u/CaralhinhosVoadorez

Portuguese and Paulista settlement:

The expansion of settlement along the southern Brazilian coast began in the Captaincy of São Vicente, and by the end of the 17th century, there were already three basic centers of settlement in Santa Catarina: Nossa Senhora do Rio São Francisco, now São Francisco do Sul, founded in 1658; Desterro, now Florianópolis, founded in 1662; and Santo Antonio dos Anjos de Laguna, now Laguna, founded in 1682.

Portugal seeking to resolve the problems of overpopulation in the Azores archipelago and at the same time to effectively occupy the territory of Santa Catarina sent several waves of colonists from the archipelago and the island of Madeira to join the contingent from São Vicente already engaged in the development of agriculture on the coast.

German settlement:

In 1829 the first German settlement in Santa Catarina was established in São Pedro de Alcântara on the initiative of the Brazilian government. It consisted of 523 Catholic colonists who came from Bremen. In 1849, the Hamburg Colonization Society acquired 8 square leagues of land that corresponded to the dowry of Princess Dona Francisca marriage founding the Dona Francisca colony, whose nucleus gave rise to the city of Joinville. This colony, despite the difficulties of the climate, soil and terrain, prospered, expanding through the valleys and plateaus, giving rise, in 1870, to the colony of São Bento do Sul.

The Blumenau colony (present-day Blumenau), in the Itajaí-Açu river valley, founded in 1850 by a private individual, Dr. Hermann Blumenau, was sold 10 years later to the Imperial Government. In 1893, the Hanseatic Colonization Society founded the colony of Hamônia (present-day Ibirama) in the Itajaí do Norte valley. In the Itajaí-Mirim valley, starting in 1860, the first waves of german immigrants began to arrive who revitalized the colony of Itajaí, later called Brusque. In the southern part of the Tijucas River, despite the failures of the pioneering colony of São Pedro de Alcântara, new colonization attempts were achieved by the Germans, with the creation of the colonies of Santa Tereza and Angelina.

Italian Settlement:

The colony of Nova Itália (present-day São João Batista) was founded in 1836 in the Tijucas River valley by immigrants from the island of Sardinia. As a result of the contract signed in 1874 between the Brazilian imperial government and Joaquim Caetano Pinto Júnior, the following settlements were founded starting in 1875: Rio dos Cedros, Rodeio, Ascurra, and Apiúna, around the Blumenau colony; Porto Franco (present-day Botuverá) and Nova Trento, around the Brusque colony. In 1877, the Luís Alves colony was founded in the Itajaí-Açu river valley, and the settlements of Azambuja, Pedras Grandes, and Treze de Maio were established in the Tubarão river valley; and in the Urussanga valley, the settlements of Urussanga, Acioli de Vasconcelos (present-day Cocal), and Criciúma were established.

Slavic Settlement:

Starting in 1871, the first group of Poles arrived in Brusque. Due to a contract with the imperial government, Poles were already entering the then province of Santa Catarina in 1882. From 1889 onwards, new waves of Polish and Russian immigrants arrived in southern Santa Catarina, in the valleys of the Urussanga, Tubarão, Mãe Luzia, and Araranguá rivers, while other waves settled in the valleys of the Itajaí and Itapocu rivers and in São Bento do Sul and surrounding areas.

Following the First World War, there were new arrivals in the Peixe River valley region, in the Mid-West of Santa Catarina, in Rio das Antas and Ipoméia (1926); in the Uruguay River valley, in the tributaries of the Uruguay River, in Descanso (1934); in the Itajaí do Oeste valley (1937); in Faxinal dos Guedes (1938) and the upper Itajaí do Norte valley (1939), among a few other places. With the Second World War, Polish immigrants moved, in 1940, through the Uruguay River valley to Mondaí and, in 1948, from the upper Itajaí valley to Pouso Redondo.

Sources:

Lago, Paulo Fernando (1971). Geografia de Santa Catarina: instrução programada 6 ed. Florianópolis: Edição do autor

Conceição, G.-. (n.d.). SANTA CATARINA/POVOAMENTO e COLONIZAÇÃO. https://geoconceicao.blogspot.com/2012/05/santa-catarinapovoamento-e-colonizacao.html