Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul
Encyclopedia
Santa Maria is a municipality
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in Brazil, and the state with the fifth highest Human Development Index in the country. In this state is located the southernmost city in the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay. In the region of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, the largest wine...

, the southernmost state of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. In 2007, its population was 263,403 inhabitants in a total area of 1,823 km2.

Importance

It is known for the Federal University of Santa Maria and a number of other private universities and colleges. Because of the large number of college age students, the city has a relatively young population. Santa Maria is also known for its military contingent - the second largest in Brazil.

Santa Maria is also known in the region for being the host city of an important Roman Catholic festival dedicated to Nossa Senhora Medianeira, called "Romaria da Medianeira" (Medianeira is a name of Our Lady
Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)
Roman Catholic veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary is based on Holy Scripture: In the fullness of time, God sent his son, born of a virgin. The mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God through Mary thus signifies her honour as Mother of God...

 that was created in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

). Every year, hundreds of thousands of people from all over Brazil join in the celebrations.

Santa Maria is the location of the Santa Maria Air Force Base of the Brazilian Air Force
Brazilian Air Force
The Brazilian Air Force is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Army and Navy air branch were merged into a single military force initially called "National Air Forces"...

, which houses four units.

The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Maria
Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Maria
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Maria is a archdiocese located in the city of Santa Maria. Before being elevated to an archdiocese itself in 2011 it was part of the Ecclesiastical province of Porto Alegre in Brazil.-History:...

.

Santa Maria is known for its pizza. They boast numerous pizza restaurants that serve many varieties such as as mayonnaise and steak to chicken and corn and chocolate and Smarties to ice cream. The locals say that they have the best pizza in the world, though that is just an opinion.

Santa Maria also has two soccer teams: Inter-SM
Esporte Clube Internacional
Esporte Clube Internacional, usually known as Inter de Santa Maria, Internacional de Santa Maria, Inter-SM, or simply as Internacional, is a Brazilian football club from Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul state founded on May 16, 1928. The club competed in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A in 1982,...

 and Riograndense-SM.

Population

In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Maria is the fifth largest city, after Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...

, Caxias do Sul
Caxias do Sul
Caxias do Sul is a city in Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil, situated in the state's mountainous Serra Gaúcha region. Coordinates: 29°10′0″ S, 51°11′0″ W....

, Pelotas
Pelotas
Pelotas is a Brazilian city and municipality , the third most populous in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. Pelotas is located 270 km from Porto Alegre, the capital city of the state, and 130 km from the Uruguayan border...

, and Canoas
Canoas
Canoas , which won city status in 1939, is the fourth largest city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Its population is over 300,000 people. The city is adjacent to the capital of the gaúcho state: Porto Alegre...

.

It is the largest city in the central region of the state, concentrating 36.40% of the region's population. During the period between 1981 and 2000, Santa Maria had a demographic growth rate of 1.86%.

The municipality contains 10 districts. The city of Santa Maria itself is located in the urban Seat District (Distrito Sede), which is divided into 8 regiões administrativas (administrative regions), and further subdivided into 41 bairro
Bairro
Bairro is a Portuguese word and refers to a community or region within a city or municipality. Bairros exist in the majority of large cities in the world. Related words in English include neighborhood, district, borough or subdivision...

s
(neighbourhoods). About 95% of the municipality's total population is concentrated in the Seat District. One of the districts is Palma
Palma, Santa Maria
Palma is a district and neighborhood of the Brazilian city of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul.After Sede - which is the urban area - is the most important district, with the potential for further development driven by an excellent location and good access the central area of the city and the main...

.

Economy

The economy is based on services, light industry
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...

, government services, and agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

. In 2006, there were 934 transformation industries employing 6,344 workers. Commerce
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...

 employed 12,180 workers, public administration
Public administration
Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....

 employed 4,783 workers, the health sector employed 3,799 workers, and education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

 employed 6,362 workers. In the agricultural sector, there were 2,335 establishments employing 7,000 workers. The main activities are cattle raising with over 100,000 heads in 2006, and growth of rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

, corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

, soybean
Soybean
The soybean or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses...

, and wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

.

Transportation

Santa Maria is a major highway
Highway
A highway is any public road. In American English, the term is common and almost always designates major roads. In British English, the term designates any road open to the public. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a...

 and railroad hub. The city has a strategic location in connecting Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 to other Mercosul countries, mainly through the following highways:
  • BR-158
    BR-158
    BR-158 is a federal highway of Brazil. One of the longest highways in the country, the 3946.2 kilometre road connects Altamira, Pará to Santana do Livramento on the Uruguayan border where it joins Route 5 ....

     - connects Santa Maria to northern and southwestern Rio Grande do Sul
    Rio Grande do Sul
    Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in Brazil, and the state with the fifth highest Human Development Index in the country. In this state is located the southernmost city in the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay. In the region of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, the largest wine...

    , allowing access to Uruguaiana
    Uruguaiana
    Uruguaiana is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is located on the left-hand shore of the Uruguay River that forms the border with Argentina. Opposite Uruguaiana, and joined to it by a road/railway bridge, lies the Argentine city of Paso de los Libres, Corrientes...

