Biguaçu, Santa Catarina, South Region, Brazil

🇧🇷 Biguaçu is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina in the South region of Brazil. It is bordered to the west with the municipality of Antônio Carlos, to the east with the Atlantic Ocean (North Bay of the Island of Santa Catarina, where the state capital, Florianópolis, is located), to the north-east with the municipality of Governador Celso Ramos. To the north, it borders with the municipalities of Tijucas, Canelinha and São João Batista. To the south, with the municipality of São José.

Located between the two largest ports of Santa Catarina, Itajaí and Imbituba, and close to the capital Florianópolis, Biguaçu has an exit to the sea, not to mention the ease of access, since the duplicate BR-101 cuts the municipality, and the BR-282, which connects the capital of Santa Catarina to the interior of the state, is only 12 km away, by duplicate route and

History Biguaçu is one of the oldest municipalities in Santa Catarina, its origin being the village of São Miguel da Terra Firme, created as Póvoa de São Miguel, under the terms of the provision of August 9, 1747, with the arrival of the first Azoreans. The construction work of the mother church began soon, made of pau-a-pique and covered with tiles, which was dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. It was built in the same place where the centennial church is currently still located.

By act of the Administrative Council of the Province on March 1, 1833, the parish of São Miguel was elevated to a village. On May 17, 1833 it became a municipality, dismembering itself from the capital of the then Province of Santa Catarina, Desterro. In 1886 the headquarters of the municipality leaves the village of São Miguel and goes to the current headquarters, on the banks of the Biguaçu River. In 1910 the name of the municipality is changed to Biguaçu.

When it was founded in 1833, the territory comprised from the current Carolina River (divisa with São José) to the Camboriú River (current municipality of Balneário Camboriú), reaching the limits of the General Series. The wave of dismemberments for the foundation of new municipalities ended only in the 1960s, with the dismemberment of the region of Alto Biguaçu, current municipality of Antônio

History: Capital of the province For a few months at the end of the 18th century, on May 31, 1778, it was the capital of the province of Santa Catarina, when the Spanish invasion of the Island of Santa Catarina and its capital, Desterro (present-day Florianópolis).

Economy The economy of the municipality until the 1970s, depended mainly on agriculture, livestock and fishing. Currently, the industry accounts for most of the jobs generated in the municipality, along with an expanding trade.

The municipality has good areas for the installation of industrial plants and has access to natural gas, as it has a Petrobras distributor. Agriculture is also still representative. Fishing is currently insignificant, still practiced only at an artisanal level, although the municipality has a considerable water potential. The main industrial products of the municipality derive from the plastic and food industry. Agriculture produces mainly plants for gardening, with emphasis on the production of grasses and palm trees, in addition to the production of vegetables for regional trade. Also a considerable part of the income of workers is earned in the capital of Santa Catarina, which characterizes the city as a dormitory.

Education The municipality in recent years has had a good expansion of the offer of vocational courses for the regional labor market. It also has a university campus, with more than a dozen traditional courses, maintained by UNIVALI, private. In line with private universities, the poles of the universities are also installed in the municipality: UNIASSELVI, UNICESUMAR, Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul, Uningá, Estácio de Sá. It also has, nearby, public universities in the capital Florianópolis, such as UDESC (state) and UFSC (federal), the latter among the 5 largest in the country.

Geography: Environment The dominant vegetation is the Atlantic Forest, today quite devastated. It has more than 12 km of maritime coastline, being bathed by Baia Norte, the aquatic arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates this municipality from the island of Santa Catarina, where most of Florianópolis is located. The largest river in the municipality is also named after the city, the Biguaçu river, which is 37 km long.

