Santa Maria de Jetibá is the name of a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in central

Espírito Santo Espírito Santo (; ) is a state in southeastern Brazil. Its capital is Vitória, and its largest city is Serra. With an extensive coastline, the state hosts some of the country's main ports, and its beaches are significant tourist attracti ...

, Southeastern

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 ...

. It was founded in 1857 by Pomeranian immigrants who arrived through the state capital Vitória by going up the river Santa Maria.

Geography

Located in the south-central mountain region of Espírito Santo, this municipality has an area of 735.55 square kilometers. The town of Santa Maria de Jetibá is 720 meters above sea level, and the highest point in the state is Garrafão Peak, at 1200 meters (3937 ft) above sea level.

People

With a total population of 41,015 (2020), Santa Maria de Jetibá is considered one of the last significant East Pomeranian-speaking communities in the world. Those immigrants ( Pomeranians), who came from the historical region Pomerania, now part of Germany and Poland where it is known as Pommern and Pomorze respectively. In Brazil, many Pomeranians also established communities in Santa Catarina (see

Pomerode Pomerode () is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, in Southern Brazil. It is located in the valley of the Itajaí-Açu river, not very far from the city of Blumenau, one of the ...

) and

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 ...

(see Arroio do Padre). Santa Maria de Jetibá is a place where the people still speak solely East Pomeranian in their day-to-day life. Due to the isolation of this community, most of the members of the community live in very poor conditions. Due also to financial constraints by the state, very little investment in education is forthcoming, and the language barrier persists to be a real problem for the community. This also hinders their future prospects, of course, by them not having proper education, thus a reasonable expectation in the work market. Those communities are mainly rural.

Demography

Most of the population of this city is descended from Pomeranian and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

peoples. Santa Maria de Jetibá realiza 23ª Festa Pomerana
East Pomeranian, a dialect of

Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...

, has co-official status in Santa Maria de Jetibá. ''Source: 2010 Census''

Climate

Santa Maria de Jetibá is in a high valley and the altitude is about 700m above sea level. The elevation of this municipality influences the climate which features a cool and dry winter, while there are wet and hot days with cool nights in summer. Santa Maria de Jetibá features a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

type Cwa.

References

External links