Santa Catarina Brazil

Santa Catarina is one of 27 units of Brazil, located in the center of the South Region. It is the twentieth largest state in the nation, the eleventh most populous, and is the ninth most populous with 293 municipalities.

Catholicism is the predominant religion. The official language, as well as in other federal units, is the Portuguese language.

The territorial dimensions covering an area of 95,346 km ², is slightly larger than Hungary, limited to the states of Paraná (north) and Rio Grande do Sul (south), Atlantic Ocean (east) and Argentina (west). The ocean shore is about 450 km, or roughly half the continental coast of Portugal (943 km). Its capital and seat of government is the city of Florianopolis, located on the island of Santa Catarina. Entirely south of the Tropic of Capricorn, located in the southern temperate zone of the planet, the state has a subtropical climate. These conditions vary with the topography, and in the western mountain and plateau is a relatively common occurrence of frost and snow, while the coast the climate is warmer and can reach high temperatures during the summer season.

Historically, colonization was largely carried out by European immigrants: the Azorean Portuguese colonized the coast in the eighteenth century, the Germans colonized the Itajaí Valley, part of the south and north of Santa Catarina in the mid-nineteenth century and Italians colonized the South state at the end of that century. The west of Santa Catarina was colonized by gauchos of Italian and German in the first half of the twentieth century. The indices of social status are among the best in the country. Santa Catarina is the seventh richest state in the Federation, with a diversified economy and industrialized. Polo important exporter and consumer, the state is responsible for the expansion of the national economic accounting for 4% of gross domestic product