The city of Belém, Brazil is founded on the Amazon River delta by Portuguese captain Francisco Caldeira Castelo Branco.

Belém, often called Belém of Pará, is the capital and largest city of the state of Pará in the north of Brazil. It is the gateway to the Amazon River with a busy port, airport, and bus/coach station. Belém lies approximately 100 km upriver from the Atlantic Ocean, on the Pará River, which is part of the greater Amazon River system, separated from the larger part of the Amazon delta by Ilha de Marajó. With an estimated population of 1,398,531 people — or 2,491,052, considering its metropolitan area — it is the 12th most populous city in Brazil, as well as the 16th by economic relevance. It is the second largest in the North Region, second only to Manaus, in the state of Amazonas.

The Amazon River in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the longest or second-longest river system in the world, a title which is disputed with the Nile.

Francisco Caldeira Castelo Branco (1566–1619) was a Portuguese explorer and colonial administrator. He is noted as the founder of the city of Belém, capital of Pará, Brazil, on 12 January 1616. Caldeira served as the first Governor General of the Captaincy of Grão-Pará.

January 12 is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 353 days remain until the end of the year.