Campos Novos is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

in Santa Catarina, in the Southern 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 ...

. 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 (also spelled ''caingangue'' in Portuguese (language), Portuguese or ''kanhgág'' in the Kaingang language) people are an Indigenous peoples in Brazil, Indigenous Brazilian ethnic group spread out over the three southern Brazilian s ...

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

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 Ga ...

- Rio Grande do Sul 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 Capinzal is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina in the South region of Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. ...

and

Videira Videira is a city in the state of Santa Catarina in Brazil. The estimated population in 2020 was 53,610 inhabitants. The city is called "Capital do Vinho" (The Wine Capital) in reference to the production of this alcoholic drink. In the past, Vi ...

. 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 to 2018 ...

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

Ragamuffin War The Ragamuffin War (Portuguese: ''Guerra dos Farrapos'' or ''Revolução Farroupilha'') 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 ...

. 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 the state and is the largest municipality of it. It ...

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

- Rio Grande do Sul and by the

Contestado War The Contestado War ( pt, Guerra do Contestado), 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 ...

. 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, the capital of Santa Catarina. It is at the crosspoint of the federal highways BR-470 and BR-282 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 in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in Brazil's South Region. The Curitiba Metropolitan area ...

Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina, in the Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitiba and Porto Alegre. Joinville is also a ...

Chapecó Chapecó () is a municipality in the state of 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 a medium city, with a p ...

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 , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 ...

(SSCK) 95 km,

(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

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