Santa Catarina (state)
Santa Catarina is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It is located in the centre of the country's Southern region. It is bordered to the north by the state of Paraná, to the south by the state of Rio Grande do Sul, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west by the Argentine province of Misiones.
The state covers an area of approximately, comparable to Hungary, and ranking as the seventh smallest Brazilian state by area. With a population of 7.6 million inhabitants in 2022, it is the tenth most populous state in Brazil. It is divided into 295 municipalities and its capital is Florianópolis, the second most populous city in the state after Joinville. Alongside Espírito Santo, Santa Catarina is one of the two states whose capital is not the largest city. Jorginho Mello, a member of the conservative Liberal Party, has been the governor of the state since 2023.
It is one of the Brazilian states with the most mountainous terrain, where 52% of the territory is located above 600 metres. According to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system, Santa Catarina predominantly features a humid subtropical climate in the coastal lowlands and the lower altitude areas of the plateau, whilst the remainder of the plateau is characterised by an oceanic climate.
The state of Santa Catarina is one of the oldest states in Brazil. It separated from São Paulo in 1738, with José da Silva Pais serving as its first governor. The state was established to extend Portuguese dominions to southern Brazil, reaching as far as the Rio de la Plata region. It is also the oldest state in the South Region of Brazil, predating Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná. The state was populated by various peoples throughout its history, such as the indigenous Carijós people of the Tupi-Guarani group, and later became an important destination for Azorean Portuguese, Italian, German, and other European immigrants. African slaves and their descendants also contributed to the formation of the state's population.
The socioeconomic indicators of Santa Catarina rank among the best in Brazil. The state leads in life expectancy and public safety, and boasts the lowest rates of homicide, illiteracy, poverty and extreme poverty in the country. It holds also the third-highest Human Development Index, the third-highest GDP per capita, and the third-lowest rates of infant mortality. Additionally, it is the federative unit with the least economic inequality in Brazil.
Etymology
Francisco Dias Velho, who arrived on the island now known as Santa Catarina around 1675, is said to have given the place its name. There, he built a chapel dedicated to Catherine of Alexandria, whom, it is claimed, one of his daughters was named after. Other authors attribute the origin of the name to Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian explorer and cartographer, who is said to have dedicated the island. At that time, Sebastian Cabot passed through the area between 1526 and 1527. He is thought to have consecrated it to Saint Catherine, or rather, honoured his wife, Catarina Medrano. The name of the state is derived from that of the island.The state's native inhabitants are called Catarinenses or Barrigas-Verdes. The origin of the term comes from the waistcoat worn by the soldiers of the Portuguese military forces, under Joaquim Francisco do Livramento. These troops, in 1753, departed from Santa Catarina to fight in Rio Grande do Sul and secured for Brazil the conquest of the Captaincy of Santa Catarina.
Originating from Catholicism, the name honours the state's patron saint. The Romans worshipped an ancient deity, Sancus, who ensured promises and oaths were not violated, mandating their fulfilment. From his name comes the Latin verb sancire, "to consecrate". Sanctus, "holy, consecrated, which must, above all, be treated with respect", is the past participle of the verb itself. Etymologically, the name Catherine derives from the Greek term εκατερινα, meaning "pure" or "immaculate".
History
Indigenous peoples, colonial and imperial era
At the outset of the 16th century, the area now known as the state of Santa Catarina was populated by the Carijós, a tribe belonging to the Tupi-Guarani group. These Indigenous peoples were catechised starting from 1549.Expeditions from Portugal and Spain commenced exploration of the Santa Catarina coast in the early years following Brazil's discovery by Europeans. Sebastian Cabot, en route to the Rio de la Plata, navigated past the island then known as Dos Patos, bestowing upon it the name Santa Catarina in 1526. In 1534, John III of Portugal awarded the mainland territories to Pedro Lopes de Sousa. Nevertheless, these lands remained largely uninhabited, with Jesuits, Spanish, and Portuguese settlers exploring them but failing to establish any permanent settlements throughout the 16th century.
From the outset of Brazil's colonisation, the lands of Brazil's southern region did not greatly interest the Portuguese colonisers. This was due to the absence of precious metals and its colder climate. The Portuguese only began to take an interest in the region in the mid-17th century. The settlement of Nossa Senhora da Graça do Rio de São Francisco was established by Manuel Lourenço de Andrade and his friends in 1658. The present-day city was the first permanent settlement in the region.
