Não-Me-Toque


Não-Me-Toque is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

History

The city's current territory was only explored and occupied when Portuguese descendants established their farms on the place, in the second decade of the 19th century. By the end of the 19th century, families of Dutch immigrants also occupied the southern part of the territory, in 1824. In 1949, the first Dutch families arrived to the town, making the city one of the starting points of the Dutch immigration on southern Brazil.
There is no exact information of the name's origins, but there are two theories: the abundance of the Dasyphyllum spinescens plant, which name is "touch-me-not" in Portuguese; or the establishment of the farm "Fazenda Não-Me-Toque", founded on July 20, 1885.
Because of the constant humiliation the citizens of the city suffered because of the name, it was renamed Campo Real in December 1971, until it was changed back after a plebiscite in April 1977.

Geography

Não-Me-Toque is located in the region of the Planalto Médio, in the micro-region of the Alto Jacuí, Rio Grande do Sul. It is 471 km away from the coast. It is neighbored by the city of Carazinho on the north, Lagoa dos Três Cantos on the south, Santo Antônio do Planalto on the east and Colorado on the west. It is 280 km away from the state's capital, Porto Alegre.