Santa Cruz is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Rio Grande do Norte Rio Grande do Norte (, , ) is one of the states of Brazil. It is located in the northeastern region of the country, forming the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. The name literally translates as "Great Northern River", re ...

in the Northeast region of

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 ...

. The City is known for its St.

Rita of Cascia Rita of Cascia, born Margherita Lotti (1381 – 22 May 1457), was an Italian widow and Augustinian nun venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. After Rita's husband died, she joined an Augustinian community of religious sisters, whe ...

Statue, The biggest Brazilian statue. As of the

IBGE The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ( pt, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information ...

in 2020, the city had a total population of 40 295 . The City is located 115 km from

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

, the largest city and capital of

. The area of the municipality of Santa Cruz was originally inhabited by the current Tapuia indigenous peoples. From 1831 onwards, Lourenço da Rocha, accompanied by João da Rocha and João Rodrigues da Silva, began the settlement of the place, with an economy based on agropastoral activity, which they soon called «Malhada do Juazeiro» and then «Santa Rita of the Waterfall". Legend has it, a certain one, knowing this tradition, thought the village and sent a cross, made with some branches of this tree. Then, in front of Santa Rita de Cássia, where all the weapons of the population of this order were, being all the weapons of this native order, being there a great order. With this fact, the village had its name changed to «Santa Cruz do Inharé». In 1835, the chapel of Santa Rita de Cássia was built, which further stimulated the growth of the village. An image of the saint, coming from the Cachoeira farm, was donated to the chapel. In the same year, provincial law no. 24, dated 27 March, elevates the village to the status of district, with the name “Santa Cruz da Ribeira do Trairi”. On the 30th of 1914, the state law 372, the village is inferior to the condition of city, having its name changed to «Santa Cruz». At the same time, the district of Tangará was created, passing through the municipality to be constituted by four districts. On December 31, 1958, the districts of Tangará and Trairi were dismembered, which gave rise to the municipality of Tangará, and Campo Redondo. On October 24, 1962, a ruling by the Federal Supreme Court extinguished the municipality of Campo Redondo, which returned to belonging to the municipality of Santa Cruz, but was again dismembered on March 26, 1963. Since then, the municipality of Santa Cruz has preserved its natural divisions. In November 2007, on Monte Carmelo, construction began on a statue dedicated to the patron saint of the municipality, Santa Rita de Cássia.

References

Municipalities in Rio Grande do Norte {{RioGrandedoNorte-geo-stub

See also

References