The Inferninho River, the second largest, is 34 km long. The municipality does not yet have a sewage treatment network, which means that practically all rivers and the maritime coast are highly polluted. There are no environmental reserves or land occupation prevention plan, and in the 1980s and 1990s there was a strong disorderly occupation of slopes near the municipal headquarters, especially in the neighborhoods of Prado, Saudade, Bom Viver and Jardim Janaína. Due to strong real estate speculation, green spaces decrease rapidly. The municipality should also encounter difficulties in the supply of drinking water in the near future, since practically all water consumed in the municipality comes from other cities, allying with the high population growth of the region, although the water potential is considerable, lacking only its protection and rational use. The beaches of the municipality suffer from the spillage, impairing the balneability.

In 2017, the "Municipal Natural Park of Serra de São Miguel" was created, it is the first municipal park of Biguaçu, the park, is located in a rural area, between the neighborhoods of Saudade, Prado, São Miguel and Tijuquinhas, has a total area of 1,226,31904 hectares and a perimeter of 24,624.53 meters.

Culture

Biguaçu is very culturally linked to the capital Florianópolis, since its colonization in the 18th century by-açorianos. There is also the issue of the offer of jobs and education, where many residents work and study in the capital, making the municipality characteristic of a dormitory city.

In 1996, the Academy of Letters of Biguaçu was founded to unite poets, writers, historians and other intellectuals of the respective city and the surroundings.

Culture: Religion

In the 2010 census, about 91% of the population declared themselves Christian (72% Roman Catholic, 17% Protestants evangelical, about 1.5% of Christian restorationists Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons); 5% without religion, 2% Kardecist spiritists, 1% anemists (mainly Candomblecists) and 1% atheists.

Tourist attractions The gastronomy stands out, especially the seafood restaurants, located in the São Miguel Lake, which is a very visited point of the municipality, with its warm and soft water, in addition to having the Casa dos Açores Ethnographic Museum.

There is, near the headquarters, the impressive view of Serra da Boa Vista, with its access practically all paved, where at the highest point there is still a beautiful Catholic cave, in the midst of a lot of green.

Towards Antônio Carlos, the beauty of commercial grass plantations. In Três Riachos there are several leisure alternatives for rural tourism.

Subdivisions Currently the Municipality of Biguaçu is subdivided 3 districts (Sede, Guaporanga and Sorocaba do Sul), as well as in 22 urban neighborhoods (officialized in 2011):

Urban neighborhoods 1 Centro; 2 João Rosa Beach; 3 Saveiro; 4 Morro da Bina; 5 Mar das Pedras; 6 Bom Viver; 7 Universitário ; 8 Jardim Janaína; 9 Fundos; 10 Rio Caveiras; 11 Boa Vista; 12 Vendaval; 13 Beira Rio; 14 Encruzilhada; 15 Saudade; 16 Prado; 17 Prado de Baixo; 18 São Miguel; 19 Tijuquinhas; 20 Cachoeiras; 21 Areias de Cima; 22 Estiva.

Still already installed and widely known, although without official recognition, there are the neighborhoods of the Alto Biguaçu region (between the Vendaval neighborhood and the border with the municipality of Antônio Carlos): Russia, Santa Catarina, Santa Cruz and Alto Biguaçu. As well as the localities of Três Riachos and Sorocaba.

Districts 1. Sede Located in the centre of the municipality, it covers the central urban perimeter, having around 50,000 inhabitants. Main locations: Centro, Praia João Rosa, Rio Caveiras, Fundos, Bom Viver, Jardim Janaína, Prado, Saudade, Vendaval, Universitário, Morro da Bina, Mar das Pedras.

2. Guaporanga Located on the banks of Baia Norte towards Tijucas. It has around 5,000 inhabitants. Main locations: São Miguel, Praia de baixo, Pitangueiras, Cachoeiras, Areias de Cima, Tijuquinhas, Estiva do Inferninho.

3. Sorocaba do Sul Located in the north-central of the municipality. There are about three thousand inhabitants, mainly located in the Três Riachos valley. Main Locations: Sorocaba de Dentro, Sorocaba de Fora, Três Riachos, Limeira, São Marcos, Fazenda.