Balneário Camboriú
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Balneário Camboriú () is a coastal city in the southern
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 ...
ian state of Santa Catarina. The city is built on steep hills which drop down to the sea. It is a popular tourist destination for South Americans, who are drawn to its main ocean boulevard Avenida Atlântica (Atlantic Avenue), and who swell the city's population from 145,796 (2020 census office estimate) to over one million in the summer. Balneário Camboriú is famous for its unique beach-to-beach cable car which links the city's central beach with the beach of Laranjeiras. The city is located south of the city of Itajaí, south of the city of
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 ...
, and north of the state capital,
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 city is served by Ministro Victor Konder International Airport located in the adjoining municipality of Navegantes. The original meaning of the city's name is unknown. According to the city's archives, it is "River filled with Snook (Robalo)", which is a very common type of fish in this region. Ilha das Cabras (Goats' Island) is directly opposite the city and is too small for habitation but it is lit at night. Visitors to nearby Laranjeiras Beach can sail there aboard 17th century-style pirate ships, going around Ilha das Cabras before returning to Balneário Camboriú. The city also has a statue similar to
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
's ''Cristo Redentor'' ( ''Christ the Redeemer''). Standing atop the Morro da Cruz, '' Cristo Luz'' (Christ Light) portrays Jesus holding a circular "broad-brimmed hat" at his left shoulder, symbolizing the
sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
, and which houses a spotlight that shines out over the city. The Cristo Luz at 33 meters tall is only five meters shorter than the ''Redeemer'' and colorful lights both within and without the statue give it nighttime illumination. Another common sight in the city are paragliders over the beach, alongside the tall buildings, from the gliderport in Praia dos Amores. To the west the city is bordered by the Camboriú River, which joins the ocean at the southern edge of the center of the city, where the cable car (teleférico) rises from the central beach. The city has been called the "Brazilian
Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
", due to its high number of skyscrapers and affluent tourists.


History

The indigenous Tupi-Guaraní tribe first inhabited the region. Europeans settled in the area in 1758 when a few families from Porto Belo moved to a site they called Our Lady of Bon Sucesso and is now known as Barra. Francisco Garcia and his family and their slaves lived nearby, from which the village became known as Garcia. Baltasar Pinto Corrêa came from the
Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...
and was also an early settler. These were followed by groups of Germans who came from the valleys of the Itajal and Blumenauin, in search of fertile land. They built the church of Our Lady of Good Success and they founded the town of Bom Sucesso. In 1848 it became a district of the city of Itajaí, until it was detached in 1884. In 1930, the privileged geographical location began to be preferred by vacationing oceangoers, and two years later the town's first hotel was built at the confluence of Central and Atlantic Avenues. In 1964, the district earned autonomy under the toponym Balneário de Camboriú, which was amended in 1979 to Balneário Camboriú. There are two version of the origin of the toponym ''Camboriú''. One claims that the residents used the expression "camba the river" due to a sharp bend in the river near its mouth (''cambar'' is a Portuguese verb that can mean ''to sharply change direction''). Another idea was proposed by the local priest Raulin Reitz, who said that the maps of old indicated the name Rio Camboriú before Europeans had settled in the area, and that the toponym Camboriú comes from the
Tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi () is a classical Tupian language which was spoken by the indigenous Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. In the words of Brazilian tupinol ...
, formed by the agglutination of ''Camboriú'' and ''-u''.


Demographics


Ethnicity

The region was first colonized by settlers from the Azores, but the majority of the population of Balneário Camboriú is of German descent.


Administrative definitions

Law municipal Number 18 of October 20, 1954, created the district Praia de Camboriú, subject to the city of Camboriú. This remained the case until at least 1958. State law Number 960 of April 8, 1964, dismembered Camboriú and created Balneário de Camboriú as a higher category of municipality. A district headquarters was established on July 20, 1964, in the old district of Praia do Camboriú.


Geography


Climate

The climate is considered mild and is the classification of Köppen Cfa type (mesothermic humid with hot summers). In summer, though hot, hardly ever reach the 40 °C, and its average is 25 °C. In winter, the average temperature is around 15 °C, but the minimum in the early morning can attain cooler values between 0 °C and 4 °C. The annual average is 19 °C. The climate is generally humid, with mean annual rainfall of 1,500 mm, with no defined dry season (the rainfall regime is typical of the humid subtropical type of climate). Possible floods and droughts hit the city, damaging its economy and population. The temperature of sea water for this region of Balneário Camboriú ranges from 16 °C on average (in winter) to 24.4 °C on average (in summer), whereas in autumn and spring is around 21 °C The warmest months are: February and March are the two best months to enjoy the beach.


