Ilha dos Marinheiros ( "Island of the Sailors") is an island located in the south part of a lagoon named
Lagoa dos Patos
Lagoa dos Patos (, , ; English: ''Ducks' Lagoon'') is the largest lagoon in Brazil and the largest coastal lagoon in South America. It is located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. It covers an area of , is long and has a maximu ...
, located in the municipality of
Rio Grande, in the state of
Rio Grande do Sul,
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 ...
. It is situated on the west bank of that lagoon. This island has an area 39.28 km² (15.17 sq mi) and is situated 1.5 km (0.93 mi) off the continent at its nearest point.
It has 1,324 inhabitants (2000 Census), the majority of
Portuguese descent.
History
Ilha dos Marinheiros is considered part of the heritage of the city of Rio Grande due to the preservation of the culture of the Portuguese, who colonized it. Before the arrival of the first Portuguese settlers, the island was occupied by
indigenous people
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
. According to archaeological evidence discovered there, the groups were:
Minuane
Minuane were one of the native nations of Uruguay, Argentina (specially in the province of Entre Rios) and Brazil (specially in the state of Rio Grande do Sul). Their territory was along the Paraná and Uruguay Rivers. In one source, they are ...
,
Charrua and
Guaraní Guarani, Guaraní or Guarany may refer to
Ethnography
* Guaraní people, an indigenous people from South America's interior (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia)
* Guaraní language, or Paraguayan Guarani, an official language of Paraguay
* ...
.
The importance of the island was tied to the Rio Grande, which supplied water, firewood, and wood for the fortifications as well as for the settlers of the Town of Rio Grande de São Pedro. In the past, the island supplied all of the trade in Rio Grande and nearby locations; it currently produces about 80% of the vegetables consumed in Rio Grande.
In 1845, the island was visited by Emperor Dom
Pedro II of Brazil.
Geography
The Ilha dos Marinheiros is the largest and most fertile island of the Lagoa dos Patos. Near the banks, the depth of the basin is less than 1 metre (3.28 feet). To the south, there is a thin chain of
dunes
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
covered by heterogeneous vegetation.
The island formed from the gradual accumulation of sediments of fluvio-lacustrine origin and its natural landscape consists of three different areas: the margins, the high dunes area and the interior (depression on dunes). From the limits of the chain of dunes to the interior of the island, there is a great scene of lagoons, dunes, a forest of
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...
and shrubs. The chain of dunes covers an extension from northeast to northwest. The high dunes are formed by quartz grains. Currently, the dunes have thicker vegetation because of reforestation programs carried out by private companies. There is a
depression on the island, which creates many lakes in the winter, which almost completely dry in the summer.
It is considered the most fertile part of the municipality of Rio Grande and has been the most important agricultural centre for the production of vegetables, fruit and manufacture of wine, which supplied the town and exports on a large scale.
The climate of the island is
subtropical or
temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...
(''
Cfa''), with warm summers, cool winters and rainfall well distributed throughout the year. The summers’ average registers approximately 22 °C (71.6 °F), and the winters register average of 13 °C (55.4 °F). The average annual temperature is 17.6 °C (63.6 °F) and the average precipitation is 1,200 mm (47.24 in) annually.
Fundação Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (''Federal University of Rio Grande'') - FURG
, December 27, 2007.
Notes
See also
*Lagoa dos Patos
Lagoa dos Patos (, , ; English: ''Ducks' Lagoon'') is the largest lagoon in Brazil and the largest coastal lagoon in South America. It is located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. It covers an area of , is long and has a maximu ...
Sources
Rio Grande Virtual
External links
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071010042656/http://www.ilhadosmarinheiros.com.br/ Ilha dos Marinheiros - Tudo encanta nesta ilha!(''Ilha dos Marinheiros - Everything surprises in this island!'')
Rio Grande Em Fotos - Fotos da Ilha dos Marinheiros
(''Photos of the Ilha dos Marinheiros'')
Projeto Fotográfico Ilha dos Marinheiros
(''Ilha dos Marinheiros Photographic Project'')
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilha Dos Marinheiros
Atlantic islands of Brazil
Landforms of Rio Grande do Sul