The story of the North of the Island: from fishing and farming villages to seaside resort

Fishing and farming, until the early 20th century

Until the first decades of the 20th century, the economy of the north of the island revolved around fishing and farming. In Canasvieiras, according to the historian Suzana Bitencourt, settlement 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. People grew cassava, sugar cane, onions and coffee, and part of the harvest went to the public market in the city centre.

Larger-scale fishing worked under the “parelhas” system: the owner of the boat and nets hired other men, and payment came in fish. According to the researcher, for a long time the houses of Florianópolis were built with their backs to the beach.

In 1918, Governor Hercílio Luz said that Canasvieiras and Ingleses would be the preferred sites for a seaside resort. The bridge that bears his name opened on 13 May 1926 and linked the island to the mainland in place of the ferries. On 12 October 1929 the foundation stone of the Hotel Balneário de Canasvieiras was laid. The researcher treats the hotel's opening, which by the accounts she gathered took place in 1930, as a landmark of the first public incentives for coastal tourism on the island.

The 1960s: the first video

In 1960, the municipality had 98,520 inhabitants, according to IBGE, and the Hercílio Luz bridge was still the only link to the mainland. A report by NSC Total places the start of the Argentines' success in the 1960s: the businessman José Carlos Daux, after meeting Argentines staying in fishermen's houses, bought land and built a hotel of small wooden cabins facing the sea. A photo caption in the same report mentions “the first Village Paraíso hotel, from 1968”, without saying whose it was.

Bridges, roads and the island of 1976

In the 1970s, the Baía Sul landfill made room for the second bridge, the Colombo Salles, which one academic article dates to 1975. During Colombo Salles's state government (1971 to 1975) the SC-401, SC-402 (towards Jurerê) and SC-403 (from Canasvieiras to Ingleses) roads were built, and the access to Canasvieiras was paved.

In 1976, a special edition of the newsreel “Ilha em Azul”, from the Brasil Hoje series, was devoted to Florianópolis. According to the Arquivo Nacional, the edition belongs to the Fundo Agência Nacional and shows aspects of the city: bridges, the market, architecture, the airport, beaches, crafts, tourism and folklore.

Between 1970 and 1980, the municipality's population rose from 143,414 to 196,055. A study presented in 2004 at the COBRAC congress, in Florianópolis, attributes the growth of the 1970s mainly to the public sector and to the headquarters of state-owned companies and, later, to tourism, strongly boosted by Argentina's economic plan (the Plano Austral). In the period the study calls the “Argentinisation of tourism”, the north of the island was the most sought-after destination, in search of warmer water, especially Canasvieiras and Ingleses.

Jurerê Internacional: a planned resort

According to the researcher Marina Toneli Siqueira (UFSC), the Jurerê area was a communal field, land for collective use for grazing, firewood and water, part of the Azorean model. An earlier, smaller initiative by local businessmen and politicians gave rise to what is now called Jurerê Tradicional.

The Habitasul group, from Rio Grande do Sul, bought the rest of the plot in the late 1970s. The surname “Internacional” was used to set the new development apart from the earlier one. According to NSC Total, the development appeared on 6 November 1980, and Siqueira's research records the opening of a group hotel in December that year.

According to Siqueira, IPUF considers Jurerê Internacional the first planned-urbanisation seaside resort in Santa Catarina. According to the developer's information, the project was meant to cover 12 million square metres, in stages, with its own sanitation.

Timeline

The 1980s: the Argentine high season and Mercosur

In the 1980s, a favourable exchange rate and the road along the BR-101 brought crowds of Argentines. In 1991, with Mercosur, the city began to be promoted as the “Tourist Capital of Mercosur”.

The island in numbers

Between 1950 and 2022, the municipality went from 67,630 to 537,211 inhabitants, almost eight times as many.

In the northern districts, growth was stronger still. Between 2000 and 2010, while the municipality grew by about 23%, Canasvieiras and Ingleses each gained about 80% in population, and Rio Vermelho nearly 100%.

Heritage to discover and look after

The Fortaleza de São José da Ponta Grossa, between the Forte and Jurerê beaches, began to be built from 1740, was listed as national heritage in 1938 and had most of its buildings restored in 1991 and 1992. The guide of the Projeto Fortalezas (2010) says it is maintained by UFSC. In 1987 the Carijós Ecological Station was created to preserve remnants of mangrove and restinga.

Canasvieiras is still known as the beach of the Argentines, and Ingleses attracts many visitors from Rio Grande do Sul, according to a March 2026 report. The videos help compare eras, but those who lived through each one have their own version, and listening to fishermen and families of Azorean origin is part of getting to know the story of the place. Knowing that story is a good way to visit the North of the Island with an attentive eye and to look after what makes it special.