The settlement of Nossa Senhora do Desterro, on the island of Santa Catarina, was established by the Paulista bandeirante Francisco Dias Velho in 1675. At that time, the notable settler was accompanied by his heirs, slaves, and servants. In 1676, the settlement of Laguna was initiated by Domingos de Brito Peixoto. The Captaincy of Santa Catarina, initially linked to São Paulo, was founded in 1738. It was separated from São Paulo and incorporated into Rio de Janeiro's in 1739.
From the 1740s onwards, initiated by Alexandre de Gusmão, minister of King John V, Portugal began a colonisation and settlement project in southern Brazil, aiming to secure possession of the territory disputed by the Spanish. With this objective, immigration from Madeira Island and the Azores was sought. An insular defensive system was implemented. From 1748 to 1756, around five thousand Azorean immigrants began to populate the island and the coastline of the captaincy. Disputes between Portugal and Spain led to the occupation and destruction of the island of Santa Catarina by Spanish troops in 1777. The First Treaty of San Ildefonso forced the Spanish to surrender the invaded region.
The Captaincy of Our Lady of the Rosary of Paranaguá was founded by the Marquis of Cascais in 1656. It replaced the Captaincy of Santana, which began at the mouth of the Paranaguá Bay and ended in the current city of Laguna. It is bounded by the Captaincy of Santo Amaro to the north, the salty waters of the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Governorate of New Andalusia to the west. These extinct states were delimited by the Treaty of Tordesillas.
The captaincy was elevated to the status of a province with the declaration of independence of Brazil. The province of Santa Catarina suffered profound consequences from the Ragamuffin War, which took place in Rio Grande do Sul in 1835. The revolutionaries, led by Giuseppe Garibaldi and David Canabarro, invaded Laguna and declared the Juliana Republic in July 1839. Defeated by the troops of the Empire of Brazil, the rebels left Laguna. The new South American country had a short duration because, when its independence was proclaimed, it stopped paying the Riograndense Republic due to lack of resources. The last Ragamuffin trenches were demolished in 1840. European colonisation, especially from Germany and Italy, was boosted in the second half of the 19th century. The colonies of Dona Francisca, later Joinville, were established in 1850; Blumenau in 1852; and Brusque in 1860.
Republican period
The province adhered to the proclamation of the Republic. However, the appointed governor rebelled against the federal government of the time, supporting the Federalist Revolution in 1893. Desterro became the naval base of the revolutionary squadron led by Custódio José de Melo.The armed conflicts spread throughout the coast of Santa Catarina. Defeated in 1894, the revolutionaries were severely punished by the loyalist troops. Hercílio Luz was elected governor in 1894 and developed a policy for the pacification of the region and the repair of the infrastructural problems that the state had suffered. Desterro was renamed Florianópolis, in honour of Floriano Peixoto, following a turn of events that cost the lives of the defenders of the revolution.
The Contestado War began in 1912. This conflict pitted the needy inhabitants of the region located between the Negro, Iguazu, Canoas, and Uruguay rivers against the official forces. José Maria de Santo Agostinho, a healer considered sacred, led the backlanders. Moreover, Paraná and Santa Catarina were disputing the region where they lived, which is why the area was called Contestado. The disagreement between the two federative units and the armed conflict of the caboclos only ended completely in 1916. Santa Catarina's territory was invaded by the rebellious forces, which came from Rio Grande do Sul, in 1930. However, Florianópolis resisted until the triumph of the revolution throughout the country.
During the Second World War, it was necessary to address the issue of Nazi infiltration in the state. In this area, the Brazilian military effort was not compromised by groups of Germans, following a futile attempt. Up until 1945, intervenors governed the state throughout President Getúlio Vargas's administration. Since the 1950s, encouragement for the colonisation of the far west and the centre of the state by Italian-Brazilian settlers has contributed to the progress of Santa Catarina. These settlers came from Rio Grande do Sul.
Geography
Santa Catarina is one of the three states in the Southern Region of Brazil. It is bordered to the north by the state of Paraná, to the south by the state of Rio Grande do Sul, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west by the Argentine province of Misiones. The state covers an area of approximately, comparable to Hungary, and ranking as the seventh smallest Brazilian state by area.Its territory is entirely below the Tropic of Capricorn, in the southern temperate zone of the planet. It follows the UTC−03:00 time zone, three hours behind Greenwich Mean Time. Its extreme points are: to the north, the Saí-Guaçu river in the municipality of Itapoá; to the south, the Mampituba river in Praia Grande; to the east, the Ponta dos Ingleses in Florianópolis; to the west, the confluence of the Uruguay and Pepiri-Guazu rivers in Itapiranga, on the border with Argentina.