Santa Vitória do Palmar (lit. "Saint Victoria of the Palms") is a Brazilian city and municipality. It is the southernmost

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' ...

in Brazil, located in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

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 ...

. To the west of the municipality is the

Lagoa Mirim Lagoon Mirim (Portuguese, ) or Merín (Spanish, ) is a large estuarine lagoon which extends from southern Rio Grande do Sul state in Brazil into eastern Uruguay. Lagoa Mirim is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a sandy, partially barren isthm ...

and beyond that is

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 ...

; to the east and southeast lies 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 ...

, and to the north is the city of

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

. To the south, it borders the municipality of Chuí and Uruguay. The city proper is located approximately inland from the Atlantic, east of Lagoa Mirim and north of the Uruguayan border at Chuí. The city is traversed by the Brazilian federal

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 ...

BR-471, the most important road link between Brazil and Uruguay. It is by road from the state capital,

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 ...

, and about from Uruguay's capital,

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. Santa Vitória do Palmar used to be the southernmost city in

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 ...

, until the former village of Chuí was split from its territory and incorporated as a new city in 1997. However, while the ''urban seat'' of Chuí is more southerly, the territory of Santa Vitória do Palmar still extends slightly further south than Chuí's, and contains Brazil's southernmost geographic point, located on a bend of the Chuí River just upstream from its mouth on the

, near the village of Barra do Chuí, which also belongs to the municipality. The municipality lies on a windy coastal plain which is a mosaic of

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

s ( Lagoa Mangueira being the largest one),

marshland In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in general ...

spots and

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 ...

farms. This variety of different

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

s side by side ensures a rich

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

, protected in the municipality's northern part in the Taim Ecological Station, shared with Rio Grande. The city's economy is based on rice growing, beef

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

and

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

raised for

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

, in addition to being a transit point on BR-471, the main highway linking Brazil and Uruguay. Santa Vitória do Palmar is a large municipality, about long north–south. Its coast also includes the larger part of Cassino Beach, the world's longest uninterrupted stretch of sandy ocean shore, over from the stony breakwaters of

in the north to the mouth of Chuí River in the south. Two small beach resort villages are located in the municipality: Praia do Hermenegildo and Barra do Chuí, which is Brazil's southernmost inhabited place. Four stones from the Santa Vitoria do Palmar meteorite was found near the town in 2003 and 2004.

Geography

Climate

Santa Vitória do Palmar has a mild

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(''Cfa'', according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

), bordering an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(''Cfb''), as the mean temperature in the hottest month is just above 22 °C.

Gallery

Image:Farol da Barra.JPG Image:Aqui começa o Brasil.JPG Image:Klimadiagramm-Santa Vitoria do Palmar-Brasilien-metrisch-deutsch.png

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Vitoria do Palmar Populated coastal places in Rio Grande do Sul Municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul Extreme points of Brazil

Geography

Climate

Gallery

See also

References