contains 4% of the Guaratuba Environmental Protection Area, created in 1992. It holds 17% of the Bom Jesus Biological Reserve, a strictly protected conservation unit established in 2012. The municipality contains the Ilha do Mel State Park and the Ilha do Mel Ecological Station on the Ilha do Mel (Honey Island) at the mouth of Paranaguá Bay. History Early settlement Paranaguá was home to a sambaqui, or midden culture, for several millennia prior to the arrival of the Portuguese. Little is known of the population, which existed along the coast of Paraná. The area was later home to the Carijó people, an extinct subgroup of the Guaraní people. Portuguese explorers captured the Carijó for slave labor. Over time, the remaining Carijó intermarried with whites and African residents and formed the Caiçaras subgroup. European settlement The Paraná coastline was already known and inhabited by the Europeans as early as 1549. Settlements in the area were first noted by the German Hans Staden (c. 1525 – c. 1579), who was shipwrecked in the area of 1578. Staden described the existence of a small chapel dedicated to Nossa Senhora do Rosário (Our Lady of the Rosary). Diogo Unhate, notary (tabelião) of Captaincy of São Vicente, obtained the first land grant in Paraná in 1614. Unhate was granted the lands between the Ararapira River and Superagui rivers. Gabriel de Lara, who has passed into history as the "captain settler" arrived in Paranaguá in 1640. He erected the first pillory in the area on January 6, 1646, the ultimate symbol of justice and power of the Portuguese. Lara announced the discovery of gold in Paranaguá in the same year. The Portuguese established the municipality of Paranugua by Royal Charter on July 29, 1648, and the city has the distinction of being the first settlement