Florianópolis (nicknamed Floripa) is the capital
city of Santa
Catarina State
in southern Brazil
.
It is
composed of one main island, the Island of Santa Catarina
(Ilha de Santa Catarina), a continental
part and the surrounding small islands. It has a population
of 406,564, according to a 2006
Brazilian
Institute of Geography and Statistics estimate. The
metropolitan area has an estimated
population of 821,552.
The
economy of Florianópolis is heavily
based on
information
technology,
tourism and services. The
city has 42
beaches and is a center of
surfing activity.
Newsweek placed Florianópolis in the "Ten most
dynamic cities of the world" list.
Veja
magazine, a Brazilian publication, named the city as "the best
place to live in Brazil."
As a result of this publicity, Florianopolis
is growing as a second home
destination for many Paulistas, Argentines
, U.S. citizens and
Europeans.
Most of the population lives on the island's northern half. The
southern half is less inhabitated. Many small commercial fishermen
populate the island.
The fishing boats, the
lacemakers, the folklore, the cuisine and the colonial architecture
contribute to the growing tourism and attract resources that compensate for
the lack of any large industry.
Villages immersed in
tradition and
history, such as Santo Antônio de
Lisboa and Ribeirão da Ilha still resist the advances of
modernity.
The
Hercílio Luz International
Airport
serves the city. Florianópolis is home
to the Universidade Federal de Santa
Catarina
(Federal University of Santa
Catarina).
Name
The name Florianópolis was meant to be a tribute to marshall
Floriano Peixoto, second President
of Republic of Brazil (1891 - 1894). Until 1893, the city was
called Nossa Senhora do Desterro (Our Lady of Banishment) or simply
"Desterro."
There are groups of citizens who wish to
change the name, alleging that Floriano was actually a dictator who
ordered the death of hundreds of people from the State of Santa
Catarina
; read more about this issue here.
Geography
Florianópolis experiences a
humid subtropical climate. The
seasons of the year are distinct, with a well-defined summer and
winter, and characteristic
weather for
autumn and spring. Frost is infrequent, but
occurs occasionally in the winter. Due to the proximity of the sea,
the relative
humidity of the
atmosphere is 80% on average.
Climate
The maximum
temperatures of the hottest
month varies from to and the minimum temperatures are from to . The
lowest temperature ever recorded was , in 1975.
Precipitation
There is significant
precipitation which is well
distributed throughout the year. The annual normal precipitation
for the period of 1911 through 1984 was . There is no dry season,
and summer generally is the rainiest season. Increased
rainfall occurs from January to March, with a
median of per month, and from April to December there is somewhat
less precipitation, averaging per month. The driest months are from
June to August.
Vegetation
Florianópolis has a native
Atlantic
Forest-type vegetation. This vegetation has an extremely
diverse and unique mix of vegetation and forest types. The main
ecoregion is the coastal Atlantic forest, the narrow strip of about
50-100 kilometers (31–62 miles) along the coast which covers about
20 percent of the region. This forests extend as far as 500-600
kilometers (310-372 miles) inland and its range is as high as 2,000
meters above sea level.
Altitude determines
at least three vegetation types in the Atlantic Forest: the lowland
forest of the coastal plain, montane
forests,
and the high-altitude grassland or "campo rupestre".
History
Carijós Indians of the nation
Tupi-Guarani were the first inhabitants of
Florianópolis area. The traces of its presence are verified through
archaeological sites and sambaquis dating up to 4000 years ago. The
Indians called the place Meiembipe or "mountain along the
channel".
Around
1514 the Portuguese landed and
gave the area the name Ilha dos Patos, but in 1526 it was renamed
Ilha de Santa Catarina Santa Catarina Island
. The area supplied the vessels that went to
Bacia da Prata.
The official settlement of the
island began
in 1673 with the arrival of
bandeirante
Francisco Dias Velho's agricultural company and it continued in
1678 with the construction of a
chapel
consecrated to Nossa Senhora do Desterro. At this time a villa
began to take form, slowly becoming a
colonial settlement.
