The history o Embu began in 1554, wi the arrival o a group o Jesuits o the aldeamento or dounset o Bohi, later M'Boy, hauf wey atween the sea an the São Paulo hinterlands. As the Jesuit missions in the interior o Brazil, the primar objective wis tae convert the native population tae Roman Catholicism, in an attempt tae uise thaim as ferm wirkers in the region.
In 1607 the land o the veelage passed tae the hand o Fernão Dias (uncle o the bandeirante Fernão Dias, the emerald hunter), In 1690, the priest Belchior de Pontes initiatit the construction o the Igreja do Rosário (the Kirk o the Rosar), when it transferred at the same time tae the nucleus o the oreeginal veelage. In 1760, bi order o the Portuguese Croun, the Jesuits wur expelled frae Brazil acause o their interference in colonist affairs, such as protectin convertit natives frae the Bandeiras, which socht tae enslave thaim.
The airtistic vocation o the ceety stairtit tae project itsel in 1937, when Cássio M'Boy, "santeiro" – sculptor o releegious images – in Embu, gained first prize on the Exposition Internationel d'Arts Techniques du Paris. Afore that, Cássio haed been the professor o some renouned airtists an receivit illustrious representatives o the Modernismo muivement o 1922, includin Anita Malfatti, Tarsila do Amaral, Oswald de Andrade, Menotti Del Picchia, Volpi an Yoshio Takaoka.
Ane o Cássio M'Boy's maist successful disciples wis Sakai do Embu, internaitionally-kent an ane o the greatest Brazilian ceramist-sculptors. In 1962, Sakai shapit the Solano Trindade group o plastic artists, heichlie influencit bi African-Brazilian airt an the releegious tradeetion o the Yoruba orishahs.
Teepical hoose frae Embu
The airtistic tradeetion of Embu is a institution wi projects an events done baith in Brazil an abroad syne 1964. The Feira de Artes an Artesanato do Embu (Airts an Handicraft of Embu) wis launched in the late 1960s an it haes been attractin tourists an revenues tae the ceety iver syne.
Ane o the tap Nazi torturers, Josef Mengele wis buriet in the Nossa Senhora do Rosario cemetery in Embu under his false identity, Wolfgang Gerhard, as the soothren region o the ceety o São Paulo an its borders are kent for a sizable German-Brazilian population.