Map of Santa Catarina

History

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 (educated and pacified in the Catholic faith) 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.

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 95,730.69 square kilometres (37,000 sq mi), 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 (Brasília time), three hours behind Greenwich Mean Time.

Economy

With only 1.12% of the national territory, Santa Catarina was the eighth-largest producer of maize and the eleventh-largest producer of soybeans in Brazil, in the year 2017. When production per unit area is considered, the State becomes the national leader in corn, with an average of 8,100 kilograms per hectare, and second in soybeans, with 3.580 kilos per hectare. In 15 years, there has been a 118% growth in corn productivity and 58% in soybean. In 2019, corn production in the state reached 2.8 million tons (in 2018, Brazil was the third-largest producer in the world, with 82 million tons.

Tourism

Santa Catarina offers several destinations and events throughout the year: rural tourism, thermal resorts, ecological tourism, and adventure sports, historic monuments and sights, religious tourism, Beto Carrero World and Unipraias parks in Balneário Camboriú, and beach resorts of Florianópolis, Laguna, Porto Belo and Itajaí.

Some of these sights can only be seen in the off-season, like the snow on the Catarinense Mountain Range—one of the places in Brazil where it snows every year.

Between July and November, southern right whales visit the state's coast. The municipality of Timbó is a center for adventure sports like rafting and canyoning.

The popular festivities take place in October.