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Colono people

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Colono people
Povo Colono
Colonos in an Oktoberfest festival in Blumenau, Santa Catarina.
Total population
c. 13-14 million (2022)
Regions with significant populations
Brazil
Languages
Portuguese language, Sulista and Gaúcho dialects
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholic
Related ethnic groups
Gaúchos, Catarinenses, Caipiras, Paulistanos, Portuguese, Spaniards, Italians, Germans, Pomeranians, Guaranis


The Colonos (Natively: [koˈlõnus]) , also known as Sulistas (Natively: [suˈlistɐs]) are a Brazilian ethnocultural group distributed across the north of Rio Grande do Sul, inland Santa Catarina and most of Paraná.[1][2][3][4][5] The Colonos originated from the mixture between local Caipiras and Gaúchos that lived sporadically in the Southern Brazilian highland during colonial times and several European ethnic groups that arrived in the region during the 19th and early 20th century.[6][7][8] Most of them are speakers of the Sulista dialect of Brazilian Portuguese, with some in Rio Grande do Sul being speakers of the Gaúcho dialect.[9][10]

Area inhabited by the Colono people (red) over a map of southern Brazil.

History

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Pre-19th century

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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.[11][12]

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.[13][14] 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.[15]

19th century European migration waves

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German immigrants in Brazil, 1874.

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.[4][8] 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.[4]

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.[16][17] 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.[18] Between 1872 and 1890 the population of Paraná grew by 96%, and the one of Santa Catarina grew by 77%.[19]

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.[20]

Cultural formation and language

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Italian-Brazilians in Caxias do Sul, 1904.

Ethnic groups of origin of these immigrants include the Venetians, Lombardians, Tyroleans, Piedmontese, Emilians, Swiss, Rhinelanders, Pomeranians, Swabians, Poles, Ukrainians and Russians.[8] 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.[1][2] 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.[21][22][23]

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.[5] 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.[24][25][26] This law led to a massive decrease in the number of speakers of languages such as Venetian, Talian, Hunsrik, Polish, Russian and German.[24] 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.

Culture

[edit]
Colonos of various ages and genders.

According to the 2022 Brazilian census the majority of people in the Colono territory are Roman Catholic, numbering at around 70 to 75%, Protestants are 15 to 20% and irreligious people are 4 to 6%.[23] Colonos are ome of the Brazilian ethnocultural groups with the highest proportion of Catholics, together with the Mineiros, Geraizeiros and Sertanejos.[23]

Colonos adopted a lot of cultural customs from the local Portuguese-descended cultures that lived in the region before them, including the use of bilineal inheritance of surnames and wealth, Portuguese architecture, overwhelming use of the Portuguese language in all settings of life, comsuption of traditional Brazilian foods and drinks (such as rice with beans and chimarrão) and adoption of some festivities.[4]

Traditional foods of the Colono people include Galeto al Primo Canto, Capeletti Soup, Tortéi, Polenta, Wine Sagu, Eisbein, Cuca, Apfelstrudel, Fondue, Café Colonial, Marreco Recheado, Blumenau Sausage, Entreveiro de Pinhão, Sauerkraut, Radici, Kassler and Goulash.[27][28]

Parade in commemoration for the 150 years of Badenese immigration to Santa Catarina.

Colono festivities, dances and customs include the Festa da Uva, Festa da Cultura Italiana, Festa da Cultura Alemã, Polka, Oktoberfest, Fenavinho, Festival do Capeletti, Volksfest, Tirolerfest, Fenarreco, Schuhplatter, Pau-de-Fitas, German folk music, Kerbfest, Heimatfest and Bierville.[29][30]

Genetics

[edit]

Colonos are the Brazilian ethnocultural group with the highest proportion of European ancestry, despite this, its estimated that a little over half of all Colono people have at least 10% of non-European autosomal genetic ancestry, mostly Amerindian, with lower degrees of Subsaharan African.[31] According to the 2022 Brazilian census, most of the population of the Colono heartland identified as White, at 70 to 80%, while 20 to 25% identified as Pardo and 3-5% as Black.[23]

A 2019 systematic scoping review of 51 studies analyzed the autosomal DNA composition of Brazilians from several states and cities and put the average ancestral component of people from the state of Santa Catarina as 80% European, 11% African and 9% Amerindian, and from the people of Paraná as 71% European, 17% African and 12% Amerindian.[32] Another 2013 study put the ancestry of people from Southern Brazil at 74% European, 11% Amerindian and 15% African.[33] These studies also sample populations outside the Colono territory, including the Catarinenses in the coast, Caipiras in the north of Paraná and Gaúchos in the lower half of Rio Grande do sul, all of which have higher proportions of non-European ancestry than the highlanders; when weighted to include only the samples collected in the Colono heartland, ancestry proportions change to around 82% European, 5% African and 13% Amerindian.

