RIO
GRANDE DO SUL HISTORY |
| |
Although mainly rural for much of its early history, Rio Grande do Sul
served as the launching pad for several major wars Brazil waged against its
southern and western neighbors. It also was a focal point for internal
rebellion in the 19th century. Getulio Vargas, who led Brazil as dictator
from 1930 and later was elected president in 1950 (before committing
suicide), was a native of Rio Grande do Sul.
Rio Grande do Sul's population consists primarily of the descendants of
European immigrants, especially Portuguese, Italians, Spaniards, and Germans
but to a much smaller extent, very small groups of Poles, Russians,
Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Jews and later on in the 1960s, some Japanese
immigrants settled in different areas of the state. |
|
The first German immigrant families arrived in Rio Grande do Sul in 1824 at
São Leopoldo town and in the following century an estimated quarter of a
million Germans settled in the country, mostly in Rio Grande do Sul and the
neighboring state of Santa Catarina.
Most of the German speakers in southern Brazil spoke or eventually adopted
the Hunsrückisch dialect so that it became the most commonly used German
dialect in this part of the world and still spoken by millions today (also
referred to as Riograndenser Hunsrückisch to differentiated it from the
Hunsrückisch spoken in Germany).
In its 180 years of history Riograndenser Hunsrückisch has been greatly
influenced by other German dialects (such as Pomeranian, Pfälzisch) and by
immigrant languages such as the national language, Portuguese but also to
some degree by Italian.
Talian is a uniquely Brazilian variety of Italian not spoken anywhere else
in the world. The emergence of Talian in Rio Grande do Sul happened because
of the great variety of Italian dialects that came together into a fairly
compact and specific geographical location of the state. Talian is
frequently called vêneto because it is close to that dialect spoken in Italy.
Italian immigrants began arriving in the area in the late 1800, settling
mostly in the Northeast hilly parts of the Rio Grande do Sul. Soon the
region became the most important grape and wine-producing region of Brazil.
Although the climate does not favor the production of the finest wines that
there are in the world, in the last few years great progress has been made
especially with white sparkling wines.
All minority languages in the southern Brazil have been experiencing
significant degrees of decline in the last few decades, not only immigrant
languages such as Italian or Talian and German, but also the indigenous
languages of the Kaingang (also spelled Kaingáng, Cainguangue, etc.) and the
Guarany (spelled Guaraní in Portuguese).
In the far western area of the state are the remnants of Brazil's 17th
century Jesuit missions or reductions (aldeias) to the Guaraní Indians.
Important to the region, it should be notited that Jesuit Father Roque
Gonzales also known as Roque Gonzales de Santa Cruz arrived from Paraguay on
the 03 of May of 1626 to establish the Saint Nicolas Mission Reduction (today
known as São Nicolau in Portuguese) was the first white person to enter in
what is today know as the state of Rio Grande do Sul. From all the ruines
left behind by the vanished Guarany Missions (or Missões Guaranís in
Portuguese), the most significant one is São Miguel or São Miguel Arcanjo,
located nearby the present city of Santo Angelo. There is a very interesting
ongoing Light and Sound (or Som e Luz in Portuguese) nightly show that
happens at and is displayed upon the ruins of the São Miguel church. |
|
