For years, during the peak efficiency of the commercial port of Paraty, the route of SP-171 was a strategic path between the
Brazilian coast, the
Paraíba Valley, the
Paulista capital, and the hinterlands of
Minas Gerais. For this reason, there is a rich historical repertoire from the times of
Portuguese colonization (occurring around the year
1500 Anno Domini [AD]) to the
Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932 (in 1932). Currently, it is an important communication route for socio-economic development, especially for the population of
Cunha and southern Guaratinguetá. The SP-171 shares the same history with the RJ-165 until the mid-20th century, when both highways began to have distinct developments.
Timeline This topic gathers the chronological milestones in a summarized way to understand the existence of SP-171. More detailed sources and information about its historical evolution can be found in the following topics.
Key dates: •
Before 1500: Native peoples use a system of trails that connects the lands facing the Atlantic to the interior of the American continent, giving rise to the well-known
Peabiru Path. •
1494: The Treaty of Tordesillas is signed on June 7. America is divided between Spain and Portugal. •
1530: Martim Afonso de Sousa begins the first Portuguese colonizing mission to Brazilian lands on November 20. The formal process of settlement by the first Europeans on the American continent begins. •
1554: São Paulo (the future Paulista capital) is founded on January 25. •
1565: Rio de Janeiro (the future Fluminense capital) is founded on March 1. •
1596: Departing from Rio on an expedition to explore the interior of the continent, Martim Correia de Sá and his fleet land in the region that will give rise to present-day Paraty. Using one of the trails opened by natives, he climbs the mountain range until reaching the banks of the Paraíba River, marking the first documented passage of Europeans through the route that would become the future SP-171, initially known as the
Guaianases Way. •
1630: Guaratinguetá is founded on June 30. •
1667: Paraty is founded on February 28. •
1695: The Falcão family, together with other Portuguese settlers, settles in the lands at the top of the mountain range, improving them. A prosperous Parish is consolidated in the region, and the route also becomes known as the
Falcão Way (mainly in the section that goes from the top of the Serra do Mar toward the Paraíba Valley). •
1697: The route becomes part of the
Royal Roads (Estradas Reais) system of Brazil and is extended from Paraty to Vila Rica (now Ouro Preto), becoming the first long-distance road in Brazil adapted for the passage of caravans or horse troops. •
1736: The Parish of Falcão is formally annexed to Guaratinguetá. •
1785: The Parish of Falcão separates from Guaratinguetá and is renamed as the Municipality of Cunha, emancipating itself on September 15. •
1822: Brazil's independence from Portugal is declared on September 7. •
1889: The Brazilian Republic is proclaimed on November 15. •
1932 (05/22): The route is modernized by Eduardo Pompéia Vasconcellos, and the first documented automobile trip occurs between Guaratinguetá and Paraty. •
1932 (07/14): The Battle of Cunha begins due to the strategic positioning in the logistics of the Constitutionalist Revolution. •
1932 (07/28): Paulo Virgínio is executed on the banks of the road between Cunha and Paraty. •
1932 (10/02): The peace armistice is signed in Cruzeiro. End of the Revolution. •
1954: The Santa Casa (Main Hospital) of Cunha is officially inaugurated on August 22. In that year, the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro reach an agreement to pave the route between the centers of Guaratinguetá and Paraty, dividing it into three parts. The SP-171 and RJ-165 projects are born, which would only be completed decades later. •
1958: A serious bus accident involving the defunct
Viação Santa Teresinha occurs at Morro Grande (2 km from the center of Cunha) on February 10. After the accident, the company
São José Ltda. is born in Cunha, assuming the legal concession for public passenger transport on the route between the Paraíba Valley and the Paraty city. •
1978: The first completely paved section, connecting the centers of Guaratinguetá and Cunha, is inaugurated and receives the official name Paulo Virgínio road by São Paulo state law No. 1,585 on April 17. •
1984: The second completely paved section, connecting the center of Cunha to the state border, is inaugurated and receives the official name Salvador Pacetti road by São Paulo state law No. 4,337 on October 30. •
2017: The third completely paved section, connecting the center of Paraty to the state border, is inaugurated and receives the official name Antônio Cônti road by Rio de Janeiro state law No. 7,556 on April 17. This act completed the 1954 projects.
