Prudentópolis is a Brazilian

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

in the state of Paraná, in Southern Brazil. As of 2020, it had a population of 52,513 people. It is the center of the Ukrainian community in Brazil. The Ukrainian city

Ternopil Ternópil ( uk, Тернопіль, Ternopil' ; pl, Tarnopol; yi, טאַרנאָפּל, Tarnopl, or ; he, טארנופול (טַרְנוֹפּוֹל), Tarnopol; german: Tarnopol) is a city in the west of Ukraine. Administratively, Ternopi ...

is the sister city to Prudentópolis. Moreover, the town is surrounded by 100

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...

s, which also attracts many tourists.

History

In 1882, the project of the construction of roads in central Paraná attracted the first families to the region. Firmo Mendes de Queiroz, descended from '' bandeirantes'', settled there, living on agriculture. He built a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

, giving birth to a place called "Vilinha" (Little Village) by its inhabitants. In 1894, the government decided to colonize the region of São João do Capanema. Cândido Ferreira de Abreu, the owner of this colony, decided to change its name to Prudentópolis, in honor to Brazilian president

Prudente de Morais Prudente José de Morais e Barros (; 4 October 1841 – 3 December 1902) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who was the third president of Brazil. He is notable as the first civilian president of the country, the first to be elected by direc ...

. In 1895, to settle this region, 1,500

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

, about 8,000 people, came to Prudentópolis. This immigration continued until the 1920s.História Prudentópolis
Most of the immigrants were from the

region of Ukraine, and today the Ukrainian city

is sister city of Prudentópolis.

Population

Nowadays, Prudentópolis is home to the largest population of Ukrainian descent in Brazil (75% of the municipality's inhabitants). Other ethnic groups that make up its population are

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...

and

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

. The Ukrainian culture is still preserved by its inhabitants: the

Ukrainian language Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state lan ...

is taught in local schools and used a liturgical language and there are typically Ukrainian constructions.

Religion

The Ukrainian Catholic

particular church In metaphysics, particulars or individuals are usually contrasted with universals. Universals concern features that can be exemplified by various different particulars. Particulars are often seen as concrete, spatiotemporal entities as opposed to a ...

, which used the Byzantine Rite in Ukrainian language, has there the Catedral Ucraniana Nossa Senhora da Imaculada Conceição, cathedral episcopal see of an

eparchy Eparchy ( gr, ἐπαρχία, la, eparchía / ''overlordship'') is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity, that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. Eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the ...

(diocese), the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Imaculada Conceição in Prudentópolis. It is (the sole) suffragan of the Metropolitan Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of São João Batista em Curitiba, who heads the only proper Eastern rite

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of seve ...

in Brazil.

References

Sources and External Links

Municipality site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prudentopolis Municipalities in Paraná Ukrainian diaspora in Brazil