There are various theories intended to explain the origin of the name Bauru. One was proposed by Ismael Marinho Falcão, an engineer who lived for many years with the Kaingang tribe, which used to inhabit the region. According to him, the region was called ubaurú because of the abundance of a herbaceous plant called ubá, used for hampers and wicker baskets, and urú, a ground bird related to the chicken. Others think that the name comes from mbai-yuru, meaning 'waterfall' or 'river in strong declivity'; or ybá or uru, 'basket of fruits' in Old Tupi; or even bauruz, as the natives who inhabited the edges of the Batalha River were called.
History
Historically, the region occupied by Bauru was a disputed territory between two Indigenous groups: the Kaingang and the Guaraní. In the eighteenth century, ethnic Brazilian pioneers attempted to settle in São Paulo region, which was a crossing point of the monções that went through Mato Grosso and Goiás, but they were prevented by local natives' attacks. The non-Indians only managed to settle in the region in the nineteenth century with the coming of the population coming from São Paulo's coast as well the states of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. After 1850, in search of new land for occupation and colonization, pioneers from São Paulo and Minas Gerais began to explore the vast region between the Serra de Botucatu, Tietê River, Paranapanema River and Paraná River, until then inhabited by Kaingang indigenous groups. In 1856, Felicissimo Antonio Pereira, coming from Minas Gerais, purchased land and settled, near the current center of Bauru, the Fazenda das Flores. Years later, in 1884, this farm have spun off part of its area for the training camp of the São Sebastião de Bauru. The district has progressed, even being subject to attacks of native Kaingang and relatively isolated from the rest of the state and became district of Agudos on 1888. The arrival of migrants from eastern São Paulo and Minas Gerais led to the emancipation of the city on August 1, 1896. The new municipality at first lived from the cultivation of coffee, despite having weaker and infertile lands than the rest of the state. In 1905, Bauru was chosen as the starting point of the Estrada de Ferro Noroeste do Brasil, which linked by rail, Bauru to Corumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul, near the border with Bolivia. During the first half of the twentieth century, Bauru becomes the main economic hub of the region comprised by west São Paulo, northern Paraná and Mato Grosso do Sul.