To
guarantee its domain the Portuguese Crown elevated Santa Catarina
Island to the category of village in 1714 with the name of
Nossa Senhora do Desterro and already in 1726 they promoted it
again, now to the category of town.
From this
date on Vila do Desterro and mainly the port began to have a
strategic function because it was situated halfway between Rio de
Janeiro
and Buenos
Aires
, possibly two of the largest seaside cities of
South America at that time. For
this reason in 1739 the Capitania da Ilha de Santa Catarina was
created and Desterro became its capital. Soon the most expressive
seaside defensive ring of
Southern
Brazil started to be built: Santa Cruz, São José da Ponta
Grossa, Santo Antonio and Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Barra do
Sul
fortresses.
With the
coming of the Captaincy the population began to grow, but the great
population growth happened between 1747 and 1756 with the arrival
of about 6,000 settlers coming from the Archipelago of Azores and from Madeira
Island. The development of the agriculture,
the cotton and linen industry and the commerce followed the Azorean
occupation.In 1823, still in the monarchic period, Desterro became
the Capital of Santa Catarina Province opening a prosperity period
with many urban works and also with an intense
political organization.
Regional elites not happy with the government centralization
deflagrated Revolta Federalista (Federalist Revolt) at the
beginning of the Brazilian Republic.
The movement that
started in Rio Grande do Sul
spread to Santa
Catarina and turned Desterro into the Federalist Capital of
the Republic. The then president of Brazil, Marechal
Floriano Peixoto, known as Iron
Marshal, contained the rebellion and ordered the shooting of many
people who were considered enemies of the state, in the Anhatomirim
Island Fortress. Possibly to show loyalty to the marshal, 1893 saw
the change of the state
capital's name: from Desterro to
Florianópolis, that is to say, city of Floriano.
Today, though, the name Florianópolis has almost lost its
association with the Marshall. In Florianópolis, the
modern joins to the
historical and both formed an alliance with the
preserved nature composing full scenery of emotion and
harmony.
Demographics
According to the
IBGE of 2007, there were
406,564 people residing in the city. The population density was .
The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census
revealed the following numbers: 366,000
White people (90.0%), 37,000
Pardo (brown) people (9.0%), 4,000
Black people (1.0%), 400
Asian or
Amerindian people (0.1%).
Florianópolis has a
population mostly
composed of Brazilians of
European
descent. Its mass
colonization
started in the mid-18th century, mostly with the arrival of
Portuguese colonists from the
Azores Islands. Florianópolis was
thus composed mainly of Portuguese/Azoreans, Germans, and Italians.
Further south, some neighborhoods also preserve their
rural village identity, and the
heritage left by their Azorean ancestors is noticeable in their
manner of speaking, in their handicraft activities, and traditional
festivities.
The small
village of Santo António de Lisboa
(Saint Anthony of Lisbon) is an example of architecture of that
period and in Ribeirão da Ilha, the oldest part of the
capital, the inhabitants still speak the
Azorean dialect which
is difficult to understand at first. In Ribeirão da Ilha is the
church of Our Lady of Lapa do Ribeirão, built in 1806. Lagoa da
Conceição, with its many sand dunes, restaurants and seaside night
life and where women make lace to sell in the street, has also
managed to retain many traces of its colonial
architecture.
On the other side, the city has taken on a cosmopolitan air with
the arrival of Brazilians from other states and
foreigners who chose to live there. The island,
which at the beginning of the colonization period, was an important
whale hunting centre, is today a technological pole of the IT
industry. A State Capital of interest to
tourism, Florianópolis is currently inhabited by
about 400,000 people, a number that triples every summer.
Economy
Beach in Florianópolis.
South bay in the city.
Joaquina Beach.
According to 2002 Sefaz statistics,
agricultural activities represented 0.05%,
manufacturing represented 3.41% and
the sector of the
commerce and
service 96.54%.
Tourism is one of the staples of Florianópolis'
economy. It is considered by many inhabitants and
tourists that Floripa has a singular beauty
endowed with strong lines of Azorean culture, observed in the
buildings, workmanship,
folklore,
culinary and religious traditions. Its environmental
restrictions on building and commercial development have been more
or less regularly enforced. This accounts for the singular natural
beauty of this island.
Between 1970 and 2004, Florianópolis's
population tripled. So did the number of
shantytowns. But the
local
economy grew fivefold, and
incomes grew in step. Opportunity seekers, urban and
rural, white collar and blue, poured in. With a hundred or so
beaches lining the "Magic Island", tourism is thriving. And while
many Brazilian cities are struggling to graduate from smokestacks
to services, Florianópolis is succeeding. Thanks in part to a
federal rule that for decades barred heavy
industry on the island, town stewards promoted
cleaner
public works, and wound up with
a network of public and private universities that make this one of
the most scholarly cities in Brazil.
To tend to the demanding
academic crowd, the city invested heavily in everything from
roads to
schools, and now Florianópolis ranks
high on every development measure, from
literacy (97 percent) to
electrification (near 100 percent). By the
late 1990s, private companies were flocking to the
island, or emerging from a
technology "
incubator" at the federal
university. (Among the innovations it hatched:
the
computerized voting machines that have made
Brazilian elections fraud-free and
efficient).
Local officials now say their aim is to be
the Silicon
Valley
of Brazil, with
beaches.
In addition to its popular sugar soft white sand beaches
Florianópolis offers many historical attractions, including the
sites of the original Azorean colonists, the Lagoa da Conceição
lagoon, and Santo Antônio de Lisboa.
Tourism
in Florianópolis has grown significantly over the past 10 years,
with increasing numbers of visitors coming from other large cities
in Brazil (particularly Porto Alegre
, Curitiba
, São
Paulo
and Rio de Janeiro) as well as other South American countries
(particularly Argentina, with direct flights offered daily from
Buenos
Aires).
During
the past several years a greater number of international tourists
have also begun to frequent the island (particularly from Europe and the United States
), and 2006 marked the opening of the city's first
multinational hotel, a Sofitel, and first
US-based specialty tour operator, Nexus
Surf. As the number of visitors to the island grows each
year, Florianopolis faces the ongoing challenge of ensuring that
its limited infrastructure and resources are updated to adequately
accommodate them. Of particular concern are the sewers, which often
drain directly into the ocean, polluting the very beaches that
attract so many visitors.
During the past decade technology and software development firms
also experienced strong growth, and today
Information Technology services are
one of the top revenue generators in Florianópolis.
Several technology
centers are spread around Florianópolis, making the city (together
with Joinville
and Blumenau
) an important pole in this economic
sector.
The
GDP for the city was R$
6,259,393,000 (2005).
The
per capita income for the city
was R$ 15,776 (2005).
Education
UFSC in the city.
Educational institutions
- Universidade Federal de Santa
Catarina (UFSC);
- Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (UDESC);
- Complexo de Ensino Superior de Santa Catarina (CESUSC);
- Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina (UNISUL);
- Universidade do Vale do Itajaí (UNIVALI);
- Faculdade Estácio de Sá;
- Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica de Santa Catarina
(Cefet-SC);
- and many others.
Primary and secondary schools
The Florianópolis high
schools that obtained
the best results on the 2007 Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio
(National High School Exam) are Escola Autonomia, Colégio Energia,
Colégio Expoente, Colégio Adventista de Florianópolis, Colégio
Geração, Colégio de Aplicação UFSC, EEB Feliciano Nunes Pires,
Cefet-SC, Colégio Decisão, EEB Professor AníbalNunes Pires,
Instituto Estadual de Educação, EEB Osmar Cunha, EEb Getúlio
Vargas, EEB Presidente Roosevelt, EEB Professor Henrique
Stodieck.
Tourism and recreation
Florianopolis Historic Centre (Largo da Alfândega).
The island is connected to the Continent by three
bridges. The Hercílio Luz Bridge was built over 70
years ago and is now closed to traffic; it is a symbol of the
island and often appears on
postcard
images. The Colombo Sales Bridge and Pedro Ivo Bridge are the ones
open to traffic.
Santo
Amaro da Imperatriz was the first thermal water facility in
Brazil. Hotels with
thermal
bath facilities are located in the district of Caldas da
Imperatriz and in the
city of Águas Mornas. The
Fonte Caldas da Imperatriz city baths are an additional source of
thermal waters, which can reach the
temperature of , where there are immersion baths
and hydromassage. It is located on the Estrada Geral Highway, km 4,
Caldas da Imperatriz district.
ASP World Tour, Association of Surfing Professionals
(WCT)Florianópolis is the main location of the WCT, which
classifies 50 competitors, among professionals and amateurs. The
state of Santa Caterina is the only location in South America for
this event.
The Holy Spirit Feast (
Festa do Divino) is a
festival that takes place 40 days after Easter. The
celebration dates to the colonial era and includes a parade, music,
and
street food.
One of the most famous beaches is Praia Mole, noted for its rolling
green hills and rock formations on either side.
Barra da LagoaThis
is the world famous "
Bunny Slope" of Surfing. It
is home to world champion
Jacqueline Silva and
from
Praia Mole which usually hosts the WCT
Surfing Championships. Barra da Lagoa is a quaint fisherman's
village but the physical characteristics of the beach make it the
perfect place to learn to surf. It is a cove on the Eastern part of
the island and stretches into Moçambique beach for . It is in a
natural setting as there are no huge hotels on the beach and the
Southern headquarters of
Projeto TAMAR
(Save the
Turtles) is located here. Penguins
routinely swim into the canal and near the beach of Barra da Lagoa
during the colder winter months of June, July and August.
The canal
at Barra da Lagoa connects the Lagoa da
Conceição
with the open sea. It is not uncommon to
view pescadores (fishermen) during the night tossing their nets in
the lagoa to catch shrimp they sell to the fresh fish restaurants
in this
community.
Ingleses Beach (
Praia dos
Ingleses)
Even though it is a beach preferred by tourists,
Ingleses still keeps to the traditions of
the Azorian
colonizers. In the
summer, it is one of the top beach destinations of
Argentine tourists, second only to Canasvieras. In the
winter, mullet fishing, religious celebrations and
regional festivities are beautiful demonstrations of the local
culture. The dunes separating the Ingleses Beach (English Beach)
from the Santinho Beach are
natural
attractions not to be missed. The practice of sand board is quite
common there, a sport created in Florianópolis, which consists of
sliding down the
dunes on a board, engaging or
not in radical manoeuvres. To practice it, one must have a lot of
balance and rent a board. Those looking for a different outing can
go on a trek of over the dunes.
Armação Beach (
Praia da Armação)The
Sant'Anna Church, built by the Armação fishing company, is part of
the beach's history. It was from there that whale harpooners and
crewmen confessed and attended the mass before going fishing. Next,
the priest would go down to the
beach to bless
the boats that would sail out to sea. Today, the boats leave there
for Ilha do Campeche, one of the most visited
islands around Florianópolis.
It is also in Armação
that one finds one of the most important archaeological sites of
the State of Santa
Catarina.
Campeche
Beach
(Praia do
Campeche)With of white sands and a turbulent waters,
Campeche is considered the Jeffreys Bay of the Santa Catarina
Island for the quality of its waves. For those who are not interested in
surfing, the beach offers other attractions.
The paradisaical beauty of Ilha do Campeche, for instance, located
across from the
beach, a
football game on the Saint-Exupéry
aviation field, or even fishing, are some of the
leisure alternatives. At
night, Campeche is
also an excellent attraction. The huge reflector that illuminates
part of the large sand strip in front of the bars only contributes
to the partying that extends far into the night. The
illumination favours both those who enjoy the
merrymaking as well as the
fishermen, who
use the time to drag their nets in from the
sea.
Joaquina Beach (
Praia da Joaquina)Won
fame as of the 1970s, when
surfers from
around the world discovered its waves. Many surf cups began to
emerge, and great Catarinense surfing personalities.
