Santa Maria is 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' ...

(''município'') in the central region 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 s ...

, the southernmost state 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 ...

. In 2020, its population was 283,677 inhabitants in a total area of . Santa Maria is the 5th biggest municipality in the state, and the largest in its micro-region. Santa Maria is often referred to as the "heart of Rio Grande" (from Portuguese: "''Coração do Rio Grande''"), because the city is located in the geographical center of the State.

History and importance

The first inhabitants of Santa Maria were the Minuano Indigenous People, who lived in a region of the municipality known as Coxilha do Pau Fincado, and the Tapes, who lived in the hills. With the arrival of Spanish and Portuguese colonizers this border region was witness to innumerable battles between rival groups. Finally, in 1797 the border between the two colonies was established by a commission (''1ª Subdivisão da Comissão Demarcadora de Limites da América dat lit Meridional)''. This commission set up camp on the site of present-day Santa Maria. The camp was known as ''Acampamento de Santa Maria'', later adding ''Boca do Monte'' to the name. 1828 saw the arrival of the 28th Battalion of Foreigners, made up of hired Germans to fight against the inhabitants of present-day

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

in the

Cisplatine War The Cisplatine War was an armed conflict fought in the 1820s between the Empire of Brazil and the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata over control of Brazil's Cisplatina province. It was fought in the aftermath of the United Provinces' an ...

. After the war many of the soldiers decided to stay in Santa Maria, beginning the cycle of German colonization. In 1857, Santa Maria was separated from Cachoeira do Sul and elevated to town (''vila'') status. The municipality was created on 16 December 1857 and installed on 17 May 1858.

Republican period

The city went through some turbulence during the republican period. During the 1893 Federalist Revolt, the city was taken by a battalion of revolutionaries, and during the 1923 revolution, Clarestino Bento attacked the barracks in the region, without success, and with the loss of 4 men and 7 injured, the last confrontation with deaths of the revolution. In 1926, soldiers from the 5th Horse Artillery Regiment and the 7th Infantry Regiment rebelled under the leadership of their lieutenants, firing cannons on the city and attacking the 1st Cavalry Regiment with around 700 men. The Military Brigade clashed with the rebels, which lasted about two days, which defeated the rebel forces. The day would become known in the city as " Bombing Day". Since 1910, the city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Maria, and annually hosts an important

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

festival dedicated to Nossa Senhora Medianeira, called "''Romaria da Medianeira''" (''Medianeira'' or Mediatrix is a name of Our Lady that was created in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

). Every year, hundreds of thousands of people from all over Brazil join in the celebrations. Due to its strategic geographical location, Santa Maria has a large military force, including the Santa Maria Air Force Base of the Brazilian Air Force, which houses four units, and the 3rd Army Division of the Southern Military Command. In 2011, the German defence company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG (KMW) closed a deal to renovate old tanks and produce new ones for the Brazilian Army, opening a factory in Santa Maria. This earned the city its new nickname, "Armoured Capital" (from Portuguese: ''Capital dos Blindados''). On 27 January 2013, a fire broke out in the ' 'Kiss"'' nightclub'' during a band performance, due to misuse of pyrotechnics, which got in direct contact with the acoustic foam used in the club. In total, 242 people died due to suffocation or trampling while trying to escape, or of complication in days and months following the event. It has been reported that as many as 1,500 people were in the nightclub when the fire broke out.

Population

Santa Maria is the fifth largest city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, after

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

, Caxias do Sul, Pelotas, and Canoas. Many of the city's inhabitants are of German and Italian ancestries. It is the largest city in the central region of the state, concentrating 36.40% of this region's population. During the period between 2000 and 2010, Santa Maria had a demographic growth rate of 6.00%. The municipality contains 10 districts. The city of Santa Maria itself is located in the urban Seat District (''Distrito Sede''), which is divided into 8 ''regiões administrativas'' ( administrative regions), and further subdivided into 40 '' bairros'' ( neighbourhoods). About 95% of the municipality's total population is concentrated in the Seat District. One of the districts is Palma.

Economy

The economy is based on services, industry, government services, and

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. In 2006, there were 934 transformation industries employing 6,344 workers.

Commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...

employed 12,180 workers,

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

employed 4,783 workers, the health sector employed 3,799 workers, and

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

employed 6,362 workers. In the agricultural sector, there were 2,335 establishments employing 7,000 workers. The main activities are cattle raising with over 100,000 head in 2006, and growth of

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

, corn,

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed. Soy is a key source o ...

, and

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

.IBGE Cidades

Transportation

Santa Maria is a major

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

and

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

hub. The city has a strategic location in connecting Brazil to other Mercosul countries, mainly through the following highways: BR 158 Itaara BRESIL

* BR-158 – connects Santa Maria to northern and southwestern

, allowing access to Uruguaiana, in the

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

border, and to Rivera,

. * BR-287 – east-west highway, connecting the city to the capital of the state,

. Railways are used for cargo transportation, mainly of agricultural products, automobile parts and food. Santa Maria is away from the River Terminal of Cachoeira do Sul, which allows ship transport until the port of Porto Alegre through the Jacuí River, and from there to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, through the Lagoa dos Patos. Santa Maria Airport is located away from downtown, in the neighborhood of Camobi. It has capacity for large airplanes and offers daily flights to Porto Alegre, Santo Ângelo and Uruguaiana. Santa Maria Air Force Base - ALA4, one of their most important bases of the Brazilian Air Force, is located in Santa Maria and shares some facilities with the airport.

Distances to other cities

*Santa Maria—Porto Alegre: . *Santa Maria—Pelotas: . *Santa Maria—Cruz Alta: . *Santa Maria—Uruguaiana: . *Santa Maria—Passo Fundo: . *Santa Maria—Caxias do Sul: .

Education

A popular nickname for Santa Maria is "University City" (Portuguese: "C''idade Universitária''") or "Culture city" (Portuguese: "C''idade Cultura''"), due to its large student population. The largest university, the Federal University of Santa Maria, was founded in 1960 by José Mariano da Rocha Filho; while the private university center Universidade Franciscana was founded in 1951. The city also has a number of other smaller private colleges, such as the Methodist University of Santa Maria (FAMES).

Geography

Climate

Santa Maria has a humid subtropical

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

and its annual average temperature is . In January, the warmest month, highs frequently surpass with the average low dropping to . In June, the coldest month, highs reach and lows usually go below , reaching up to , but snow is a rare occurrence. Rainfall is distributed evenly throughout the year with a monthly average of .

Quality of life

According to the United Nations (PNUD 2000), Santa Maria ranks 45th in quality of life in Brazil and 9th in the state. According to data from 2006, from Fundação de Economia e Estatística – FEE, life expectancy at birth is of 74.01 years and the demographic density of the municipality is . The level of atmospheric pollution in Santa Maria is low, since the urban area, for the most part, is composed of retail commerce and services, without polluting sectors.

Sport

Santa Maria has two football teams, Inter-SM and Riograndense-SM, one

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team, th
Santa Maria Soldiers
and one Rugby team, the Universitario Rugby.

Paleontology

The city is the birthplace of

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

and

. The Paleontological Sites of Santa Maria are internationally known. In 1902, a Rhynchosaur was collected in Santa Maria, one of the first fossil collections made in South America since Darwin's voyage on the Beagle between 1831 and 1836. Llewellyn Ivor Price, a Santa Maria-born paleontologist and one of the first

ian ones, collected a Staurikosaurus, the first Brazilian

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

. The city is located on a huge deposit of

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

, with more than 20 Paleontological Sites. In October 2009, free distribution of one thousand copies of the book Vertebrados Fósseis de Santa Maria e Região (''Vertebrate Fossils of Santa Maria and surrounding regions'' in English). The book will be delivered to institutions, schools and libraries in Santa Maria, in order to spread the teaching of this subject in the region. The book was published by the council of the city.Vertebrate Fossils of Santa Maria and surrounding regions.
/ref> Already published two

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

s with titles Xiru Lautério e Os Dinossauros I and II, in order to disclose the

and gaucho culture among children of city and region.

Notable people

* Oreco, Brazilian football player * Atílio Munari, Brazilian paleontologist * Jonatan Lucca, Brazilian football player

References

External links

The city's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Maria, Rio Grande Do Sul Municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul