The history of Canasvieiras: from fishing parish to seaside resort

Where does the name come from?

The origin of the name Canasvieiras is not settled. The most repeated explanation, which Wikipedia attributes to city materials and to Guia Floripa, speaks of a sugar cane variety called “cana-viera” and cites a 1786 map showing “Praia Cana Vieiras”. We could not open the documents behind that version, so treat it as a likely story, not as fact.

Fishing, farming and lacemaking before tourism

According to the historian Suzana Bitencourt (UFSC), settlement in Canasvieiras goes back to the middle of the 18th century, when the Portuguese Crown, to assert its control, brought families from the Azores archipelago to the coast.

Until the first decades of the 20th century, the economy revolved around fishing and farming. People grew cassava, sugar cane, onions and coffee, and part of the harvest went to Florianópolis's public market. In larger-scale fishing, the owner of the boat and nets paid the men in fish, under the “parelhas” system.

The community formed the parish of São Francisco de Paula de Canasvieiras, created in 1835, according to a 1997 publication cited by Bitencourt and a report by NSC Total. The parish still carries that name.

Accounts from residents collected by the researcher describe an almost self-sufficient village in the 1930s, which only sought salt and paraffin from outside. Women made lace at night, and men went to the city by canoe or on horseback and by cart.

The Hotel Balneário, from 1918 to 1930

In 1918, Governor Hercílio Luz said, according to the newspaper Terra Livre, that Canasvieiras and Ingleses would be preferred for a seaside resort. The bridge that bears his name opened on 13 May 1926 and replaced the ferries. The foundation stone of the Hotel Balneário de Canasvieiras was laid on 12 October 1929, on the initiative of a company of shareholders.

The work, contracted to the builder Remo Corsini for 132 contos de réis, was interrupted by the 1930 Revolution, and the state took over its management. The hotel probably opened in 1930, but Bitencourt found no document fixing the date. In 1939 it was closed, and around 1940 it was reopened, rented by a local family. For the author, it is the milestone of the first public incentives for coastal tourism on the Island.

Roads and bridges: the north comes closer

In the early 20th century, access was a winding track. José Carlos Daux, cited by Bitencourt, says Corsini “won the road” to Canasvieiras, and the author understands that the opening of the SC-401 was not a concession but an incentive from the state government. Wikipedia says the SC-401 descends from a road of the 1930s, reworked and renamed Rodovia José Carlos Daux in the 1970s, with 1972 in its fact box.

An academic article places the SC-401, 402, 403 and 404 roads in Colombo Salles's term as governor (1971 to 1975), with the main access to Canasvieiras paved, and dates the Colombo Salles bridge to 1975. The third link to the mainland opened on 8 May 1991. The sources disagree on when the SC-401 dates from (the 1930s for Bitencourt and Wikipedia, the 1960s for Siqueira, Colombo Salles's term for Amarante and Rossato), so treat the dates as indicative.

The visitors: from Argentines to today

NSC Total reports say that, in the 1960s, the businessman José Carlos Daux found Argentines staying in fishermen's houses. The trip from the city centre took up to two hours, and on some beaches passage depended on the tide. Daux built a hotel of wooden chalets, with no date in the report, and photo captions cite the Village Paraíso (1968) and the Canasbeach Hotel (1974).

In the 1970s, Austral charter flights arrived, and NSC Total mentions rental houses, bars and restaurants run by local entrepreneurs. In January 1974, the press reported the arrival of many cars carrying visitors from Buenos Aires. In 1980, the newspaper O Estado was already covering this flow, and an academic article links it to the favourable exchange rate and the BR-101 highway. The 1980s and 1990s are described as the peak.

The flow of visitors changes over time. A 2004 conference paper (COBRAC, UFSC) says that, after the end of Argentina's economic plan, the presence of domestic tourists grew in Canasvieiras and Ingleses. That is the authors' assessment. NSC Total quotes a writer who speaks of a “south wind and north wind”: Argentines come when the exchange rate favours them, and Brazilians go to Buenos Aires when it reverses.

In March 2026, NSC Total wrote that Argentine tourists are the majority in the north of the Island, without giving a figure. In the 2025 season, the Florianópolis tourism secretariat estimated about 15% more Argentines, and Fecomércio-SC, in a preliminary estimate, 37% higher spending.

Population: three IBGE censuses

The district of Canasvieiras, which includes Jurerê and Praia do Forte according to Wikipedia's list with IBGE data, grew faster than the city.

Between 2000 and 2010 the district grew by about 79%, and between 2010 and 2022 by about 40%, against about 23% and 28% in the municipality over the same periods. In 22 years the population multiplied by 2.5.

IBGE also has 4,092 residents for 1991, but a 1995 municipal law updated the district boundaries, so we do not use that year. Wikipedia's list shows 24,767 for 2022, which does not match the IBGE table, and we use IBGE's. NSC Total mentions about 16,000 residents in the neighbourhood, a different cut from the district.

What remains: the fort and the neighbours

Between Praia do Forte and Jurerê stands the Fortaleza de São José da Ponta Grossa, designed by Brigadier José da Silva Paes, with works from 1740. In 1786, a survey counted 31 cannons. Listed as national heritage in 1938, already in ruins, it had most of its buildings restored in 1991 and 1992 and, according to the Projeto Fortalezas guide (2010), came to be maintained by UFSC, with the Atelier das Rendeiras in the Quartel da Tropa barracks.

Ponta das Canas and Cachoeira do Bom Jesus are neighbours: IBGE treats Cachoeira do Bom Jesus as a district of its own, Wikipedia's list places Ponta das Canas in it, and NSC Total cites Spanish-language masses in the area in the 1970s. We found no heritage listing or survey for these two places.

Sea bathing: how to check the water

The Instituto do Meio Ambiente (IMA) monitors the water every week in the season, and its report shows, point by point, where bathing is cleared. It is worth checking before choosing the beach of the day.

In report no. 6 of 2025/2026, dated 19 December 2025, 7 of the 8 Canasvieiras sampling points were fit for bathing. Results vary from one point to another and from one week to the next, so this is a snapshot of one week.

Timeline