It is one of the
beaches that offers the best tourist
facilities, receiving a large number of tourists from around
Brazil and the world on the warm days
in spring and summer. The
rock
complex situated to the left of the beach, the night lighting and
the public showers are some of the trademarks at Joaquina. There is
a big paid
parking lot, toilets, tourist
coach parking lot, lifeguards, police station, handicraft shop,
bars,
restaurant and
hotels. In
addition to the beach, it is possible to enjoy the most famous
dunes in the South of the country as well as to
sand board. The boards used in this sport can be rented on the
spot.
Santinho Beach (
Praia do Santinho) is
mainly sought by tourists who look for nature, the location's
paradisaical beauty and tranquillity.
Surfers are the main
visitors and consider Santinho to be the best beach in the North of the Santa Catarina Island. It is in the left hand corner, where
bathers do not venture, that surfers practice their sport, sharing
the space with
fishermen. away from the
centre of Florianópolis, another great attraction of this beach are
the primitive inscriptions made by hunters, fishermen and
collectors inhabiting the Island five thousand years ago. The name
Santinho comes from a human figure engraved on an isolated block of
rock.
Outdoor sports, including
diving,
hang gliding,
paragliding, and
mountain biking, as well as surfing, are
popular on the island
Areas of the city
Public Market.
The centre of Florianópolis, with its alleys, rows of typical
houses,
churches and
museums, contains many examples of colonial
architecture. Amongst these are the former
government palace, nowadays the
Cruz e
Souza Museum (which took its name from the famous poet from
Santa Catarina who formed the symbolist movement) and the Public
Market built in 1898 which sells food and
local handicrafts under the
shade of a one hundred year old fig tree. Close to the centre is
the house where
Victor Meirelles
was born, one of the authors who devised the first mass spoken in
Brazil. The building is registered by the Institute of Historical
and Artistic Heritage and houses the Victor Meirelles Museum.
Roughly saying, the
island can be divided in
two sectors: in the
north is the most visited
side by
tourists and because of that, the
busiest and with the best services infrastructure. In some quarters
notice a strong influence in the population architecture and
customs.
The most ancient livers of Florianópolis
still have in the way they speak, in the craftwork activities and
in the popular parties, the heritage left by immigrants from Portuguese islands
from Azores. The south
of the island preserved intensely
Azorean
customs that arrived there from the XVIII
century.
Transportation
International Airport
Florianópolis is served by Hercílio
Luz International Airport for both domestic and international flights.
The traffic has grown significantly at the airport and therefore
the city will shortly receive a new airport able to serve 2.7
million passengers a year.The architectural design of the new
airport was chosen by a public competition held by
Infraero in partnership with the Brazilian
Architects Institute (IAB).Among the over 150 original entries, the
proposal of São Paulo architect Mário Bizelli was chosen. Normally
the projects for expansion and modernization of the 66 airports
administered by Infraeor are done by public tender based on the
needs, criteria and conditions presented by the compan's
engineering area.
Highways
Florianópolis is connected to the main
cities of Brazil:
- From the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro: BR-116/
BR-376/ BR-101;
- From Curitiba: BR-376/ BR-101;
- From Porto Alegre: BR-290/ BR-101.
Bus Terminal
Rita Maria is the city's main
bus
terminal, located by the Pedro Ivo Campos Bridge, on the
island, serving ten thousand people daily, which can reach up to
fifteen thousand during the summer season. The bus terminal
connects Florianopolis to the majority of the cities, towns and
villages of Santa Catarina, and to the main cities in the South,
Southeast and Central-West regions of Brazil.
As an international
bus terminal, Florianopolitanos and tourists alike use Rita Maria
also to reach Argentina, Paraguay
, Uruguay
and Chile
.
Cycleway
Pedala Floripa project is a University pro
bicycle program developed by
CICLOBRASIL group in the State University of Santa Catarina. The
project aims to provide bicycle infra-structure projects and
promote bicycle use for leisure and transport in the city.
Distances
Neighborhoods
Trindade.
Aerial view of Floripa.
