São Leopoldo () (Portuguese for ''Saint Leopold'') is a Brazilian industrial city located in the
south
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
state of
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 st ...
.
Geography
It occupies a total area of 103.9 km² (around 80 km² urban area) at ''circa'' 30 km from the State Capital,
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...
. The climate is sub-tropical, with temperatures varying from -2 °C minimum at Winter to more than 40 °C maximum during summer time. Summers are fairly dry.
History
Established on July 25, 1824, by
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
, São Leopoldo is considered the cradle of
German culture in Brazil, that is to say, it is the first official city designed by the national Brazilian governor to start the German plan of immigration in the country. It had, in 2006, a population of approximately 210,000.
São Leopoldo is one of the 13 cities along the
Rota Romântica
The Rota Romântica () is a scenic tourist route that runs through 13 municipalities located in the Serra Gaúcha region of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The area was first colonized by German immigrants in the first ...
('Romantic Route'), a touristic scenic route that runs from the State Capital towards the
Serra Gaúcha
The Serra Gaúcha (''Gaucho Highlands'') is a cultural region comprising the mountainous areas in the northeastern portion of Rio Grande do Sul state in southern Brazil. Most of its inhabitants are of German and Italian ancestry. Consequently, t ...
.
Minority language
Riograndenser Hunsrückisch German
Hunsrik (natively and Portuguese ''Hunsrik'' or ''Hunsrückisch''), also called ''Riograndenser Hunsrückisch'' or ''Katharinensisch'', is a Moselle Franconian language derived primarily from the Hunsrückisch dialect of West Central German. T ...
is a regional language in
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
like
Pennsylvania Deitsch is in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
. They are also similar because of their origin in the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
region of southwest
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. As a Brazilian variant of European
Moselle Franconian
__NOTOC__
Moselle Franconian (german: Moselfränkisch, lb, Muselfränkesch) is a West Central German language, part of the Central Franconian dialects, Central Franconian languages area, that includes Luxembourgish.
It is spoken in the southe ...
, it is also spoken beyond the state of Rio Grande do Sul, where for almost two hundred years it has been historically centered and where most of its 2 to 3 millions speakers live (there are speakers in neighboring southern Brazilian states, as well as in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
and
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del 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 ...
).
There are many other municipalities with this
bilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
profile throughout the state and the German language is experiencing a strong revival: In 2012 the state chamber of deputies voted unanimously in favor of recognizing the Hunsrückisch Germanic dialect of Rio Grande do Sul an official historical
Intangible cultural heritage
An intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered by UNESCO to be part of a place's cultural heritage. Buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts are cultural property. Int ...
to be preserved.
[LEI 14.061 - Declara integrante do patrimônio histórico e cultural do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul a “Língua Hunsrik”, de origem germânica](_blank)
/ref>[LEI Nº 14.061, de 23 de julho de 2012 - Declara integrante do patrimônio histórico e cultural do estado do Rio Grande do Sul a língua hunsrik, de origem germânica](_blank)
/ref>
Education
The area had a German school, Instituto Preteologico.[Deutscher Bundestag 4. Wahlperiode Drucksache IV/3672]
Archive
. Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
(West Germany). 23 June 1965. Retrieved on 12 March 2016. p. 19/51. The city is the headquarters of Unisinos University.
Gallery
Image:Sao leopoldo.jpg
External links
References
Municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul
German-Brazilian culture
Populated places established in 1824
{{RioGrandedoSul-geo-stub