America before colonization and Colonial Brazil The current route originated from the widening of trails used by the
Guarani (specifically the Guaianás groups) and
Tupi (
Tamoios) indigenous peoples, who sought the "
Land without Evil": according to the beliefs of the original peoples who inhabited the lowlands facing the
Atlantic Ocean, there was a place where their tribes could be closer to the sky — considered by them the home of primordial deities, such as
Guaraci (the Sun) and
Jaci (the Moon) — and live fully, "without worldly evils." Such beliefs encouraged the indigenous people to venture into territories far from their villages, seeking not only resources for survival but also to expand their geographical knowledge beyond the seashore, thus climbing the nearby mountains. Their ways connected with other passages, integrating into a system of trails that would become known to Europeans during the colonial period as the "
Peabiru Path". These routes existed long before the
European colonization of the Americas and linked the Atlantic Ocean to the interior of the
South American continent, reaching as far as the
Andes Mountains and the
Pacific Ocean. In the mid-1500s, Europeans, mainly Spaniards and Portuguese, used this trail system to explore and colonize the newly discovered
New World. The process of occupation and colonization of Brazil began in the first decades of the 16th century. On November 20, 1530, the reigning king,
King John III, delegated to the Portuguese captain
Martim Afonso de Sousa (under the title of the first donatary of the
Captaincy of São Vicente — present-day
São Paulo state —) the mission of helping to improve the American lands belonging to Portugal according to the
Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. In January 1531, Captain Martim Afonso began his expedition in Lisbon, employing about 400 men divided among five vessels. After crossing the Atlantic, they reached the Brazilian continental lands through the region known as
Igarassu and
Itamaracá (present-day Pernambuco coast) and followed the coast, attempting to definitively establish the land borders (at least the coastal strip) of the Colony: part of the fleet headed north to the
Guianas region, while the other part followed south under Martim Afonso's leadership. This epic journey was documented in the
Diário da Navegação (Navigation Journal), written by his brother
Pero Lopes de Sousa. Martim Afonso de Sousa's expedition had three specific objectives: (I) to implement order and justice in the new lands, primarily to inhibit pirate incursions and French smuggling on the Brazilian coasts and their influence over the Tamoio people; (II) to explore the interior of the new lands and exploit natural resources of great value; and (III) to establish settlement centers to begin a process of social development between natives and foreigners: it was the first formal Brazilian colonization project, always seeking to increase the Empire's influence to the limits with the
Viceroyalty of Peru — which later, during the 18th century, would fragment, with the southern portion giving rise to the
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (present-day
Argentina,
Bolivia,
Paraguay, and
Uruguay). Via the Atlantic Ocean, in 1532, the Portuguese expedition reached the
Río de la Plata estuary and established a provisional settlement on the eastern bank, which would later become the city of
Colonia del Sacramento. The imaginary line of the Treaty of Tordesillas ceased to be the only reference for the border between the two powers: the Río de la Plata and its tributaries became a physical border between the domains of Spain (on the western banks, where the city of
Buenos Aires would be founded in 1536 by the Spanish military officer
Pedro de Mendoza) and Portugal (on the eastern banks). A few decades later, in 1596, the nobleman of the Royal House,
Martim Correia de Sá (grandson of
Estácio de Sá, founder of
Rio de Janeiro city in 1565), carried out a successive colonizing expedition — similar to Martim Afonso's — but starting from
Guanabara Bay and making a land incursion after entering an arm of the sea known as Ilha Grande Bay. Martim de Sá and his 700 collaborators landed at the end of the bay, in an area that would later give rise to the city of Paraty. Allied with the Guaianases people, Martim de Sá's expedition attempted to cross the natural wall of mountains (later known as the
Serra do Mar) to settle new locations and seek new sources of wealth, climbing the mountains in that area toward the hinterland: this was the first documented passage of Europeans on the route that would give rise to SP-171. The passage through the trail became popularly known as the Guaianases way and later as the