Economy

The main economic activity of the city is related to its residential real estate market, dominated by local developers, with prices reaching US$10,000/sqm for beachfront high rises, although the average price falls to around US$3,000/sqm. Loose urban laws allowed the creation of some of the tallest buildings in the southern hemisphere, surpassing 280m of height in some cases. The fluctuation of its population, which rises almost fivefold during the summer season, commonly overloads municipal service networks, degrading water quality for beachgoers and causing shortages in the fresh water supply. Recent investments have been made to tackle this issue, but the city’s high density and population fluctuation makes it a challenging task. The access to Balneario Camboriú is restricted to its main state road, BR-101, and the affluence of tourists causes large traffic jams in all directions for the most part of the year. The nearest airport is located in Navegantes, 16 km (9.9 mi) distant. A cruise terminal has been planned, due to be completed in 2025-26, in order to further supplement the availability of the city to tourists. Near the future terminal, in the southern end of the city, there is a cable car at the Tourist Complex UNIPRAIAS that connects the central beach to the nearby Laranjeiras beach. There are many other beaches in the southern section of Balneário Camboriú, such as Bamboos, Estaleiro, Estaleirinho, and Pinho beach (the first officially designated nudist beach in Brazil). These beaches are linked by Interpraias road, up to the limits of the municipality of Itapema. Other prevalent forms of economic activity within the city are in trade and the services industries. There are around 100 hotels, 350 large commercial buildings, and 1,035 high-density upper- and middle-class residential buildings. Regarding tourists, 45% of intranational or domestic tourists come from the
State of São Paulo State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
; many of the rest come from nearby states, such as Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, in addition to Santa Catarina itself. Regarding international visitors, 30% come from
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
, and the rest, roughly speaking, from neighboring countries such as Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile.


Sights

*Parque Unipraias (Unipraias Park) – A park including Mata Atlântica (Atlântica Woods) which are almost extinct, and gives an opportunity to watch ocean views. *'' Cristo Luz'' – A monument 33 meters tall (108 ft) atop Morro da Cruz. It is served by a tourist complex with restaurants, stores, live shows and playgrounds. *Parque Cyro Gevaerd (also known as Santur) – It houses birds, an aquarium, an Archeologic and Oceanographic Museum, a Fishermen Museum and a Minifarm that show local species of both fauna and flora in its natural habitat. In the zoo, lions, tigers, monkeys, alligators and many other animals and some of the attractions. *Capela de Santo Amaro (St. Amaro Chappel) – Built in 1810 with a mixture of whale oil and mortar, it was classified as a local Historical Patrimony in June 1998. It is located in Bairro da Barra neighborhood right in front of the Fishermen Plaza and the school of Arts. *Parque Natural Municipal Raimundo Gonçalez Malta – Known previously as Parque Ecológico Rio Camboriú, it includes different types of local plants, with gardens such as Bromelia, Viveira da Mata Atlântica and São Francisco Garden. There are several echo trails, playgrounds and parking lots. It is located at the end of Angelina Street.


Musical culture

''Forbes'' magazine published a story in late February 2012 about the ascent of electronic music in Brazil. Balneário Camboriú was presented as the country's "capital of e-music". According to ''Forbes'', Balneário Camboriú is the home to the two best clubs in Brazil, the Warung club ( Itajaí) and the Green Valley club, which the publication claims to have make up to $1.6 million in income per night. Green Valley in particular was elected many times as the top nightclub in the world by the
DJ Magazine ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lati ...
, positioning the city among the top spots for the electronic music scene worldwide. In 2012, the famous nightclub
Space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...
opened an affiliate in the city, the Space B. Camboriú, but the project was not successful.


Twin towns – sister cities

Balneário Camboriú is twinned with: *
Pingdingshan Pingdingshan ( zh, s=平顶山, t=平頂山, p=Píngdǐngshān), also known as Eagle City ( zh, s=鹰城, p=Yīngchéng, t=鷹城), is a prefecture-level city in central Henan province, China. It had 4,904,701 inhabitants at the 2010 census who ...
,
Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
*
Punta del Este Punta del Este () is a seaside city and peninsula on the Atlantic Coast in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. Starting as a small town, Punta del Este grew to become a resort for the Latin and North American jet set and tourists. T ...
,
Maldonado Department The Maldonado Department (; ), with an area of and 212,951 inhabitants (2023), is located to the southeast of Uruguay. Its capital is Maldonado, Uruguay, Maldonado. Geography Neighbouring departments are Rocha Department, Rocha to the East, Lav ...
,
Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...


See also

* List of tallest buildings in Balneário Camboriú


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balneario Camboriu Populated places established in 1964 Populated coastal places in Santa Catarina (state) Municipalities in Santa Catarina (state) Seaside resorts in Brazil