Araranguá is a city located in the southern part of Santa Catarina state, in the south of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. It has 68,867 inhabitants and was settled mainly by Portuguese and

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

. Araranguá is known as "A Cidade das Avenidas" ("''The City of the Avenues''") because of its wide roads.

History

Until the 18th century, the city was inhabited mostly by Carijós and

Kaingang The Kaingang people are an Indigenous peoples in Brazil, Indigenous Brazilian ethnic group spread out over the three southern Brazilian states of Paraná (state), Paraná, Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul and the sout ...

Indians. These ethnics groups disappeared after the arrival of the first Europeans settlers. On 11 February 1728, was started the opening of the Caminho dos Conventos way that linked Morro dos Conventos ("''Convents Mountain''") to Curitiba. This way became used mostly by the tropeiros, who carried cattle from

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. Araranguá became a waypoint for those between Viamão (former capital of Rio Grande do Sul) and

Lages Lages is a Brazilian municipality located in the central part of the state of Santa Catarina, in the region known in Portuguese as "Planalto Serrano". It is located in the mountain region of and is also the largest municipality of Santa Catari ...

(in the top of the Planalto Serrano). The first to arrive in Araranguá region were the Portugueses, who came from Laguna in the beginning of the 19th century. They first settled in the Morro dos Conventos. Later,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, Polish and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

immigrants and the African

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

arrived in the city. In 1816 was inaugurated in the village of Canjicas the first chapel in the region. In 1864 was created the first church within the current city of Araranguá. The city was founded 3 April 1880, and was named Araranguá after the Araranguá River. The village was promoted to the condition of city in 1921. Along the 20th century the city underwent some dismemberments. The city of Criciúma emancipated in 1925 followed by Turvo (1948), Sombrio (1953), Maracajá (1967) and Balneário Arroio do Silva (1997).

Climate

Araranguá was struck by the Cyclone Catarina in the night between 28 and 29 March 2004 with winds up to 150 km/h. This event still intrigues scientists. The city was again struck by at least two

tornadoes A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

in the night of September, the 29th of 2009, the first ever recorded in the urban area, although others have been already spotted in rural areas. A school gymnasium collapsed over a house and many windows were broken in some shops, but there were no victims.

Economy

*Agriculture – production of rice,

bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...

s, tobacco and

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

. *Industry – based on

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porce ...

, furniture and textiles. *Commerce *Tourism

Education

The city has a campus of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, inaugurated on 10 August 2009. With headquarters in Mato Alto and Jardim das Avenidas, the campus offers 4 undergraduate programs (Computer Engineering, Energy Engineering, Physiotherapy and Information and Communication Technologies) and 4 masters programs (Rehabilitation Sciences, Energy and Sustainability, Physics Teaching and Information and Communication Technologies). Also located in Araranguá is a campus of the Federal Institute of Santa Catarina, which offers technical courses in Electromechanics, Fashion and Apparel Production, and undergraduate programs in Fashion Design and Physics .

Notable people

* Juliano (Juliano Gomes Soares) - Brazilian football player

Transportation

Highways

Araranguá is accessed by road mainly from the

BR-101 The BR-101 (also called ''Translitorânea'' (transcoastal), officially named ''Rodovia Governador Mário Covas''.Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

and

Florianópolis Florianópolis () is the capital and second largest city of the state of Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, in the South Region, Brazil, South region of Brazil. The city encompasses Santa Catarina Island and surrounding small islands, as we ...

, the former being away.

Buses

The city is served by Viação Cidade for intra-city routes and by União, Pluma, SantoAnjo and Eucatur for inter-city and inter-state routes. Among cities served are

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Southern Brazil. The city's population was 1,773,718 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the larg ...

and

besides most of the neighboring cities and cities along those routes.

References

External links

City’s official website
(in Portuguese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ararangua Populated coastal places in Santa Catarina (state) Populated places established in 1880 1880 establishments in Brazil Municipalities in Santa Catarina (state)