South Region, Brazil
|
South Region Região Sul |
|
|---|---|
| Region | |
 Location of South Region in Brazil |
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| Coordinates: 25°26′S 49°16′W / 25.433°S 49.267°WCoordinates: 25°26′S 49°16′W / 25.433°S 49.267°W | |
| Country |
 Brazil
|
| States | Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina |
| Area | |
| • Region | 576,409.6 km2 (222,553.0 sq mi) |
| Area rank | 5th |
| Population (2010 census) | |
| • Region | 29,016,114 |
| • Rank | 3rd |
| • Density | 50/km2 (130/sq mi) |
| • Density rank | 2nd |
| • Urban | 82% |
| GDP | |
| • Year | 2008 |
| • Total | R$672,1 billion (2nd) |
| • Per capita | R$ 24,382 (2nd) |
| HDI | |
| • Year | 2005–2007 |
| • Category | 0.892 – high (1st) |
| • Life expectancy | 77.2 years (1st) |
| • Infant mortality | 7.7 per 1,000 (5th) |
| • Literacy | 98.3% (1st) |
| Time zone | BRT (UTC-03) |
| • Summer (DST) | BRST (UTC-02) |
The South Region of Brazil (Portuguese: Região Sul do Brasil) is one of the five regions of Brazil. It includes the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul and covers 576,409.6 square kilometres (222,553.0 sq mi), being the smallest portion of the country, occupying only about 6.76% of the territory of Brazil. Its whole area is smaller than that of the state of Minas Gerais, in Southeast Brazil, for example. It is a great tourist, economic and cultural pole. It borders Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay as well as the Centre-West Region, the Southeast Region and the Atlantic Ocean.
By the time the first European explorers arrived, all parts of the territory were inhabited by semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer Indian tribes, who subsisted on a combination of hunting, fishing, and gathering.
European colonization in Southern Brazil started with the arrival of Portuguese and Spanish Jesuits. They lived among the Indians and converted them to Catholicism. Colonists from São Paulo (Bandeirantes) arrived in the same period. For decades, the Portuguese and Spanish crowns disputed over this region. Due to this conflict, the King of Portugal encouraged the immigration of settlers from the Azores Islands to Southern Brazil. Between 1748 and 1756, six thousand Azoreans arrived. They composed over half of the population of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina by the late 18th century.
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