Campos Novos is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in Santa Catarina, in the Southern Region 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 ...

. Campos Novos is a pioneer in production of pollen and the biggest grain and oat producer of Santa Catarina. The municipality invests also into fat stock and poultry farming. Main ethnic origins are Italian, German, Portuguese, Polonese and Drovers.

History

The

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 ...

, an Indigenous people of southern Brazil, were the first inhabitants of the region. The construction of the railway

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 ...

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 ...

and the passages of the cattle drovers in the region mobilized many immigrants. Those migrations caused the creation of many villages at the Rio de Peixe river, like Bom Retiro, Capinzal and Videira. The arrival of the Italian and German settlers induced commercial and industrial activities in the 19th and 20th centuries. Therefore, the city has a rich cultural diversity. It has even a community of descendants of African slaves.

19th century

As many of the municipalities in the region, Campos Novos populated from the first attempts of colonialisation in southern Brazil, which began between 1825 and 1830, as the farmer João Gonçalves de Araújo coming from

Curitibanos Curitibanos is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Santa Catarina. It is located at 27º16'58" south latitude and 50º35'04" west longitude, at an elevation of 987 metres. It has an area of 953.67 km² and its population, according t ...

settled down in the region. Shortly afterwards came the gaúchos evading the

Ragamuffin War The Ragamuffin War, also known as the Ragamuffin Revolution or Heroic Decade, was a republican uprising that began in southern Brazil, in the province (current state) of Rio Grande do Sul in 1835. The rebels were led by Generals Bento Gonçalv ...

. Many farmers originating from

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 ...

settled down as well, attracted by the huge quantity of terra and grassland. Then, the locality welcomed inhabitants coming from the states

and Paraná on the search of territory for cattle breeding. In 1854, Campos Novos became a district of the municipality of ''Nossa Senhora dos prazeres de Lages'', today

, with a total area of more than 5 000 km², according to provincial law nº 377, of June 16, 1854. Despite the many partitionings, Campos Novos is still one of the biggest municipality of Santa Catarina regarding the surface area. From 1869 until 1881, Campos Novos was under control of

. Then it became an independent municipality, according to provincial law nº 923, of March 30, 1881. Between 1850 and 1895, the province of Santa Catarina had only 11 municipalities.

20th century

In the beginning of the 20th century, Campos Novos was embossed by the construction of the railway

and by the

Contestado War The Contestado War (), broadly speaking, was a guerrilla war for land between settlers and landowners, the latter supported by the Brazilian state's police and military forces, that lasted from October 1912 to August 1916. It was fought in an i ...

. From 1908 until 1910 many immigrants of various nationions arrived in Campos Novos: Poland, Russia, Lebanon as well as other settlers from other Brazilian states, especially descendants from Germany and Italy after the

(1912–1916).

Geography

Campos Novos is 370 km west of

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 capital of Santa Catarina. It is at the crosspoint of the federal highways BR-470 and

BR-282 BR-282 is a federal highway in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. The highway goes the entire length of the state from the state capital, Florianópolis on the Atlantic Ocean in the east, 680.6 km westward to the town of Para ...

and the state highways SC-455 and SC-458. Campos Novos has a central bus station with connections to

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 ...

Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, in the Southern Brazil, Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitib ...

Chapecó Chapecó () is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, in the Southern Region of Brazil. Being a major industrial, financial and educational center, it is a major producer of industrialized food products. Considered ...

and many other cities. The next airports are in

(XAP) 155 km,

(LAJ) 145 km,

Concórdia Concórdia is a city in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. It was founded by colonizers of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, basically descendants of Italians and Germans, who immigrated to Brazil in the 19th century. It is located 480 km west o ...

(SSCK) 95 km, Videira (SSVI) 55 km, Joaçaba (SSJA) 40 km. The municipality is divided into following 7 districts since 2007: * Campos Novos * Bela Vista * Dal`Pai * Espinilho * Ibicuí * Leão * Tupitinga

Climate

Campos Novos has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Cfb'') with warm summers, mild winters, and heavy rainfall throughout the year.

Economy/industry

Campos Novos is the biggest grain producer of Santa Catarina. Many farmers are joined in cooperatives. There are also livestock and poultry farming. The Occident's highest dam of that type with a height of 202 m (663 ft) is 30 km (20 mi) from the city center. It was built from August 2001 to July 2006 by Enercan.Enercan
/ref> The 3 installed

Francis Turbine The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts. Francis turbines are the most common water turbine in use today, and can achieve over 95% efficiency. The pro ...

s have a power of 880 megawatts. The Campos Novos Dam produces 3,310,404

MWh A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a commo ...

per year.

Tourism

The museum Fundação Cultural Camponovense (Campos Novos cultural foundation) better known as Casa da Cultura (house of the culture) exposes the historic archive of Dr. Waldemar Rupp and the Testament from 1877, related to the history of the community in the 19th century. The church São João Batista on the Lauro Müller square is decorated by wooden sculptures and beautiful stained glass. 22 km from the city center is the Ibicui district, better known as Corredeira, where descendants of African slaves live. There is also the cemetery Invernada dos Negros.

References

External links

Municipalities of Santa Catarina
- in Portuguese
information from FECAM
- in Portuguese {{Santa_Catarina_MesoRegion_Serrana Municipalities in Santa Catarina (state)