Place:Santa Catarina, Brazil

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Santa Catarina is a state in the South Region of Brazil. It is the 7th smallest state in total area and the 11th most populous. Additionally, it is the 9th largest settlement, with 295 municipalities. The state, with 3.4% of the Brazilian population, generates 3.8% of the national GDP.

Santa Catarina is bordered by Paraná to the north, Rio Grande do Sul to the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Argentine province of Misiones to the west. The coastline is over 450 km, i.e., about half of Portugal's mainland coast. The seat of the state executive, legislative and judiciary powers is the capital Florianópolis. Joinville, however, is the most populous city in the state. Besides Espírito Santo, Santa Catarina is the only state whose capital is not the most populous city. South of the Tropic of Capricorn, situated in the planet's southern temperate zone, the state has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) in the east and west and an oceanic climate (Cfb) in the center. Climatic conditions vary according to the relief of the region: in the west and mountainous plateau, snow and frost are relatively frequent, while on the coast the climate is warmer, capable of reaching high temperatures in summer.^[1]

The territory of Santa Catarina is one of the oldest states in Brazil, separated from São Paulo in 1738, its first governor being José da Silva Pais. The state was created to extend Portuguese domains to southern Brazil until they reached the Rio de la Plata region. It is also the oldest state of the South Region of Brazil, older than Rio Grande do Sul (1807) and Paraná (1853). The state of Santa Catarina was settled by European immigrants: the coast was colonized by the Azorean Portuguese in the 18th century; the Itajaí Valley – a portion of the southern region and northern Santa Catarina – was settled by the Germans in the mid 19th century. The south of the state was populated by the Italians in the last years of the 19th century. Children and grandchildren of Italian and German immigrants who moved from Rio Grande do Sul settled in western Santa Catarina in the mid-20th century.

The state's social indicators are among the best in Brazil. It has the highest rate of life expectancy in the country (just like the Federal District), the lowest infant mortality rate and is also the state with the lowest economic inequality and illiteracy in Brazil. Santa Catarina has the 6th highest GDP in the country, with a diverse and industrialized economy.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

European settlement began with the Spanish settlement of Santa Catarina island in 1542. The Portuguese took control in 1675 and established the captaincy of Santa Catarina in 1738, bringing families from the Azores to populate the shore.

In 1839, during the Ragamuffin War, there was an unsuccessful attempt for Santa Catarina to secede from the Empire of Brazil to form the independent Juliana Republic (allied with the Riograndense Republic to the south) which was thwarted in four months. Between the early 19th century and mid-20th century, a great number of European immigrants arrived in Santa Catarina; these immigrants were taken to populate the south of the nation by Imperial initiative. About 50% of these immigrants were from Germany and Austria. The rest came mainly from Italy, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Lithuania, France, Finland, Croatia, Serbia, Estonia, Slovenia and Latvia;^[2] these immigrants created an abundance of small, family-held farms, many of which continue to exist in the interior of the state.

Late in March 2004, the state was hit by the first hurricane ever recorded in the South Atlantic. Because there is no naming system for such an event in Brazil, Brazilian meteorologists called it Hurricane Catarina, after the state.

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