Colono people

Pre-19th century

The Southern Brazilian highland was initially settled in the 17th and 18th century by Gaúcho and Caipira settlers who expanded into the region via the work of Bandeirantes coming from the south of São Paulo and horseman explorers from the Jacúi river valley; these colonists were mostly descended from Portuguese and native Tupi-Guarani speaking Amerindians, with lower amounts of ancestry from Africans and Spaniards.

The colder climate, dense vegetation and hilly terrain made it difficult for settlers to establish themselves in the area, as the amount of arable land wasn't enough to sustain a family's food needs with the agricultural technology of the time, and the occurrence of frosts and occasional snow in the winter posed a risk to the crops cultivated in the new world. On top of this, the local indigenous peoples such as the Kaingang, Xokleng and Guarani were highly resilient and had developed warrior-like cultures, with some nations possessing mastery of horse-riding techniques, as the animal had been introduced to them by Portuguese and Spanish colonizers in the 16th century.

19th century European migration waves

As such, the population density of the area was very low, with sparse settlements being limited to the valleys by the Serra Gaúcha, eastern Catarinense lowlands and the Curitiba region. However, changes in migration laws in the early 19th century caused by the independence of Brazil from Portugal and the concurrent populational boom and industrial revolution in Europe made the region attractive for European peasants in search of cheap lands. Differently from the Italian and Germans that moved into São Paulo, which was already developed and already fully "owned" by agricultural elites, the European immigrants to the South of Brazil found themselves in an largely empty, promising territory with a climate that was similar to the one of their homeland.

The use of rifles and other gunpowder-based weapons by the new settlers meant they were able to quickly overcome the resistance of local indigenous peoples. Furthermore, the new advancements in farming technology and the cold-resistant crops brought by the immigrants made farming in the region possible and with occasional surplus, meaning that the high birthrates of the settlers would result in massive population growth in the region. Between 1872 and 1890 the population of Paraná grew by 96%, and the one of Santa Catarina grew by 77%.

In order to accommodate these new immigrants to the land and to create a stable, well-organized land division among the new small-scale farmer class, the Brazilian government made the first and only ever agrarian reform in the history of the country, dividing swaths of agricultural property among the settlers.

Cultural formation and language

Ethnic groups of origin of these immigrants include the Venetians, Lombardians, Tyroleans, Piedmontese, Emilians, Swiss, Rhinelanders, Pomeranians, Swabians, Poles, Ukrainians and Russians. The wide range of different cultures and languages eventually merged with each other and with the local Brazilians as the generations passed, with intermarriage and cultural syncretism between their traditions and customs, which led to the formation of the Colono people. One factor that helped with the adaptation and avoided the formation of endogamic communities was the fact that the vast majority of the settlers were Roman Catholics, with the small numbers of Orthodox and Lutherans mostly converting to Catholicism in the early 20th century.

Even after 2 or 3 generations, many descendants of immigrants did not speak Portuguese at home, instead using it as a second language that served as a lingua franca to communicate with migrants of other ethnic groups or with other Brazilians. In the efforts of creating a unified national identity in the 1930s, the Vargas government prohibited the use of languages that were not Portuguese in the Brazilian national territory and forced schools across the country to teach in the language. This law led to a massive decrease in the number of speakers of languages such as Venetian, Talian, Hunsrik, Polish, Russian and German. Today, the vast majority of people in Southern Brazil speak solely Portuguese, with minority languages being secluded to small towns and villages in the highlands or elderly people.