It is Brazil's 4th largest city—Fortaleza surpassed Salvador in 2022 census with a population of slightly over 2.4 million[4]—and 12th among cities with the highest gross domestic product.

The municipality is part of the Mercosur common market, and vital trade port which is closest to mainland Europe, being 5,608 kilometres (3,485 mi) from Lisbon, Portugal.

[6][7] Colonisation began in 1603 when Portugal was part of the Iberian Union, when the Portuguese Pero Coelho de Souza constructed the Fort of São Tiago and founded the settlement of Nova Lisboa (New Lisbon).

[8] Under captain Matthias Beck the Dutch West Indies Company built a new fortress by the banks of river Pajeú.

With the transformation of the city into a regional export center and with the increase of direct navigation to Europe, the customs building of Fortaleza was built in 1812.

[19][20] Ten miles offshore is the Pedra da Risca do Meio Marine State Park, created in 1997 to protect the reefs.

The restinga areas are found in dune regions near the mouths of the Ceará, Cocó and Pacoti rivers, in the beds of which there is still a mangrove forest.

[23] There is also, in the city, the Area of Relevant Ecological Interest of Sírio Curió, that protects the last enclave of Atlantic Forest in the urban zone.

The park has a structure of visitation, with guides, ecological trails and equipment and events of environmental education and ecotourism.

[27] At the municipal boundary with Caucaia, the estuary of the Rio Ceará is covered by an environmental protection area (APA), which was set up in 1999.

[33] A 2015 study, however, found out the following composition in Fortaleza: 48.9% of European contribution, 35.4% of Native American input and 15.7% of African ancestry.

[47] Fortaleza has the largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Northeast Region, surpassing Recife and Salvador.

[50] The city's booming economy is reflected in purchasing power, the country's eighth largest, with estimated consumption potential at 42 billion reais in 2014.

[51] The main economic source of the municipality is centered in the tertiary sector, with its diversified segments of commerce and service rendering.

[53] The architectural heritage of Fortaleza in the form of fallen goods[clarification needed], however, is predominantly concentrated in the center of the city.

[60] It was opened in 1964 and houses art collections, a gallery, a library and the ruins of the first steam power plant in Ceará.

[61] In the different SERs of the city, the complexes of the CUCA Network are spread, which are facilities dedicated to art, leisure and education, especially for young people.

[64] The main literary manifestation of Fortaleza's history emerged at the end of the 19th century, in the cafes of Praça do Ferreira, known as the Spiritual Bakery, a pioneer in the dissemination of modern ideas in Brazilian literature that would only be adopted nationally in the following century, in the Modern Art Week.

The Ceará Institute has helped launch important names in national historiography and philosophy, such as Farias Brito and Capistrano de Abreu.

[67] Among the writers who are members of the Cearense Academy of Letters and members or patrons of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, are Gustavo Barroso, Araripe Júnior, José de Alencar, Heráclito Graça, Franklin Tavora, Clóvis Beviláqua and Rachel de Queiroz, the first woman to Be part of the entity.

More recently, Karim Aïnouz has directed Madame Satã, Suely in the Sky and Futuro Beach, and script of Lower City, Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures and Behind the Sun.

New filmmakers in the city have gained in recent years prominent exhibitions such as at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival.

[72] Much of the clothing that is produced in Ceará flows through Fortaleza, which in turn is recognized as one of the most important textile centers of the country, giving the garment industry great weight in the metropolitan economy.

[76] The gastronomy of Fortaleza is very close to the typical Northeastern cuisine, and, traditional include the baião de dois, usually accompanied by barbecue of mutton or meat of sun, and tapioca which is a pancake made from the starch of cassava.

The seafood is another ingredient of typical dishes of fortalezeense cuisine, such as the steak moqueca and the mackerel and snapper fish.

[79] Attractions such as the Beach Park theme park, located in the Great Fortaleza, Avenida Beira Mar and its bars, restaurants and music clubs, the beaches of Futuro and Iracema and Pirata Bar have placed Fortaleza among the Brazilian destinations preferred by Europeans.

According to data from 2010, the infant mortality rate up to one year old was 15.8 per 1000 live births in Fortaleza, against a Brazilian average of 16.7.

[95] The airport has undergone an expansion process, from which the number of boarding bridges increased from seven to sixteen and the passenger terminal has been expanded from 38,000 m2 to 133,000 m2.

[99] Traffic density at peak times in the city is rated as the fourth largest in the country, with 48% of congested roads.

[105][106] Fortaleza is subdivided in 121 neighborhoods, that are grouped in 39 administrative territories, managed by 12 subprefectures (Secreterias Executivas Regionais).