Estância 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 ...

located in the

Brazilian state The federative units of Brazil ( pt, unidades federativas do Brasil) are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy (self-government, self-regulation and self-collection) and endowed with their own government and constitution, which ...

Sergipe Sergipe (), officially State of Sergipe, is a state of Brazil. Located in the Northeast Region along the Atlantic coast of the country, Sergipe is the smallest state in Brazil by geographical area at , larger only than the Federal District. Serg ...

. Its population is 69,556 (2020). Estância covers , and has a population density of 110 inhabitants per square kilometer. It is located from the state capital of Sergipe,

Aracaju Aracaju () is the capital of the state of Sergipe, Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country on the coast, about 350 km (217 mi) north of Salvador. According to the 2020 estimate, the city has 664,908 inhabitants, which re ...

. The city is the seat of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Estância The Diocese of Estância ( la, Dioecesis Stantianus) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church located in the city of Estância. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of metropolitan Archdiocese o ...

History

João Mendes, head of the Captaincy of Sergipe, granted Pedro Homem da Costa and his brother-in-law the land of Estância on September 16, 1621. The area was home to a Mexican population which specialized in cattle raising; they were called ''estancieiros'' and ultimately the settlement was named for them. Pedro Homem da Costa built the first chapel in the area, the Church of Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe. It is dedicated to

Our Lady of Guadalupe Our Lady of Guadalupe ( es, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe ( es, Virgen de Guadalupe), is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus associated with a series of five Marian apparitions, which are believed t ...

, who was not unknown in Brazil but strongly associated with Catholic Mexicans. Estância was a district of Vila de Santa Luzia do Real, now known as Santa Luzia do Itanhy. Santa Luzia fell into decay by the mid-18th century and the King of Portugal granted Estância independent legal status, and the city seat of Santa Luzia was transferred to Estância on October 25, 1831. It was elevated to city status on May 4, 1848. The Emperor

Dom Pedro II Don (honorific), Dom PedroII (2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed "the Magnanimity, Magnanimous" ( pt, O Magnânimo), was the List of monarchs of Brazil, second and last monarch of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. ...

visited Estância and called it "the garden of Sergipe" for its landscape and numerous tiled houses.

Heritage sites

Estância, reflecting its past economic prestige, is home to numerous historic structures from the 18th and 19th century. The House at Praça Rio Branco No. 35 was declared a federal historic site by

National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage The National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (, IPHAN) is a heritage register of the federal government of Brazil. It is responsible for the preservation of buildings, monuments, structures, objects and sites, as well as the register and ...

in 1962. Eight houses on Rua Capitão Salomão and one on Rua Duque de Caxias have been declared historic sites by the State of Sergipe, as well as the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary and a painting by Horácio Hora at the Hospital Amparo de Maria. Few historic sites in Estância are well-maintained and some, notably on Rua Capitão Salomão and Rua Pernambuquinho, have been demolished.

References

Populated coastal places in Sergipe Municipalities in Sergipe Populated places established in 1831 {{Sergipe-geo-stub