Falcão way, after the regular settlement of Europeans at the top of the mountain range. This name refers to the "
Falcão" family, an influential family that, since 1695, pioneered the improvement of lands at the top of the mountain range (specifically the area corresponding to the current neighborhoods of Boa Vista, Aparição, Campo Alegre, and Taboão in Cunha) and consolidated a permanent settlement that, in 1736, would be annexed to Guaratinguetá (founded in 1630) as the "
Parish of Nossa Senhora da Conceição do Falcão" (or simply
Falcão Parish). According to the
IBGE, due to linguistic corruption, it has two accepted colloquial versions: "
Facão" and "
Facam." On September 15, 1785, the parish emancipated itself from Guaratinguetá's policies thanks to a decree signed by the then governor of the
Captaincy of São Paulo, Captain-General
Francisco da Cunha Menezes — in his honor, the settlement would receive his name, being officially recognized today as the "Municipality of Cunha." With the expansion of the
Portuguese Empire into the interior of the continent, colonizers began to found new towns in Brazil and travel between them, maintaining an intercontinental exchange with
Lisbon (the Empire's capital at the time); therefore, it was necessary to widen the narrow trails, not only for men but also for the passage of horse-drawn troops and carriages. In 1697, the Portuguese government approved the construction of the Gold Way (
Caminho do Ouro), officially recording the first
long-distance road in Brazil. Thus, the first stretches of the future SP-171 emerged. Between the 17th and 19th centuries, the Portuguese Crown authorized certain sections of the road from Paraty to the top of the mountain range to be paved with flattened stones: this work was carried out by enslaved Africans and free men, based on the Guaianases trails, to facilitate the transport of minerals (such as gold, iron, and diamonds) from the productive mines beyond the Serra da Mantiqueira to the coastal village, where the only Brazilian port authorized at the time for trading products with the
Old Continent was located. It also served for the introduction of
mules,
cattle, and new agricultural crops (such as
sugarcane and
coffee) into the interior of the Colony, all coming from other continents. Up to the banks of the
Paraíba do Sul River, the other sections remained in dirt (compact earth). The route of the
Gold Way has a total length of 710 kilometers, connecting many locations between Paraty and Vila Rica (now
Ouro Preto). Starting in the second decade of the 18th century, with the construction and expansion of another official passage (known as the
New Way), leading directly from the city of
Rio de Janeiro to the towns of
Minas Gerais, the route through which the road is integrated became known as the
Old Way. With the development of the then
Province of São Paulo, the road became the southern fork of the ancestral Path of the Paulistas. Until the mid-19th century, it served
tropeiros in the transport of large agricultural production from the region (sugarcane, coffee, and dairy products, for example) from South of Minas Gerais and the
Paraíba Valley for shipment at the port of Paraty to other Brazilian and overseas destinations. For centuries, the road would be the only land exit for carriages from the Southern Fluminense Lowlands toward the hinterland, with the closest urban settlement for travelers' rest being the Falcão Parish (current
Cunha). After the advent of the
Brazilian Republic on November 15, 1889, despite the technological innovations of the time and the introduction of the first
automobiles in the region, this reality of dirt roads lasted until the mid-20th century. In fact, until then, passage through the Gold Way route was done on foot, on horseback, or by cart; the first Brazilian road designed exclusively for modern automobiles, completely paved and allowing for fast speeds (over 60 km/h), was inaugurated in 1861 by Emperor
Pedro II and became known as the
União e Indústria Road, connecting Petrópolis (RJ) to Juiz de Fora (MG) over 144 km — its layout gave rise to the current BR-040. Despite the presence of motorized machines in the Paraíba Valley since the early 20th century, the first documented car trip between Guaratinguetá and Paraty officially took place on Sunday, May 22, 1932, when a vehicle (called the "First Car" of Paraty) departed at 6 a.m. from Guará, driven by chauffeur Jair Rosa Garcia and carrying two other passengers — the Fluminense public works engineer Eduardo Pompéia Vasconcellos (responsible for designing the current layout of SP-171 and RJ-165) and the mayor of Paraty that year, Alfredo Sertã. The group arrived in the coastal city at 9 p.m. that Sunday.
