=São Pedro de Alcantara=, a state colony, was founded in 1828.[23] Its
first settlers came mainly from the Rhine district.
=Itajahy=[24] and =Santa Izabel=, two other state colonies were founded
in 1835 and 1846 respectively.
=Blumenau=, a private colony (originally), was founded in 1850 by Dr.
Hermann Blumenau.[25] The first settlers were mainly natives of
Pomerania and Mecklenburg. Blumenau is the most widely known (largely
because of its German name) and one of the most important German
colonies in Brazil to-day. According to Carvalho "Blumenau constitue
dans l'Amérique du Sud le type le plus parfait de la colonisation
européenne."[26] The area of the "municipio"[27] covers 10,725 square
kilometers and is populated by about 60,000 inhabitants, the great
majority of whom are of German descent.[28] The "Stadtplatz"[29] is
composed mainly of one street 5-1/2 kilometers in length (including
Altona) and is most beautifully situated on the right bank of the river
Itajahy-Assú. It contains about 3,000 inhabitants, nearly all of whom
are Germans.
=Dona Francisca= was founded in 1851 as a private colony by the
"Hamburger Kolonisationsverein von 1849." It comprises the territory
given as a marriage dot by Dom Pedro II. to his sister, Dona Francisca,
at the time of her marriage to the Prince of Joinville of the French
House of Orleans. The "Stadtplatz" of the colony was named Joinville in
honor of the prince.
Dona Francisca was founded under favorable circumstances at a time when
many Germans, including members of the "upper classes" were leaving the
Fatherland on account of the general political discontent during the
latter part of the forties of the past century. This fact is reflected
in the German language as spoken in Joinville to-day. It is perhaps more
free from dialect than in any other German colony in Brazil. The
general cultural status of the inhabitants of Germanic origin is
relatively high.
The entire colony (municipio) of Dona Francisca contains more than
30,000 inhabitants; the "Stadtplatz" about 6,000. In both, the
inhabitants of Germanic origin form the great majority.
The colony of =Brusque=[30] was founded in 1860. Its early colonists
were composed largely of former inhabitants of the Rheinland,
Westphalia, Oldenburg and Baden. Next to Blumenau and Dona Francisca,
Brusque is to-day the most important German colony in Santa Catharina.
In the territory not included in the "municipios" mentioned above, the
larger part of the inhabitants of the following centers are of German
descent: Angelina and Santa Thereza, both founded in 1853; Therezopolis,
founded in 1860; Palhoça, Braço do Norte and Pedras Grandes.
Important numbers of Germans are located along the following rivers of
Santa Catharina: Rio Itajahy do Sul; Rio das Tijucas; Rio Braço do
Norte; and Rio Capivary.[31]
In point of numbers, Santa Catharina is next to the most important state
in Brazil so far as German colonization is concerned.