t Interior of the 18th-century Nossa Senhora das Necessidades Church, in Santo Antônio de Lisboa
t Interior of the 18th-century Nossa Senhora das Necessidades Church, in Santo Antônio de Lisboa
EXPERIENCE Santa Catarina and Paraná
This region of southern Brazil was once inhabited by the indigenous Carijó, Kaingang (Caingangues), and Tupí-Guaraní peoples. These groups were displaced during the 17th and 18th centuries by Portuguese settlers, who established military garrisons all along the southern coast to guard against possible Spanish incursions. Immigrants from the Portuguese Azores islands were brought in to establish farming and fishing settlements, which, over time, grew into important towns. Florianópolis became the capital of the new state of Santa Catarina in 1738, and Curitiba, set on the trade route between Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais, became the capital of the new state of Paraná in 1853 – both were soon counted among Brazil’s most dynamic cities.
From 1840 to the mid-1900s, the interiors of Paraná and Santa Catarina were opened to immigration, with waves of European and other settlers staking out small farms. The newcomers settled along ethnic lines, with the Polish concentrated around Curitiba, Ukrainians in southern Paraná, Germans in Santa Catarina’s Itajaí Valley, and Italians in the southern part of Santa Catarina, giving both states a distinctly multicultural identity they retain today.
The devastating Contestado War, a guerilla war for land, took place between settlers and landowners from 1912 to 1916, but since the end of the conflict, the economy of both states has boomed, led by the farm sector (especially in soybeans, corn, sugarcane, and cattle), a diversified manufacturing base, and growing tourism, especially to the spectacular Foz do IguaÇu waterfalls.