Short answers, pulled from the story.
A royal charter established the settlement in 1537. Captain General Duarte Coelho had previously settled Olinda in 1536 before this official document created the port where the Beberibe River meets the sea.
The name comes from stone reefs present offshore rather than coral reefs. The city is formed by three islands named Recife, Santo Antônio, and Boa Vista which are linked by more than fifty bridges.
Multinationals including Accenture, Motorola, Samsung, Dell, IBM, and Microsoft operate there. Software manufacturing remains the main activity within this digital port which generates some R$10 billion annually.
Between 1992 and 2021 there were 64 shark attacks along a stretch of coast with 26 being fatal. Surfing has been outlawed since 1995 on urban beaches like Pina and Boa Viagem due to risk.
Sport Recife stands as the current 2023 State Champion having won 43 times state champion and once national champion in 1987. Football in Pernambuco began in 1902 when English and Dutch sailors landed in Recife and played games on the beach.