Missões, Brazil is a region of
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a state in the southern region of Brazil. It is the fifth-most-populous state and the ninth largest by area. Located in the southernmost part of the country, Rio Grande do Sul is border ...
in
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 ...
roughly occupying the same area previously dominated by the colonial missions founded by
Saint Roque González.
The ''Missões'' region is located in the northwestern part of the state and is part of a larger missions' settlement system, extending into
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 List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
, and other neighboring countries. Which in turn were part of a larger project, the
Spanish missions in South America.
Minority languages
The majority of present population of the ''Missões'' region first began to arrive in this area starting only over one hundred years ago. Therefore, about three centuries after the original historical
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
missions had long vanished and what had been left of the native Christianized population had dispersed, reverting into their traditional semi-nomadic way of living.
The more recent settlements, in great part by transplanted by Europeans from old settlements on the eastern part of the state, brought with them their minority immigrant languages which are still in use today in greater or lesser extent throughout the countryside, in hamlets, towns and municipalities.
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 ...
is by far being the most commonly found
minority language
A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019) ...
in this region, it specifically the home of the
Riograndenser Hunsrückisch
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. ...
[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> German dialect, being part of the Moselle Franconian dialects
__NOTOC__
Moselle Franconian (german: Moselfränkisch, lb, Muselfränkesch) is a West Central German language, part of the Central Franconian languages area, that includes Luxembourgish.
It is spoken in the southern Rhineland and along the c ...
.
The municipality of Guarani das Missões
Guarani das Missões is a municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Guarani das Missões calls itself the ''Polish Capital of Rio Grande do Sul'' because it was settled primarily by Polish immigrants, starting over one century ago. ...
was settled primarily by Polish immigrants, and the town still maintains its cultural and linguistic roots.
Campina das Missões is a municipality where the majority of its population has German background, however a substantial percentage of the inhabitants are descendant of Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
n immigrants.''Centenário da Igreja Ortodoxa Russa no Brasil'' (27.10.2013). ''O Estrangeiro: Brasil, país de imigração'' (oestrangeiro.org). Laboratório de Comunicação Social Aplicada da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (LACOSA-UFRJ); e Programa de Educação Tutorial da Escola de Comunicação da UFRJ (PET-ECO)
/ref> and as a result, aside from Portuguese, the national language, both Russian and German are spoken locally as regional languages.
See also
* Spanish missions in the Americas
The Spanish missions in the Americas were Catholic missions established by the Spanish Empire during the 16th to 19th centuries in the period of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. These missions were scattered throughout the entirety of ...
References
Geography of Rio Grande do Sul
{{RioGrandedoSul-geo-stub