Sá Mariinha das Três Pontes At the beginning of the 20th century, the peasant woman Maria Guedes, who would be eternalized in the memory of
Cunha as Sá Mariinha das Três Pontes, was born on June 18, 1882. The daughter of Benedito Guedes dos Santos and Francisca Maria da Conceição, she moved with her family to the Três Pontes neighborhood around 1897, when she was still a thirteen-year-old teenager. It was in this rural and isolated setting, marked by dense forests and difficult routes, that her spiritual journey began through a physical trial. Stricken by a serious illness that left her in such a deep state of lethargy that she was given up for dead for three days, Mariinha was only saved from burial due to the intervention of the healer Dito Juquita, who insisted she was still breathing. Awakening with a sigh at midnight, she followed the healer's guidance to wash her eyes in a water spring next to her home every morning at sunrise, seeking fresh air for her lungs and pure water to aid in her therapeutic treatment, as well as a resource for her subconscious in search of relief for her suffering. Her "divine experience" occurred during these trips to the water fountain. On the fourth day of her healing journey, while collecting the crystal-clear water with her hands, Mariinha felt a supernatural weight that soon transferred to her back. The mystery was revealed when a small pendant with the image of
Our Lady of the Conception appeared on her clothes, an event she interpreted as a sign that the Virgin Mary would be her eternal guide. From her own cure, Maria Guedes assumed the identity of Sá Mariinha, becoming a well-known healer and seer. Over the years, her fame grew, and she began to serve a multitude of visitors seeking relief from "God's diseases" — that is, ailments that the population had no knowledge of or that traditional medicine had not yet mastered, and important hospitals were distant. Not even the Santa Casa of
Cunha existed during that period. In her simple and humble way, she served as a kind of therapist or psychologist for the local population who lacked resources to seek a specialized professional; she listened to the laments and sorrows of those who sought her out and, without asking for anything in return or rewards, she offered consolation and advice through positive prose and many prayers, especially dedicated to the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary, which gave comfort to those in need. (also called the "War of the Paulistas" or simply the "
Paulista War"). Vargas's provisional government had been imposed two years earlier (on November 3, 1930), when General
Tasso Fragoso (an ally of Vargas), through a coup d'état, ordered the removal of then-acting president
Washington Luís, with only 21 days remaining in his term, thus preventing the successive president,
Júlio Prestes, democratically elected (with approximately 60% approval of the legitimate votes and support from seventeen of the
twenty federal units of the time), from taking office in the Federal Government. The federal forces (also named "
loyalists" or "
pro-government") tried to restore order and stifle the resistance composed of military units that were against Getúlio Vargas's regime and civilian volunteers (identified as "
constitutionalists", "
revolutionaries", or "
liberals") against the Vargas dictatorship. The main reason for the demands of the citizens of
São Paulo state (supported mainly by people from
Rio Grande do Sul,
Mato Grosso, and
Minas Gerais) was the immediate reform of the Federal Constitution to give Brazilians more rights to directly choose their representatives, rather than having Vargas appoint them. By the end of Saturday, July 9, 1932, all units of the
Força Pública (now the
Military Police) of
São Paulo state unanimously joined the revolt triggered on May 23 of that year, formalizing the start of the Paulista War. In the early hours of Sunday, the 10th, to defend the state of São Paulo, the 4th Infantry Regiment, which possessed a consistent military garrison located in
Quitaúna (
Osasco), joined the war, allying with the revolutionaries.
