Guarani das Missões is a municipality in the 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 ...

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 ...

. Guarani das Missões calls itself the ''Polish Capital of Rio Grande do Sul'' because it was settled primarily by

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

immigrants, starting over one century ago. The

Polish language Polish (Polish: ''język polski'', , ''polszczyzna'' or simply ''polski'', ) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group written in the Latin script. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as the native language of the Poles. In a ...

is still spoken and is maintained as a unique regionalism, alongside the national language,

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

History

Guarani das Missões began as a

Jesuit reduction Reductions ( es, reducciones, also called ; , pl. ) were settlements created by Spanish rulers and Roman Catholic missionaries in Spanish America and the Spanish East Indies (the Philippines). In Portuguese-speaking Latin America, such red ...

settlement east of the

Uruguay River The Uruguay River ( es, Río Uruguay, ; pt, Rio Uruguai, ) is a major river in South America. It flows from north to south and forms parts of the boundaries of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of La M ...

. In 1891 the federal government and colonial commission of Brazil assessed and divided the land for colonization. The land originally consisted of two centers, one on the banks of the Uruguay River and one further into the interior of the country on the banks of the Comandaí River. The colony on the banks of the Uruguay would become the modern municipality of Porto Lucena whereas the land close to the Comandaí would be foundation for Guarani das Missões. Revolutions in Brazil between 1894 and 1897 had caused a delay in the colonization of the region, with just an estimated 1,200 inhabitants between the Uruguay and Comandaí colonies. The early settlers were ethnically diverse, with Swedes being the first to arrive. They were followed by Poles, Germans, Italians, Russians, Portuguese, Czechoslovakians, Austrians, Spaniards, Ukrainians and others soon after. Poles began to become prominent in Guarani das Missões around 1900, around the same time that the colony began increased construction and surveyance of the land. Between 1911 and 1959 Guarani das Missões was a district within the municipality of

São Luiz Gonzaga São Luiz Gonzaga (Portuguese for St. Aloysius Gonzaga) is a municipality of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Its population is 33,293 (2020 est.) in an area of 1295,68 km². It was founded in the 17th century as a Jesuit mission to ...

. It name was changed several times during this time period, first being named ''Guarani'' then becoming the ''Colônia Guarani'' and then simplifying to just ''Guarani'' again, before undergoing a complete change to ''Guaramano''. It finally became ''Guarani das Missões'' in 1950 and separated as its own municipality in 1959.

Demographics

Called the Polish capital of Rio Grande Do Sul, the majority of the population is descended from Polish settlers. Today residents still celebrate an annual ''PolFest'' in celebration of Polish colonization and immigration. The festival consist of live music, a beauty queen contest, Polish cuisine, and locally made ''Miętówka'', a kind of mint liquor that was brought by Polish immigrants. In addition to the large Polish descended population, a majority of the population is Catholic with a monument to

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

and a shrine dedicated to

Our Lady of Czestochova Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a government utility regulat ...

References

Municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul {{RioGrandedoSul-geo-stub

History

Demographics

See also

References