Vacaria is a

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 northeast of the southern

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 ...

ian 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 ...

. It is located at a latitude of 28° 30' 44" South and a longitude of 50° 56' 02" west, with an altitude of 971 meters. Its population in 2020 was estimated to be 66,575 inhabitants. The total area of the city is 2105.6 km². The city is known in Brazil for its climate and its production of apples. Its Catedral Nossa Senhora da Oliveira is the episcopal see of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Vacaria The Roman Catholic Diocese of Vacaria ( la, Dioecesis Vaccariensis) is a diocese located in the city of Vacaria in the Ecclesiastical province of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Passo Fundo, Passo Fundo in Brazil. History * 8 September 1934: Estab ...

, which was founded in 1937 as a

territorial prelature A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...

History

It was the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionaries that, in the 16th century, started the colonization of the area by spreading the livestock brought from the

reductions 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 redu ...

to the extensive wilderness known as "Baqueria de los Piñales". During more than a century, disputes with the Guarani Indians marked the history of the region, before it was consolidated as an official trail connecting the Plata region to Brazil. In the 19th century the fields of Vacaria were once more the stage of great battles, this time between the imperial soldiers and the republican revolutionists (

Ragamuffin War The Ragamuffin War (Portuguese: ''Guerra dos Farrapos'' or ''Revolução Farroupilha'') was a Republican uprising that began in southern Brazil, in the province (current state) of Rio Grande do Sul in 1835. The rebels were led by generals Bento ...

Economy

Its economy is based on cattle raising, agriculture, transportation, flower growing and fruit growing. Vacaria is the largest producer of apples in Rio Grande do Sul and 2nd in the country and is considered the introductory location of wild fruits such as

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...

bilberry Bilberries (), or sometimes European blueberries, are a primarily Eurasian species of low-growing shrubs in the genus ''Vaccinium'' (family Ericaceae), bearing edible, dark blue berries. The species most often referred to is ''Vaccinium myrtillus ...

strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...

and

raspberry The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus '' Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial with w ...

. The per capita income was estimated by the

IBGE The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ( pt, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information ...

in 2003 to be R$9.213,91

Attractions

Venue of the International

Crioulo The Portuguese word ''crioulo'' (''crioula'', ''crioulos'', ''crioulas'') may refer to: * In Brazil, a person of African ancestry * A creole language, especially one of the Portuguese-based creole languages * Criollo horse, also known as a criou ...

Rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...

(Rodeio Crioulo Internacional), one of the most important demonstrations of the

gaucho A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, and the south of Chilean Patagonia. Gauchos became greatly admired and ...

culture, the city has also other attractions, such as the Fazenda do Socorro and the beautiful stone-built Cathedral of Our Lady of the Olive Tree. On top of the natural attractions such as the beautiful sceneries like the valley of the

Pelotas River The Pelotas River (Portuguese language, Portuguese, ''Rio Pelotas'') () is a river in southern Brazil, and a tributary of the Uruguay River. The river originates in the Serra Geral at Alto do Bispo and flows northeast for before meeting the Cano ...

or the Parque das Cachoeiras, Vacaria has other interesting cultural attractions, like the city museum, the Atelier Livre, the public market, the center of craftwork and the Casa do Povo, the only work of the famous architect

Oscar Niemeyer Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (15 December 1907 – 5 December 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer (), was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was ...

in Rio Grande do Sul. Vacaria is also known for the production of a cheese based on the method of the Italian cheese

Grana Padano Grana Padano is a cheese originating in the Po river Valley in northern Italy that is similar to Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. There are less strict regulations governing its production compared to Parmigiano Reggiano. This hard, crumbly- textur ...

Climate

Vacaria has an oceanic climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Cfb''). With mild summers that have an average high of about 24 °C and an average low of about 14 °C. And winters with average high temperature of about 16 °C and an average low of about 7 °C. During winter the temperature commonly goes below freezing but rarely does it snow. In the winter of 1879, was recorded the strongest blizzard in Brazil, with accumulation of 2 meters in the urban area of Vacaria.Especial A Neve e os gaúchos
Zero Hora, visto em 03/08/2011.

Transportation

The city is served by Vacaria Airport.

References

Sources and external links

Climate of Vacaria

Snow in Vacaria
{{Authority control Municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul