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GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SANTA CATARINA
Santa Catarina State resembles
a lying triangle with its vertex at the border with Argentina and its basis
facing the Atlantic Ocean. It has a strategically privileged geographical
position since it is equidistant from the Southeast region of Brazil (Rio
de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais) and the capitals of Argentina,
Uruguay e Paraguay. Santa Catarina is the natural front door to the Mercosul.
The immigration from abroad
is a characteristic trait of Santa Catarina. It occurred from the mid-eighteenth
century throughout the 1940's. The people of Santa Catarina comprises a
mosaic of ethnic groups, like the Portuguese, the Germans, the Italians,
the Japanese, the Austrian, the Polish and the Ukrainians. In spite of
representing only 1.3% of the national territory, the economy of Santa
Catarina ranks 7th out of the 25 States of Brazil amounting up about 17
billion dollars per year, and with a per capita income similar to that
of South Europe.
FLORIANÓPOLIS /
SANTA CATARINA ISLAND (CAPITAL)
Florianópolis is considered
the touristic capital of the Mercosul (South American Common Market), and
is prominent for its strategic
position:
The capital of the state,
it comprises two population centers: the Island, consisting of the city
center, the city districts, and the fishermen
villages, and the continent, which comprises the Mainland districts.
It has 350 thousand inhabitants
distributed throughout 451 km2. In addition to being a touristic pole with
its 42 beaches and two lagoons
in the island (Conceição and Peri), Florianópolis
is also the seat of the government in Santa Catarina State, thus being of great political importance
in the state.
The whole region of Florianópolis
has got an excellent infrastructure, with an international airport and
interstate bus lines linking the
city to the rest of the country. Its outstanding trait is the excellent
quality of life it offers to its inhabitants.
It is within that context
that the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), which was created
in 1960 in Florianópolis, ranks
among the top ten universities in Brazil, according to the Ministry of
Education. |