    , in the Argentine
    Argentina
    Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

     border, and to Rivera
    Rivera
    Rivera is the capital of Rivera Department of Uruguay. It is located at the north end of Route 5, on the border with Brazil. The Brazilian city of Santana do Livramento is right across the border, only a street away of it...

    , Uruguay
    Uruguay
    Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

    .

  • BR-287 - east-west highway, connecting the city to the capital of the state, Porto Alegre
    Porto Alegre
    Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...

    .


Railways are used for cargo transportation, mainly of agricultural products, automobile parts and food.

Santa Maria is 110 km from the River Terminal of Cachoeira do Sul
Cachoeira do Sul
Cachoeira do Sul is a municipality of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.It is located at a latitude of 30º02'21" S and a longitude of 52º53'38" W, at an approximate height of 68 meters over sea level. Its population in 2004 was approximately 89120 and its surface area is 3715.5 square...

, which allows ship transport until the port of Porto Alegre through the Jacuí River
Jacuí River
The Jacuí River is a river in Rio Grande do Sul state of southern Brazil. The Jacuí empties into the Guaíba River, an estuarine arm of the Lagoa dos Patos, a large coastal lagoon connected to the Atlantic Ocean....

, and from there to the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

, through the Lagoa dos Patos
Lagoa dos Patos
Lagoa dos Patos is the second largest lagoon in Latin America and the biggest in Brazil. It is located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. It is 174 miles long, has a maximum width of 44 miles , and a total area of 3,803 sq. mi....

.

Santa Maria Airport
Santa Maria Airport (Rio Grande do Sul)
Santa Maria Airport is the airport serving Santa Maria, Brazil.It is operated by the Brazilian Air Force.Some of its facilities are shared with the Santa Maria Air Force Base of the Brazilian Air Force.-History:...

 is located 12 km far from downtown, in the neighborhood of Camobi. It has capacity for large airplanes and offers daily flights to Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...

, Santo Ângelo
Santo Ângelo
Santo Ângelo is a city located in northwestern Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. City population is about 76,304 inhabitants and the total area of the municipality is about 677 km²...

 and Uruguaiana
Uruguaiana
Uruguaiana is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is located on the left-hand shore of the Uruguay River that forms the border with Argentina. Opposite Uruguaiana, and joined to it by a road/railway bridge, lies the Argentine city of Paso de los Libres, Corrientes...

. The same facility is shared by the Santa Maria Air Force Base of the Brazilian Air Force
Brazilian Air Force
The Brazilian Air Force is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Army and Navy air branch were merged into a single military force initially called "National Air Forces"...

.

Highway Distances to Other Cities in the state

  • Santa Maria—Porto Alegre: 286 km.
  • Santa Maria—Pelotas: 337 km.
  • Santa Maria—Cruz Alta: 135 km.
  • Santa Maria—Uruguaiana: 365 km.
  • Santa Maria—Passo Fundo: 293 km.
  • Santa Maria—Caxias do Sul: 307 km.

Health and education

In 2005, there were 113 health establishments, comprising 8 hospitals with a total amount of 866 available beds. In the educational sector, there were 112 primary schools and 34 secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

s. Six higher education institutions enrolled approximately 20,000 students. The most important are the Federal University of Santa Maria - UFSM, the Franciscan University Center - UNIFRA, and the Methodist University of Santa Maria - FAMES.

Climate

Santa Maria has a humid subtropical climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...

 and its annual average temperature is 18.5 °C. In January, the warmest month, highs frequently surpass 30 °C with the average low dropping to 19 °C. In June, the coldest month, highs reach 19 °C and lows usually go below 9 °C, reaching up to -5 °C, but snow is a rare occurrence. Rainfall is distributed evenly throughout the year with a monthly average of 140 mm.

Nicknames

Santa Maria is often referred to as the "heart of Rio Grande do Sul" (from Portuguese: "cidade coração do Rio Grande"), because the geographical center of the state is located in a rural District of Santa Maria called Passo do Verde. Santa Maria is also given the nickname of "culture city" (Portuguese: "cidade cultura"), mostly because of the local universities, which host a large number of students and young adults who engage in many cultural and political actions, social entrepreneurs, and a number of academic researchers of international reputation.

History

The first inhabitants of Santa Maria were the Minuano Indians, who lived in a region of the municipality known as Coxilha do Pau Fincado, and the Tapes, who lived in the hills.

With the arrival of Spanish and Portuguese this border region was a witness to innumerable battles between rival groups. Finally in 1797 the border between the two colonies was established by a commission (1ª Subdivisão da Comissão Demarcadora de Limites da América Meridional). This commission set up camp on the site of present-day Santa Maria.

The camp was known as Acampamento de Santa Maria, later adding Boca do Monte to the name.
1828 saw the arrival of the 28th Battalion of Foreigners, made up of hired Germans to fight against the inhabitants of present-day Uruguay in the Cisplatine War. After the war many of the soldiers decided to stay in Santa Maria beginning the cycle of German colonization.