There are more than 40 neighborhoods in Florianópolis:
- Abraão;
- Agronômica;
- Barra da Lagoa
- Bom Abrigo;
- Cachoeira do Bom Jesus;
- Cacupé;
- Campeche;
- Canasvieiras
 ;
- Canto da Lagoa;
- Capoeiras;
- Carianos;
- Carvoeira;
- Centro;
- Chácara do Espanha;
- Coqueiros;
- Córrego Grande;
- Costa da Lagoa;
- Costa de Dentro;
- Estreito;
- Ingleses do Rio Vermelho;
- Itacorubi;
- Itaguaçu;
- Jardim Atlântico;
|
- João
Paulo;
- José Mendes;
- Jurerê Internacional;
- Jurerê;
- Lagoa da Conceição;
- Moçambique;
- Monte Verde;
- Morro das Pedras;
- Pantanal;
- Pântano do Sul;
- Parque São Jorge;
- Ponta das Canas;
- Prainha;
- Ratones;
- Rio Vermelho;
- Saco dos Limões;
- Saco Grande;
- Sambaqui;
- Santa Mônica;
- Santo Antônio
de Lisboa;
- Trindade;
- Vargem do Bom Jesus;
- Vargem Grande.
|
Sports
Figueirense Futebol Clube.
People walking.
Soccer
There are two professional Soccer teams in the city. The derby
between them is known as "O Clássico da Capital" ("
The
Capital's Classic").
Figueirense FC - black and
white. Its nickname is
Figueira ("
Figtree") and
it is also known as
O Furacão do Estreito ("
The
Estreito's Hurricane").
Its stadium is the Orlando
Scarpelli
, located in the Estreito neighborhood, in the
continental part of the city. Figueirense is currently
playing the Brazilian second division. As of
May
4 2008, the team has won Santa Catarina
State Championship 15 times, an all-time record.
Avaí
FC
- blue and white. It is also known as
O
Leão da Ilha ("
The Lion of the Island").
Its stadium is the
Aderbal Ramos da Silva, popularly known as Ressacada
, located in the Carianos neighborhood, in the
south part of the island. Avaí is currently playing the
Brazilian national first division and holds 14 State Championship
titles.
Rowing
Florianópolis, since the beginning of the 20th century has a
tradition in
rowing. By the middle of
that century the sport was growing in Brazil and the city had a big
influence on it. But, with the decline of the sport in the country
by late 1980s, the investment slowed and by today is almost none.
But is
still served with three great schools, Riachuelo Remo, Martinelli
Remo and Aldo Luz Remo, with all three being placed between
Hercílio Luz
Bridge
, Colombo Salles Bridge and Pedro Ivo Campos
Bridge. Since the beginning of 2008 the sport is watching a
rapid growing in the number of rowers, even with people flocking
from other cities to experience Floripa's rowing.
Tennis
Florianópolis is the hometown of tennis player
Gustavo Kuerten.
Yoga
There are various opportunities to practice yoga on Florianopolis
with studios that host international yoga retreats and provide
teacher-training courses.
Sandboarding
In the sand dunes near Joaquina beach, just a 5 minute drive from
your accommodations. Think snowboarding minus cold and snow, plus
bikinis and shorts.
Windsurfing
In the Lagoa da Conceição lagoon, literally at the backdoor of your
accommodations and reachable by short walk or a few minutes’
drive.
Kitesurfing
Either in the ocean or in the Lagoa, kiteboarding is an incredible
rush and should not be missed. Beginner lessons available.
Surf
The
island is generally considered to be blessed with the best and most
consistent waves in Brazil, and in
early November of each year hosts what is currently South America's only ASP (Association of Surfing
Professionals) World Championship Tour professional surfing
competition. Brazil has played host to many an ASP tour
event over the past 30 years.
Former contest sites include Rio de
Janeiro, Barra de Tijuca and Saquarema, but the past four
years have seen the tour set up shop in Florianopolis.
Falling towards the end of the tour, the past few years have seen
several ASP world champions crowned in Brazil. In 2004 it was
Andy Irons, and in 2005 it was
Kelly Slater (who had his 2006 ASP World Title
already stitched up by Brazil).
Notable people
Sister cities
Florianópolis is
twinned with the
following cities:
References
External links
: ;
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