Notable Colonos

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Ernesto Geisel (1907-1996) was the first and only Colono to become president of Brazil. His father's family came from Hesse and his mother's from Lower Saxony.

References

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  1. ^ a b O povo brasileiro: a formação e o sentido do Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Global Editora. 2021-09-13. ISBN 978-85-260-2225-6.
  2. ^ a b Heinsfeld, Adelar (2009-11-06). Colonos, Colônias E Colonizadores: Aspectos Da Territorialização Agrária No Sul Do Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). João Carlos Tedesco. Habilis Press. ISBN 978-85-60967-31-5.
  3. ^ Gerhardt, Marcos; Nodari, Eunice Sueli; Moretto, Samira Peruchi, eds. (2017). História ambiental e migrações: diálogos. Editora UFFS. doi:10.7476/9788564905689.0005. ISBN 978-85-64905-68-9.
  4. ^ a b c d Willems, Emilio (1946). "A aculturação dos alemães no Brasil: estudo antropológico dos emigrantes alemães e seus descendentes no Brasil". Emilio Willems.
  5. ^ a b Braun, Felipe Kuhn (2010-01-13). História da migração alemã no sul do Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Amstad. ISBN 978-85-88134-10-2.
  6. ^ Davatz, Thomas (1850). MEMÓRIAS DE UM COLONO NO BRASIL (in Portuguese). Livraria Martins.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  7. ^ Schmidt-Gerlach, Gilberto (2019-02-07). Colônia Blumenau no Sul do Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Bruno Kilian Kadletz, Marcondes Marchetti. Clube De Cinema Nossa Senhora Do Desterro. ISBN 978-85-61906-03-0.
  8. ^ a b c Neumann, Ricardo (2025). "Imigração europeia e colonização do Sul do Brasil no século XIX". UNISUL.
  9. ^ Margotti, Felício Wessling (2021-12-09). "Estudos Dialetológicos e Geolinguísticos no Sul do Brasil". Blucher (in Brazilian Portuguese). Blucher Open Access. doi:10.5151/9786555501629-04. ISBN 978-65-5550-162-9.
  10. ^ "Mastigando Letras - Características fonéticas do dialeto sulista". www.mastigandoletras.com.br. Retrieved 2026-06-25.
  11. ^ Campos, Judas Tadeu de (2012). "Uma pesquisa pioneira para a compreensão da cultura caipira". Estudos Avançados (in Portuguese). 26: 335–350. doi:10.1590/S0103-40142012000300030. ISSN 0103-4014.
  12. ^ "Santa Catarina, Capitania de". historialuso.an.gov.br. Retrieved 2026-06-26.
  13. ^ Zatti, Carlos (2017-10-30). A história do Sul - na linha do tempo (efemérides) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Ihgpr. ISBN 978-85-67319-05-6.
  14. ^ "Informações Climáticas". www.climabrasileiro.hpg.ig.com.br. Archived from the original on 2008-10-08. Retrieved 2026-06-26.
  15. ^ Brighenti, Clovis Antônio (2013). "Povos indígenas em Santa Catarina" (PDF). Word Press.
  16. ^ "Xokleng: povo indígena quase dizimado protagoniza caso histórico no STF". G1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2021-06-29. Retrieved 2026-06-26.
  17. ^ Tusset, Marina da Silva. "A colonização alemã no sul do Brasil e o marco temporal". www.ihu.unisinos.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2026-06-26.
  18. ^ Souchaud, Sylvain (2012). "POPULAÇÃO E OCUPAÇÃO DO ESPAÇO: O PAPEL DAS MIGRAÇÕES NO BRASIL". REDES - Rev. Des. Regional, Santa Cruz do Sul.
  19. ^ "Tabela 4709: População residente, Variação absoluta de população residente e Taxa de crescimento geométrico". sidra.ibge.gov.br. Retrieved 2026-06-26.
  20. ^ "A 'reforma agrária' que ajudou imigrantes alemães e italianos a prosperarem no Sul do Brasil". BBC News Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2025-11-29. Retrieved 2026-06-26.
  21. ^ Niederauer, Carina Maria Melchiors (2025). "O imigrante italiano e sua relação com a religião". revistas.pucsp.br. doi:10.23925/1677-1222.2025vol25i1a13. Retrieved 2026-06-26.
  22. ^ Noronha, Andrius Estevam (2019). "A IDENTIDADE ÉTNICA E RELIGIOSA NUMA COMUNIDADE DE IMIGRANTES ALEMÃES NO SUL DO BRASIL: SANTA CRUZ DO SUL NA I REPÚBLICA (1889-1930)". Revista Relegens Thréskeia (in Portuguese). 8 (2): 42–67. doi:10.5380/rt.v8i2.69555. ISSN 2317-3688.
  23. ^ a b c d "Mapas | Panorama do Censo Demográfico 2022". Mapas | Panorama do Censo Demográfico 2022. Retrieved 2026-06-26.
  24. ^ a b "Remover "quistos alienígenas": o que foi a política nacionalizadora de Vargas nos anos 1930 e 1940". BBC News Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2026-05-17. Retrieved 2026-06-26.
  25. ^ Nogueira, André (2020-03-09). "O veto do tirano: na política linguística de Vargas, alemão, italiano e japonês eram extremamente proibidos". Aventuras na História (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2026-06-26.
  26. ^ "Portal da Câmara dos Deputados". www2.camara.leg.br. Retrieved 2026-06-26.
  27. ^ Aranovich, Alexandra (2020-02-27). "15 comidas típicas da serra gaúcha que você precisa provar". Café Viagem (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2026-06-26.
  28. ^ Azambuja, Lissi Bender; Heinle, Sabine, eds. (2004). Receitas do sul: Brasil e Alemanha (Rio Grande do Sul - Baden-Württemberg): Brasilien und Deutschland (Rio Grande do Sul - Baden-Württemberg) = Rezepte aus dem Süden (ed. bilíngüe, português-alemão ed.). Santa Cruz do Sul: EDUNISC. ISBN 978-85-7578-074-9.
  29. ^ "Turismo no Rio Grande do Sul". www.turismo.rs.gov.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2026-03-03. Retrieved 2026-06-26.
  30. ^ "Portal Oficial de Turismo de Santa Catarina". Descubra SC. Retrieved 2026-06-26.
  31. ^ Pena, Sérgio D. J.; Di Pietro, Giuliano; Fuchshuber-Moraes, Mateus; Genro, Julia Pasqualini; Hutz, Mara H.; Kehdy, Fernanda de Souza Gomes; Kohlrausch, Fabiana; Magno, Luiz Alexandre Viana; Montenegro, Raquel Carvalho; Moraes, Manoel Odorico; de Moraes, Maria Elisabete Amaral; de Moraes, Milene Raiol; Ojopi, Elida B.; Perini, Jamila A.; Racciopi, Clarice (2011-02-16). "The genomic ancestry of individuals from different geographical regions of Brazil is more uniform than expected". PloS One. 6 (2): e17063. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017063. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3040205. PMID 21359226.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link) CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  32. ^ Souza, Aracele Maria de; Resende, Sarah Stela; Sousa, Taís Nóbrega de; Brito, Cristiana Ferreira Alves de (2019). "A systematic scoping review of the genetic ancestry of the Brazilian population". Genetics and Molecular Biology. 42 (3): 495–508. doi:10.1590/1678-4685-GMB-2018-0076. ISSN 1415-4757. PMC 6905439. PMID 31188926.
  33. ^ Manta, Fernanda Saloum de Neves; Pereira, Rui; Vianna, Romulo; Araújo, Alfredo Rodolfo Beuttenmüller de; Gitaí, Daniel Leite Góes; Silva, Dayse Aparecida da; Wolfgramm, Eldamária de Vargas; Pontes, Isabel da Mota; Aguiar, José Ivan; Moraes, Milton Ozório; Carvalho, Elizeu Fagundes de; Gusmão, Leonor (2013-09-20). "Revisiting the Genetic Ancestry of Brazilians Using Autosomal AIM-Indels". PLOS ONE. 8 (9): e75145. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0075145. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3779230. PMID 24073242.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link) CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
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