Santa Catarina

Santa Catarina, officially the Catarinense Republic(Portuguese: República Catarinense) is a democratic federal parliamentary republic in the southeastern region of South America. It includes 12 constituent states, covers an area of 295,044 square kilometres (113,917 sq mi). With about 30 million inhabitants, Santa Catarina is the 4th most populous country of South America. The Santa Catarina's capital is Desterro and the largest city is Joinville. Major urban areas include Desterro, Joinville, São José, Blumenau, Criciúma, Curitiba and Foz do Iguaçu. It borders in the north with Brazil, the west with Paraguay and Argentina and the south with Rio Grande do Sul.

Various indigenous people have lived in the Catarinense Territory before the formation of the Catarinense Republic. In the colonial era, Santa Catarina was a strategic territory for the Portuguese Dominion in South America, Desterro, São Francisco do Sul and Laguna were one of the first cities in the South of the Portuguese Colony.

In 1822, with the Brazilian independence, Santa Catarina became a province of Brazil, the Brazilian dominion over the territory of Santa Catarina ended only in 1839, with the arrival of separatist and autonomist ideas for the South of Brazil. On July 24, 1839, the separatist revolts took the control of Laguna and started a revolution throughout the province, causing the independence and foundation of the Catarinense Republic on July 29, 1839.

There were territorial expanses between the 19th and 20th century, with problems with Brazil, which led to the annexation of Paraná. In the World War II, Santa Catarina sent 150,000 men to Europe to support the Allies Forces, landing mainly in northern Italy and the French west coast. Santa Catarina was one of the countries that participated in D-Day, it was also created the 1st Air Brigade of the Air Force, in 1942. In 1953, after a long political crisis involving the Popular Party, an impeachment occurred, which led to a political disorder in the Parliament, this led to the convocation by the Federal Supreme Court of a plebiscite to choose a new form of government, replacing the presidentialism, the winner was the parliamentary republic.

In the 21st century, Santa Catarina is a regional power and has the AIN's fifteenth-largest economy by nominal GDP by 2015 estimate. Santa Catarina has a growing industrial pole and specializes in several areas of high technology, from the naval area to the electronics, the leader in the Latin America. Santa Catarina is member of United Nations, Alliance of the Independent Nations, G20, Organization of American States, Union of South American Nations, Organization of Ibero-American States, Community of Portuguese Language Countries, Latin Union and associate member of Mercosul. Santa Catarina still hold the highest GDP(PPP) Per Capita in South America, with an average value of US$29,951.

Etymology
There are two theories to the name of Santa Catarina, the first of is that the name is a tribute to Catarina Medrano, wife of Sebastião Caboto, that arrived at the Island of Santa Catarina in 1526 and the other one in homage to Catherine of Alexandria, considered holy by the Catholic Church. Initially it remained only as the Island that houses the City of Desterro, however, it was also used this name for the country.

First Contacts
The coastal region of Santa Catarina was always inhabited, before the colonial era, by indigenous tribes, and after that, was initially visited by French, Spanish and Portuguese. In 1504, the first colonial expedition took place, where in nowdays is the city of São Francisco do Sul, the first settlement in the Catarinense coast. In 1514, the Island of Santa Catarina, nowdays Desterro, was named as Island of the Ducks, where 17 people were settled in the same year.

The coast of Santa Catarina was the stopping point for several navigators who traveled to the Plate River. With the advance of the Portuguese towards the south, was founded the town of São Francisco do Sul, the first city of the south of the Portuguese colony.

Colonization
After the establishment of the colonial system through hereditary captaincies in Portuguese America, the Captaincy of Santana was created, ranging from the then founded Vila de Santo Antônio dos Anjos da Laguna to the territory of Paranaguá, in the nowdays homonymous state. The Captaincy of Santana lasted from 1534 until 1709, with the creation of the Captaincy of Santa Catarina in 1709, it covered all the coast of Santa Catarina and Paranaguá.

Most of the territory of both capitanias were composed of territory of Laguna, Covering from the central coast of Rio Grande do Sul until Paranaguá. Laguna was based on the port economy, unlike other regions of the colony, was based on commerce and as a stopping point for other regions of the continent, especially Uruguay and Argentina.

Brazilian Empire
With the independence of Brazil in 1822, Santa Catarina became a province of the Empire, with its capital in Desterro. Santa Catarina suffered from the governmental discontinuity and inefficiency of the imperial policy, which was only stabilized with the leadership Francisco de Albuquerque Melo, there was sufficient stability for the first time arrival of German and Italian immigrants, settling in villages like Desterro, São José da Terra Firme, Blumenau and Joinville. In 1831, the first newspaper of the Province, "The Catharinense", produced in the capital by the the writer, politician, military and journalist of the Santa Catarina, Jerônimo Coelho.

Independence
Even with the considerable improvement in the province, the people were revolted by their situation, with the farroupilha revolt in Rio Grande do Sul, the people of Santa Catarina saw an opportunity to improve their life, joined and supported the revolution, Lages was the first locality to join Fight, in January 1839. On July 24, 1839, the revolucionary took the most important city of Santa Catarina, Laguna, advancing against São José da Terra Firme, Desterro, Joinville and São Francisco do Sul. After took the control in Laguna, was established the Juliana Republic and written the constitution. The Independence was supported by Italian and German immigrants, as well as platinos residing in Santa Catarina.

Santa Catarina has emerged as a presidential republic, under the leadership of the President David Canabarro that unified the troops of Santa Catarina on a great front against Brazil, taking cities as Curitiba. The Brazilian Empire was seen without alternatives after the taking of territories in São Paulo, signing with Santa Catarina the Treaty of São Francisco, where the Brazilian troops surrendered for the last time to the Catarinenses forces, recognizing the independence of Santa Catarina and its sovereignty.

Late 19th Century
David Canabarro remained in the presidency until 1846, when he convened the first presidential elections, the first elections occurred on July 24 as a tribute to the control of Laguna, which was 7 years at the time. The Liberal Party of Santa Catarina won, with its candidate Diego Araujo. He encouraged immigrants to come to Santa Catarina, making the population grow, as well as the economy, using liberal policies. Immigrants brought their riches and culture, liberal policies brought investors, it was soon possible to see industries and railroads being built, there were already railroads linking from Laguna to Joinville.

Government
Santa Catarina is a federal, parliamentary, representative democratic republic with the President as the Head of State and the Prime-Minister as the Head of Government. Its constitution was made official on August 7, 1839, by the Constituent Assembly of the Free and Independent State of Santa Catarina.

The 29th President, Arthur Boehm, is the Head of State and invested primarily with representative responsibilities and powers, being the representative of the people of Santa Catarina. The President is elected by majority vote of the 125 districts of Santa Catarina, with 63 being required at least to be elected president. In the 2014 elections, of the 30 million inhabitants of Santa Catarina, 15.2 million voted, being the universal and optional vote.

The Prime-Minister, Max Schwartz, is the Head of Government of Santa Catarina, Being the Leader of the party with more members in the parliament, the election to the position of Prime-Minister is indirect, by the number of votes for the party, the seats will be defined in the Parliament, in which the party that has more seats will appoint the Prime-Minister. Currently the party with more seats in the parliament is the Liberal Party of Santa Catarina.

The Parliament has a unicameral system, composed of parties and coalitions elected in direct elections. Members of Parliament can form study commissions on how to improve the country, as well as propose laws and changes to the constitution. The largest parties of the Parliament are the Liberal Party of Santa Catarina, the National-Conservative Party and the Democrats of Santa Catarina, but also can be considered strong parties the Republican Party and the Libertarian Party.