Pedro Manuel de Toledo was granted office as governor of São Paulo and, as one of his first administrative measures, implemented policies to create
battlefronts at the borders to geographically protect the state. Therefore, all routes (road and rail) in the Paraíba Valley were guarded to prevent the invasion of loyalist troops, as the headquarters of the Federal District was located in the
city of Rio at that time. In response to the presence of loyalists at the top of the Serra da Bocaina, the municipality of
Cunha became an important armed front of the revolt: with the help of volunteers from
Cunha and Guaratinguetá who joined the cause, the revolutionary troops, under the command of General
Mário da Veiga Abreu, protected the city and set up camps with strategic and secret positions around the area known as Morro Grande (about 2 km from the city), where they could watch travelers and passersby coming from the border. The Cunha — Paraty road gained prominence due to its logistical importance in the Revolution, and on Thursday, July 14, 1932, the Battle of Cunha officially began — that afternoon, aircraft inventor
Santos-Dumont issued a note to the authorities proposing a
ceasefire and a new constitution for the country; however, his appeal was ignored. In the days following the weekend (of July 9 and 10), with the goal of combating the public forces of São Paulo and taking control of the state, a battalion from the
Rio de Janeiro Navy Arsenal, composed of 400 soldiers from Rio allied with Vargas, had climbed the mountain via the Paraty road in order to reach the São Paulo capital through the Paraíba Valley: a few days before the start of the battle, the Rio troops, under the command of Lieutenant Ayrton Teixeira Ribeiro, set up camp near the Aparição neighborhood (10 km from the center of
Cunha) and studied a way to conquer this first city. Due to the intense conflict with São Paulo, the road had restricted access; any traveler passing through would be stopped and questioned about the reason for their transit (under suspicion of being spies), as civilians had to present a safe-conduct to use those ways. During this period, the Rio troops seized or kidnapped provisions, supplies, and animals from passengers and neighboring farms in an attempt to exercise control over the neighborhoods near the border. Individuals without a safe-conduct or those suspected of having information that could be useful in deciding the conquest of the battle were detained. In fact, around 3 p.m. on July 27 of that month, the loyalist soldiers managed to capture a group of local inhabitants. One of those kidnapped was identified as the farmer
Paulo Gonçalves dos Santos (popularly called
Paulo Virgínio): the 33-year-old man, of humble character, a native and inhabitant of that municipality, knew the many paths that exist in that area. On that day, he had left his refuge to seek food for his children and his wife; however, in the afternoon, he was captured and violently interrogated by the loyalists about where the São Paulo troops were positioned along the road and which alternative trails could be used to reach the city. Still under torture, Virgínio did not answer, remained silent, and, before being shot by his aggressors, was forced to dig his own grave. During the night,
frost formed, and one of the tortures suffered by the farmer was having icy and boiling water thrown onto his back. In the early hours of the following day, July 28, he was killed with eighteen shots to the back. As his body did not fit properly in the pit, the loyalists had to fracture his legs and his skull so that his body could be accommodated in that hole, without a coffin and buried. According to the testimonies of that fierce execution, before he died, the loyalists "tried" to give a "second chance" to release the farmer and one of the soldiers questioned “
What are you?”, Virgínio replied “
I am Paulista.”, the soldier, in turn, contested “''No! If you say you are a Carioca, you won't die.
