Santa Maria de Jetibá, Espírito Santo

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Santa Maria de Jetibá is the name of a municipality and of its capital in central Espírito Santo, Southeastern Brazil. It was founded in 1857 by Pomeranian immigrants who arrived through the state capital Vitória by going up the river Santa Maria.

[edit] Geography

Located in the central-southern mountain region of Espírito Santo, this municipality has an area of 734 square kilometers. The town of Santa Maria de Jetiba is at a height of 720 meters above sea level, and the highest point in the state is Garrafão Peak, at 1200 meters above sea level.

[edit] People

With a total population of 19,315 according to IBGE 2000, Santa Maria de Jetiba is considered one of the last significant Pomeranian-speaking communities in the world. Those immigrant (Pomeranians), who came from a historical region, called Pomerania (Pomerania) now part of Germany and Poland.

In Brazil many Pomeranians also established communities in Santa Catarina (see Pomerode), but Santa Maria de Jetiba, due mainly to the mountainous terrain, is perhaps the only place where the people still speak solely Pomeranian in their day-to-day life. Due to the isolation of this community, most of the members of the community live very poor condition. Due also to financial constraints by the state, very little investment in education is forthcoming, and the language barrier persists to be a real problem for the community. This also hinders their future prospects, of course, by them not having proper education, thus a reasonable expectation in the work market. Those communitities are mainly rural.

Related Articles:

• Kashubian-Pomeranian Association
• Pomerode, Santa Catarina, Brazil.