Criciúma is a city in the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian state of Santa Catarina. At , it is located 180 km south of

Florianópolis Florianópolis () is the capital and second largest city of the state of Santa Catarina, in the South region of Brazil. The city encompasses Santa Catarina Island and surrounding small islands, as well as part of the mainland. It has a populat ...

, the state capital and around 900 km south of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

. The city is the center of Brazil's flooring and home materials industry, and is the second-largest such center in the world.

City data

*Foundation: January 6, 1880 *Population: 217,311 (2020 estimate) *Area: 209,8 km² *Nearby cities:

Siderópolis Siderópolis is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina in the South region of Brazil. History Siderópolis ( Nova Belluno) is one of the first Italian settlements in Brazil. The arrival of Italian immigrants in the region is related to ...

Cocal do Sul Cocal do Sul is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina in the South region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Santa Catarina This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Santa Catarina (SC), located in the South R ...

, Morro da Fumaça, Maracajá,

Araranguá Araranguá is a city located in the southern part of Santa Catarina state, in the south of Brazil. It has 68,867 inhabitants and was settled mainly by Portuguese and Italians. Araranguá is known as "A Cidade das Avenidas" ("''The City of the ...

, Nova Veneza, Forquilhinha, Içara The city was founded on January 6, 1880, by Italian immigrants. It has an approximate population of 213,000 inhabitants, and an area of 209.8 km². In April 2004, Criciúma was affected by a tropical cyclone, a phenomenon unheard of in recent South Atlantic history, which caused some damage. It is the Brazilian capital of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

and

ceramic tiles Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, Rock (geology), stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, wa ...

, but also very strong in plastic, textiles (jeans), and chemicals. Criciúma is 24 km inland from the

Atlantic ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

(Rincão beach) and around 40 km from the mountains of the interior of Santa Catarina state. Criciúma is also the name of the city's

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team, which plays in the national league. They have won several championship titles, including a national championship in 1991 (

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de P ...

). Their colors are white, black and yellow, symbols of the state mineral resources, mainly coal. Several small towns lie around Criciúma forming a metropolitan area of 250 thousand people. The most important are: Içara (a major producer of

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

), Urussanga, Nova Veneza,

, Orleans and

. The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Criciúma. Criciuma's cathedral is Catedral São José. According to IBGE statistics for 2014, it has 211,369 inhabitants, being the main city of the Carboniferous Metropolitan Region, which has about 600 thousand inhabitants, besides being the most populous city of South Catarinense, the seventh largest in the state of Santa Catarina and the 22nd in the Southern Region of Brazil. Under the Unified Health System, the SUS, Criciúma houses more than 252 thousand registered. It is among the 100 municipalities in Brazil with the best Human Development Index (HDI), calculated as 0.788 in 2010, being the 76th most well-rated municipality in the country and the 14th best evaluated in Santa Catarina that year . The city is an industrial center in several sectors, among them: confection, packaging, ceramic, plastic and disposable, metalworking, extraction of coal, civil construction and graphic material. With headquarters in Criciúma, Rede Angeloni is the largest supermarket chain in Santa Catarina and the 10th largest in the country, with 27 stores spread throughout Brazil, the largest hypermarket in the network is located in Criciúma. In addition to having 3 malls, in the service sector - health and education - stands out with three hospitals, two 24-hour care units, the University of Extremo Sul Catarinense, Federal Institute of Santa Catarina and seven other colleges. Known for being the Brazilian Capital of Coal and Ceramic Coating. In its subsoil it harbors one of the largest mineral reserves of the country. The Visitation Mine Octávio Fontana, allows a view of the historical evolution of the extractive wealth of the city. Colonized by Italians, the city also received Poles, Germans, Portuguese and Arabs at various stages of its development. Among so many popular festivals that take place in the South, one of them is in Criciúma. The Festival of Ethnicities, which in the first editions was named Quermesse for being held in Nereu Ramos Square, next to St. Joseph's Cathedral, brings together all the ethnic traditions of the region and has as main objectives to promote the manifestations and to integrate the colonizers of Criciúma, thus passing on their cultural history. On November, 30th (2020), an assault occurred in Criciúma, but anyone died.

Transportation

Criciúma is served by Diomício Freitas Airport located in the adjoining municipality of Forquilhinha and Humberto Ghizzo Bortoluzzi Regional Airport located in Jaguaruna.

Notable people

* Jucemar Luiz Domingos de Ambrózio, footballer *

Valdomiro Vaz Franco Valdomiro Vaz Franco, better known as Valdomiro (born 17 February 1946), is a former Brazilian footballer who played as a striker. He played 17 matches For the Brazilian team between 1973 and 1977, and scored 5 goals. Valdomiro also participa ...

, footballer * Airton Souza, coach and former footballer

Twin towns – sister cities

Criciúma is twinned with: *

Huaibei Huaibei () is a prefecture-level city in northern Anhui Province, China. It borders Suzhou (Anhui) to the east, Bengbu to the south, Bozhou to the west, and the provinces of Henan to the northwest and Jiangsu to the northeast. The population wa ...

, China *

Vittorio Veneto Vittorio Veneto is a city and '' comune'' situated in the Province of Treviso, in the region of Veneto, Italy, in the northeast of Italy, between the Piave and the Livenza rivers, borders with the following municipalities: Alpago ( BL), Bell ...

, Italy

City data

Transportation

Notable people

Twin towns – sister cities

References

External links