Chapecó () is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina, in the Southern Region of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Being a major industrial, financial and educational center, it is a major producer of industrialized food products. Considered a medium city, with a population estimated at 224,013 inhabitants, it is among the four most important cities in the state. It belongs to the Meso-region of Western Santa Catarina and to the Microregion of Chapecó. Distant 550 km from the state capital,

Florianópolis Florianópolis () is the capital and second largest city of the state of Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, in the South Region, Brazil, South region of Brazil. The city encompasses Santa Catarina Island and surrounding small islands, as we ...

, it is Headquarters of the Metropolitan Region of Chapecó, and exerts significant influence not only in the Catarinense West but also in the Northwest

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 s ...

and Southwest of Paraná, from an economic, cultural, or political point of view. Chapecó became known worldwide through its

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club Chapecoense and the aftermath of LaMia Flight 2933 which killed 71, including most of the team's roster and staff. With the titles of "Brazil's

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit ...

capital" and "Brazil's business tourism capital", the planned town constructed in the form of a chess grid also has universities attracting students from all over

. The main educational institutions are UFFS, UCEFF, UNOCHAPECÓ, UNOESC and UDESC.

History

Until the 19th century, the area around Chapecó land was under indigenous (mainly

Kaingang The Kaingang people are an Indigenous peoples in Brazil, Indigenous Brazilian ethnic group spread out over the three southern Brazilian states of Paraná (state), Paraná, Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul and the sout ...

) and Spanish control, mostly unoccupied by European people and subject to border issues and armed conflicts. Brazilian control was in fact established as a military colony in 1882. Its official status as a

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

was established by state government decree after the

Contestado War The Contestado War (), broadly speaking, was a guerrilla war for land between settlers and landowners, the latter supported by the Brazilian state's police and military forces, that lasted from October 1912 to August 1916. It was fought in an i ...

on August 25, 1917. Its area was then given to a private colonization company which began selling land to people coming mainly from the neighboring state of

. Most of its inhabitants are descended from

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and Polish immigrants.

Demography

The region has always been the subject of disputes because of its strategic importance as a border region. During the

, airplanes were used for the first time in the history of

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for the purpose of recognition and support for war operations. Colonized by

and

immigrants, mainly from

, Paraná,

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

and the coast of Santa Catarina, the city today attracts several inhabitants thanks to its development. It is one of the cities with the highest number (in percentage) of buildings in Santa Catarina. According to the

IBGE The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil. IBGE performs a decennial national cen ...

, Chapecó has almost 16% of its population living in apartments, gaining in percentage of cities such as

Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, in the Southern Brazil, Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitib ...

, Itajaí and

Blumenau Blumenau () is a city in Vale do Itajaí, Santa Catarina (Brazil), Santa Catarina state, in the South Region, Brazil, South Region of Brazil, from the state capital Florianópolis. The city was founded by the German chemist and pharmacist H ...

Economy

This region of the state is home of some of the largest meat processing and exporting industrial enterprises such as Sadia and Seara Foods; the farmers are organized in

agricultural cooperatives An agricultural cooperative, also known as a farmers' co-op, is a producer cooperative in which farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activities. A broad typology of agricultural cooperatives distinguishes between agricultural servic ...

. Chapecó is known as a Brazilian agro-industrial capital, specialized in

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, Eggs as food, eggs or feathers. The practice of animal husbandry, raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typ ...

and technology involved. The city is headquarters o
Aurora Central Cooperative
and has a plant of BRF S.A. since 1973. Other major economic sectors are metal mechanics specialized in equipment for slaughterhouses and

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

, plastics and

packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a coo ...

furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...

beverages A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothie ...

software development Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...

and

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

. Civil construction and

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

are also important source of income. Chapecó is served by Serafin Enoss Bertaso Airport.

Culture

Sports

Football is the great passion of the Chapecoenses. The Chapecoense Football Association, known among its fans as a "Hurricane from the west", Chape and verdão, a team from Santa Catarina, has as its last title the Campeonato Catarinense de Futebol de 2020 - Série A. Its headquarters is in Arena Condá, with a capacity of over 22,000 people and located in the East Zone of the city. The team had spent three consecutive years in the C Series of the Brazilian Championship (2010, 2011 and 2012), before beginning a rapid rise through the Brazilian football pyramid by reaching the second division in 2013 and entering the Serie A Brasileirão in 2014, where it currently resides. The team was among the best teams in South America, reaching the quarterfinals of the 2015 Copa Sudamericana and reaching the final of the

2016 Copa Sudamericana The 2016 Copa Sudamericana () was the 15th edition of the Copa Sudamericana, South America's secondary club association football, football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The 2016 Copa Sudamericana Finals, finals were originally to be played be ...

. On November 29, 2016, Chapecoense team members and staff boarded LaMia Flight 2933 to play the first leg of the 2016 Copa Sudamericana Finals against Atlético Nacional in

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. The plane crashed in the mountains a few miles south of the city. Seventy-one of the seventy-seven people on board died, including all of the club's coaching staff and all but three of the players. A wave of commotion abated in the football world in the days and weeks after, playing tribute to the club; Atlético Nacional requested that

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

, the governing football association for South America, award the 2016 title to Chapecoense, which was granted.

Education

Founded in 2009, the headquarters and main campus of the Federal University of Fronteira Sul (, UFFS) are in Chapecó, while its smaller campuses are located in Laranjeiras do Sul and Realeza in Paraná, and Cerro Largo,

Erechim Erechim () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the States of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul, located in the South Region, Brazil, South Region of Brazil. Recognized as a subregional hub in the country, it serves as the central cit ...

, and

Passo Fundo Passo Fundo is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the north of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is named after its river. It's the tenth largest city in the state with an estimated population of 204,722 inhabitants ...

. One of the campuses of Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina (Unoesc) as well as campuses of other educational institutions such as UCEFF, UNOCHAPECÓ, and UDESC are also located in Chapecó.

Other

The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chapecó.

Climate

Twin towns – sister cities

Chapecó is twinned with: *

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

, Paraguay * La Unión, Colombia *

, Colombia *

Ninghai Ninghai County () is a county under the administration of Ningbo, in the east of Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It covers a land area of and a sea area of and has a coastline. It has four sub-districts, 11 towns, three townsh ...

, China *

Pergamino Pergamino () is an Argentine city in the Buenos Aires Province, Province of Buenos Aires. It has a population of about 104,985 inhabitants as per the and is the administrative seat of its county, Pergamino Partido. Its UN/LOCODE is ARPGO. Histor ...

, Argentina

References

External links

Mercoagro - International Meat Processing Fair

Aurora Central Cooperative

Prefeitura de Chapeco

Unochapecó - Universidade Comunitária Regional de Chapecó, local university

Unoesc - Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapeco Municipalities in Santa Catarina (state) Planned communities in Brazil