Santa Catarina

Santa Catarina, officially the Catarinense Commonwealth(Portuguese: Comunidade 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 25 million inhabitants, Santa Catarina is the 6th 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 and in the west with Paraguay and Argentina.

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$30,231.

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 was created 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.

In 1860, gigantic coal and mineral reserves were discovered in the west and south of Santa Catarina, this accelerated industrialization with English support. Santa Catarina needed war and naval industries, England, in exchange for coal and minerals the English built with the Santa Catarina shipyards in four locations, Laguna, Joinville, Desterro and São Francisco do Sul. After the opening of the first shipyards, the construction of ships were initiated. The British also helped with the equipment for the Army. With all these advances, the population of Santa Catarina in 1875 reached 750 thousand inhabitants, one of the largest in Latin America.

Paranaense War
With the fall of the Brazilian Empire, Brazil became a fragile and unstructured country, which caused constant immigration to Santa Catarina through the Brazilian State of Paraná. Santa Catarina saw that it needed a border defense against the Brazilian militias and illegal immigrants, with that it began to intervene in the border and to prevent the advance of these groups. Brazil then, on April 16, 1890, sent a letter and a telegraphic statement to Desterro informing that the soldiers of Santa Catarina were killing innocent Brazilians and violating the treaty signed in São Francisco do Sul advancing against the border. Brazil threatened Santa Catarina that if the atrocities continued, there would be war, and thus, interventions at the border continued until November 26 of the same year. A month before that date, representatives of Santa Catarina, Argentina, Paraguay, and England met to form an alliance and support Santa Catarina in the war against Brazil. Thus, the declaration of war occurred on November 26, 1890.

The Catarinenses forces advanced against cities as Londrina, Maringá and Curitiba, besides occupying several small cities. The Catarinense Navy blocked the ports from Paraná to Rio de Janeiro, guaranteeing that there would be no trade or attempts to advance through the sea against Santa Catarina. On June 17, 1892, the Paranaense government fell and remained under control of Santa Catarina. In the following months, Santa Catarina took control of several São Paulo cities as Presidente Prudente, Marília and Bauru, besides imposing a blockade on the capital of São Paulo. Floriano Peixoto, the second President of Brazil, signed on February 14, 1893 the Treaty of São Paulo, yielding the territory of Paraná to Santa Catarina and a payment of a monetary amount. The signing of this treaty put an end to the war and interventions at the border, as well as ensuring peace and cooperation in the region for the next 20 years.

First World War
In the first world war, Santa Catarina had a small participation, sent doctors and some boats to aid the forces allied to the United Kingdom and the United States. Santa Catarina entered the war only in June 1917, after having merchant ships sunk, violating the agreement of the neutral countries. Internally, German colonies were monitored throughout the war, remaining alert against internal revolts.

Contestado War
In 1921, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, along with its President, Epitacio Pessoa, did not recognize Santa Catarina as an independent country, claiming that Santa Catarina is a legitimate territory of the Brazilian Republic that was stolen by support of foreign forces. This generated a diplomatic crisis between the two countries, the Brazilian President announced on July 18, 1921 that if the Santa Catarina government did not surrender before July 23, 1921, Brazil would invade Santa Catarina. On July 20, the Armed Forces of Santa Catarina began the invasion of Curitiba, a large city near the Santa Catarina border, leading to the war. In addition, Santa Catarina had the support of countries of the southern cone, such as Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.

At the end of 1922, Santa Catarina already controlled completely the territory of Paraná, taking cities like Curitiba, Maringá and Londrina. After Santa Catarina formed a front against São Paulo, the Brazilian government reassessed its actions and saw that its armed forces were obsolete and their country was entering a crisis, under these circumstances, the Brazilian government signed a peace treaty with Santa Catarina giving up the territory From Paraná to Santa Catarina and an amount of money that only finished being paid in 2001. The Treaty was signed in Rio de Janeiro, on January 5, 1923.

Second World War
Due to the large German and Italian presence in Santa Catarina, the Federal Government began to regulate its presence in the country. In most Italian-German communities, Nazi symbols were found, such as photos of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, as well as Nazi and fascist flags. In addition, submarines were found on the coast of Santa Catarina.

After Santa Catarina intercepted messages from the Axis to attack Santa Catarina ships, war was declared against Germany, Italy and Japan on May 16, 1941. Together with the other American nations, Santa Catarina sent 150,000 soldiers to fight in Italy and France, also participating in D-Day. For the participation of Santa Catarina in the war, the judge of the Court of Nuremberg was the Catarinense Erick Meier. Along with the War, Japanese immigrants fled from it, between 1930 and 1950, arrived at Santa Catarina approximately 250,000 Japanese.

Impeachment and Plebiscite of 1953
In 1944, Hélio Eisenberg was elected President by the Popular Party in 1945, and was re-elected in 1948. In 1950 protests began against the socialist measures imposed by him, bringing together 2 million people on the street. In Dezember 15, 1951, investigations began after messages were intercepted between the President and some businessmen, in addition to some deputies and senators. This led to an investigation by the Federal Supreme Court, they found cases of money laundering, sending money abroad without authorization or declaration and payment of bribes, this led to his impeachment in his last year in office. The people still sought changes in politics in Santa Catarina and less centralization, the President of the Federal Supreme Court, Sebastião Baker, assumed the presidency and called a governmental plebiscite, where it was chosen among several forms of republic and system of government. The parliamentary republic with a unicameral system won the plebiscite, in 1953 there was elected the first President under the new regime and the first Prime Minister, the first President under the new regime was Nereu Ramos, the 20th President of Santa Catarina.

Cold War
During the Cold War, Santa Catarina always maintained a pro-US and pro-UK policy. In Desterro there was an embassy of the Soviet Union and one for each one of its allied countries, the same thing happened in Moscow and in the capitals of the countries of the Eastern block, for the great majority, there was an embassy or consulate. During the 1960s and 1970s, there was a major government campaign, creating the so-called "Red Fear", during this period of about 20 years, about five socialist or Soviet-linked parties were closed and their leaders arrested with the justification of betrayal.

Demographics
The population of Santa Catarina in 2015 is 25,317,321 inhabitants, according to the estimates of the National Institute of Statistics. Santa Catarina has a density of 85,06 inhabitants per km². The population is concentrated in the coast, mainly in the Federal Capital, Desterro, in the State of Terra Firme, in the State of Guarapuava and in the State of Nova Pomerânia. The sum of the population of these four states results in about 52% of the total population.

Government
See also: Parliament of the Catarinense Republic 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 126 districts of Santa Catarina, with 64 being required at least to be elected president. In the 2013 elections, of the 25 million inhabitants of Santa Catarina, 12.5 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. The Parliament is composed of 341 members from 126 districts of Santa Catarina, elected directly proportional to the population.

The Santa Catarina Law is based on the Common Civil Code(In Portuguese: Código Civil Comum), different from other countries, the Civil Code of Santa Catarina is a joint between Civil Law and Common Law. Part of the Catarinense Code is written and detailed in codes, but there is a good part that there is no code, and therefore, it applies to Common Law, varying from Judge to Judge. Parliament to pass a law requires a consensus of 60% of the members, representing in the current parliament by 205 Parliamentarians. All bills must be discussed at least twice before they are approved.

Government ministers are members of Parliament chosen by the President and the Prime Minister, there are currently 14 ministries, namely: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Justice and Labor, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, Ministry of Development, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Commerce and Agriculture, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Telecommunications and Ministry of Natural Resources.