Santa Maria was elevated to the condition of Vila, separating from Cachoeira do Sul, in 1857. The municipality was created on 16 December 1857 and installed on 17 May 1858.

Quality of Life

According to the United Nations (PNUD 2000), Santa Maria ranks 45th in quality of life in Brazil and 9th in the state. According to data from 2006, from Fundação de Economia e Estatística - FEE, life expectancy at birth is of 74.01 years and the demographic density of the municipality is 145.4 inhab/km².

The level of atmospheric pollution in Santa Maria is low, since the urban area, for the most part, is composed of retail commerce and services, without polluting sectors.

Paleontology

The city is the birthplace of Paleorrota
Paleorrota
Paleorrota , is a geopark located in the center of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The rocks and fossils found along the route date back to the times when there was only one supercontinent Pangaea....

 and paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...

 in Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in Brazil, and the state with the fifth highest Human Development Index in the country. In this state is located the southernmost city in the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay. In the region of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, the largest wine...

 and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. In 1902, a Rhynchosaur
Rhynchosaur
Rhynchosaurs were a group of Triassic diapsid reptiles related to the archosaurs.-Description:Rhynchosaurs were herbivores, and at times abundant , with stocky bodies and a powerful beak...

 was collected in Santa Maria, on what is considered to be the first fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 to be found in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. Llewellyn Ivor Price
Llewellyn Ivor Price
Llewellyn Ivor Price was one of the first Brazilian paleontologists.-Biography:Price's work contributed not only to the development of Brazilian but also to global paleontology...

, a Santa Maria-born paleontologist and one of the first Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian ones, collected a Staurikosaurus
Staurikosaurus
Staurikosaurus is a genus of herrerasaurid dinosaur from the Late Triassic of Brazil.-Discovery:The first known specimen of Staurikosaurus was recovered from the Paleontological Site Jazigo Cinco of the Santa Maria Formation in the geopark of paleorrota , Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil...

, the first Brazilian dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

. The city is located on a huge deposit of fossils, with more than 20 Paleontological Sites.

Paleontological Sites of the City

  1. Paleontological Site Arroio Cancela
    Paleontological Site Arroio Cancela
    The Paleontological Site Arroio Cancela is located within the city of Santa Maria, a municipality of Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil. The site is situated in the neighbourhood Nossa Senhora de Lourdes at an altitude of 107 metres above sea level...

    .
  2. Paleontological Site Largo Padre Daniel Cargnin
    Paleontological Site Largo Padre Daniel Cargnin
    Paleontological Site Largo Padre Daniel Cargnin is a paleontological site of the Caturrita Formation located in the city of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The site is located in the Paleorrota Geopark....

    .
  3. Paleontological Site Bela Vista
    Paleontological Site Bela Vista
    Paleontological Site Bela Vista is located in the city of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. And belongs to Caturrita Formation. Site belongs to the region paleorrota....

    .
  4. Paleontological Site Jazigo Cinco
    Paleontological Site Jazigo Cinco
    Paleontological Site Jazigo Cinco is located in the city of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. And belongs to Santa Maria Formation. It is located in the neighborhood Kilometro 3 near Castelinho, is to 2.7 kilometers away from the Paleontological Site Arroio Cancela. It belongs to UFSM and is...

    .
  5. Paleontological Site Sanga da Alemoa.


In October 2009, began free distribution of one thousand copies of the book Vertebrados Fósseis de Santa Maria e Região (Vertebrate Fossils of Santa Maria and surrounding regions in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

). The book will be delivered to institutions, schools and libraries in Santa Maria, in order to spread the teaching of this subject in the region. The book was published by the council of the city.
Already published two comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

s with titles Xiru Lautério e Os Dinossauros I and II, in order to disclose the paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...

 and gaucho
Gaucho
Gaucho is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southern Brazil...

 culture among children of city and region.

Day of Paleorrota

On 21 and 22 May 2011, was held the first day of Paleorrota
Paleorrota
Paleorrota , is a geopark located in the center of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The rocks and fossils found along the route date back to the times when there was only one supercontinent Pangaea....

, where the museums of palaeontology at Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...

, Candelária
Candelária, Rio Grande do Sul
- Paleontology :This city belongs to the geopark of Paleorrota.Museum of the city that have fossils:#Museum Aristides Carlos Rodrigues.-Day of Paleorrota:...

, Santa Maria, São Pedro do Sul
São Pedro do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul
- Paleontology :This city belongs to the geopark of Paleorrota.Museum of the city that have fossils:#Museum Paleontologic and Archaeological Walter Ilha.-Day of Paleorrota:...

 and Mata
Mata, Rio Grande do Sul
- Paleontology :This city belongs to the geopark of Paleorrota.The city of Mata has large deposits of petrified trees.Museum of the city that have fossils:#Museum Daniel Cargnin.-Day of Paleorrota:...

, opened their doors to visits from tourists. The day of Paleorrota should occur every year in May during the week's national museum. Earlier this week, on May 17 is the anniversary of the city of Santa Maria.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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