”, but Virgínio did not waver and continued to retort, saying the famous phrase “I die, but São Paulo wins!''”. In an attempt to conquer the municipal center through a war assault, the loyalists advanced along the road and, upon reaching the perimeter of Morro Grande, Getúlio Vargas's forces were attacked by Paulista troops. The Battle of Cunha lasted about three months, and here, the Paulista forces emerged victorious by successfully delaying the loyalists' advance through the Serra do Mar and Serra da Bocaina mountain ranges. For not revealing the revolutionaries' counter-attack plan, the farmer Paulo Virgínio was recognized as one of the "''Heroes of '32''"; therefore, his remains were transferred to the city of São Paulo and currently rest in the
mausoleum of the Ibirapuera Park obelisk (along with the remains of the four young men killed on May 23 and others who fell during the war). In his memory, a monument in the shape of a cross was built on the roadside where he was forced to dig his own grave and subsequently executed. The citizen of
Cunha is considered a martyr of the state, and his death was defined as the cruelest under the Vargas dictatorship against a civilian citizen with no political or military ties. The Constitutionalist Revolution was the largest armed conflict entirely on Brazil's national soil, without the influence of a direct foreign offensive. The state of São Paulo managed to keep its borders protected; however, without the promised support from other states (mainly Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, and Rio Grande do Sul), it could not dissolve Vargas's provisional government. On October 2, 1932, a peace armistice was signed in
Cruzeiro — marking the end of the War of the Paulistas. One of the positive consequences of this long clash was that on July 16, 1934, President Getúlio Vargas met the primary demand of the Paulistas, and a new Federal Constitution (albeit provisional) was established. It provided mainly for labor reforms — where the workday would be regulated at eight hours and vacations would be paid — and democratic reforms — making the vote secret and mandatory for all Brazilian citizens, men and women, civilians and military, over 18 years of age.
Bus accident at Morro Grande With the end of the Battle of
Cunha in 1932, the passage between the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo was left in a deplorable state: it remained blocked for several seasons and was later reopened sporadically by the Public Prosecutor's Office to give the citizens of Paraty an opportunity to have a land connection with other Brazilian locations, though with little infrastructure and precarious transit conditions. In the mid-20th century, the first regular passenger line began to operate: public transport began to be managed by
Viação Santa Teresinha. On the morning of Monday, February 10, 1958, the "jardineira" (a type of early
bus) from the now-extinct
Viação Santa Teresinha began its journey, departing full from Paraty to Cunha; after completing this first stage, it would continue to Guaratinguetá to complete its itinerary. The person in charge of driving the collective to the Paraíba Valley was the chauffeur Sinésio Aleixo, with the ticket seller and board assistant Jerônimo Cruz.
Viação Santa Teresinha held the monopoly on public transport in that area and offered only one service to the Rio de Janeiro coastal city: therefore, to leave by car, all travelers, even those with a private vehicle, were forced to climb the Serra da Bocaina toward Cunha before proceeding to other destinations (including Ubatuba, Angra, and the capital of Rio), as the Rio-Santos highway would only be built decades later. At the time, the ninety-kilometer journey was made of compact earth, and the heavy rains that had fallen in the previous days turned many sections into genuine obstacles with mud and quagmires. However, as much as possible, the collective managed to travel without interruptions: it conquered the Serra da Bocaina and entered the São Paulo municipality of Cunha, now climbing the hills belonging to the Serra do Mar mountain group. At the intersection with the Catioca road (3 km from the city center), it picked up the last passenger (a local inhabitant named João Ambrósio Mota) and continued its journey. The collective continued climbing the section known as Morro Grande and, approximately one kilometer after picking up the last passenger, encountered a mud hole. The chauffeur tried to bypass the obstacle, steering the vehicle toward the left edge of the road (toward the Valley), where there was a wooden fence separating it from a ravine. Due to the slippery mud, the collective ended up sliding against some fence posts, resulting in the loss of control of the jardineira, which sped toward the cliff. In a desperate attempt, the driver opened the door and jumped out, followed by the conductor and two other passengers. A few weeks later, the first bus authorized to circulate between Guaratinguetá and the Rio de Janeiro coast descended the Serra da Bocaina (this circulation is still under the responsibility and concession of
São José Ltda.). Detours were made for emergencies, tourist exits, and the entry of support teams to the municipality. During mid-January and February 2010, the passage was subject to closures and detours caused by landslides. Before the end of the same year, the state government completed the recovery and repair works on the road. ==Geography==