Czech Brazilians
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 5,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Mainly Southeastern and Southern Brazil | |
| Languages | |
| Predominantly Portuguese. Some also speak Czech | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Roman Catholic | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other White Brazilians, Czech people |
Czech Brazilians refer to Brazilians of Czech descent who were born in or who trace their ancestry to the territory of the historic Czech lands or succession states, now known as the Czech Republic, and are residents and/or citizens of Brazil.
Although Czech Jesuits such as Valentin Stansel had been working in Brazil since the 18th century, the first Czech immigrants arrived in 1823. Among these early immigrants was Jan Nepomuk Kubíček, a Catholic carpenter from Třeboň and one of the great-grandfathers of Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, the 24th President of Brazil (from 1956 to 1961).
In the 20th century there were three large waves of Czechs who moved to Brazil: in the 1930s, after the Communist takeover (1948) and after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact troops (1968). Most of those immigrants settled down in Southern Brazil.
Though Czechs correspond to a small proportion of all immigrants who landed in Brazil, the Czech immigration is significant if counted in absolute numbers. An evidence of such representativeness is that a search in the 2007 phone book of São Paulo reveals that all the 10 commonest Czech male surnames can be found among the inhabitants of the mentioned Brazilian city.
More or less influence of the Czech immigration can be noticed in the three states of Southern Brazil (Santa Catarina, Paraná, and Rio Grande do Sul). In such states, the Czechs arrived since the 19th century and were often a minority in areas predominantly settled by Germans or Poles.
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Wikipedia