Santa Catarina

Santa Catarina, officially the Catarinense Republic(Portuguese: República Catarinense) is a democratic federal parliamentary republic country 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.

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 world'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.