Uma cidade para alemães católicos: formação e evolução urbana de Itapiranga (SC)

Abstract

This article reflects on the process of urban evolution of Itapiranga, a small city in the far west of the state of Santa Catarina, which colonization was driven by a Jesuit association that sought to create an ethnic and confessional colony for descendants of Catholic Germans. Starting from the hypothesis that Itapiranga follows peculiar characteristics of the implantation of the cities created by Germans and their descendants in Brazil, the research sought to analyze the process of territorial occupation, growth and urban development in order to identify the factors that influenced its implantation, understanding how the forms of appropriation of the natural environment and the constitution of urban spaces took place. Through bibliographic and documentary research, photographs, cartography and information about local and regional history, it was possible to identify elements that make up the urban structure and the processes of evolution and transformation of Itapiranga throughout its history.