SANTA CATHARINA

This article appears in Volume V24, Page 185 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SAC-SAR

SANTA CATHARINA , a southern maritime state of Brazil, bounded N. by Parana, E. by the Atlantic, S. by Rio Grande do Sul, and W. by Rio Grande do Sul and the

Misiones

MISIONES

territory of Argentina. Pop. (1900) 320,289; area 28,633 sq. m. The Serra do Mar rises not far from the

coast

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

and leaves only a narrow

coast

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

zone, and the

plateau

PLATEAU (a French term, older platel, for a flat piece of wood, metal, &c., from plat, flat)
PLATEAU, JOSEPH
ANTOINE
- ANTOINE, ANDRE (1858- )
FERDINAND (1801-1883)

above is much broken with irregular ranges of mountains. The coast region, though in the temperate zone, is hot and humid. It is densely forested, is broken by swamps and lagoons, and is crossed by numerous short streams from the wooded slopes of the serras. The

plateau

PLATEAU (a French term, older platel, for a flat piece of wood, metal, &c., from plat, flat)
PLATEAU, JOSEPH
ANTOINE
- ANTOINE, ANDRE (1858- )
FERDINAND (1801-1883)

is less densely wooded, but has some highly fertile plains, the open campos being partly devoted to stock raising. Except in the malarious coast zone, the climate is temperate, bracing and exceptionally healthy. The drainage is westward to the Parana, the rivers being tributaries of the Iguassil, which forms its northern boundary, and of the

Uruguay

URUGUAY (officially the Oriental Republic of the Uruguay, and long locally called the Banda Oriental, meaning the land on the eastern side of the river Uruguay, from which the country takes its name)

, which forms its southern boundary. A number of prosperous German coloniesthe largest and best known of which are Blumenau, Dona Francisca, Joinville, Itajahy, Brusque, Dom Pedro and Sao Bentoare devoted chiefly to agriculture. There is no cultivation on a large scale, as in Sao Paulo and the northern provinces. Coffee is produced to a limited extent. Indian corn, beans, onions, fruit and mandioca are the principal products. A prominent industry is the gathering and preparation of mate or Paraguayan tea (Ilex paraguayensis), which is an article of export. The

mineral

MINERAL

resources include coal, iron, silver, gold and petroleum, the first alone is

mined

MINED

. The only railway of the state, the Dona Thereza Christina, runs from Laguna, at the mouth of a lagoon of that name on the southern coast, northward to the port of Imbituba (about 4 m.) and thence westward up the valley of the Rio Tubarao to the coal fields of that name (69 m.). The coal is of inferior quality and the development of the mines, which were discovered in 1841, has not been a success. A later investigation shows that there are beds of better coal at a greater depth extending from Rio Grande do Sul to Sao Paulo. The

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

of the state is

Florianopolis

FLORIANOPOLIS (formerly Desterro, Nossa Senhora do Desterro and Santa Catharina, and still popularly known under the last designation)

(q.v.) also called Santa Catharina and Desterro, and its other towns are Blumenau, Lages (9356), Laguna (7282), Joinville (13,996), Itajahy (8875), Brusque (8094), Sao Jose (11,820), opposite

Florianopolis

FLORIANOPOLIS (formerly Desterro, Nossa Senhora do Desterro and Santa Catharina, and still popularly known under the last designation)

, Tubarao (5495) and Sao Francisco (5583), a good port in the northern part of the state in direct communication with a

majority

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

of the German colonies.

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