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IGUASSU
History
The waterfalls were discovered in 1542, long before the colonization of the
region where you find the city of Iguassu. The first european that arrived there was the spaniard Álvar Nuñes Cabeza de Vaca, who, together
with the indians, decided to follow the Iguassu river until the Paraguai river. However, during the trip, he found the waterfalls and is
considered to be the discoverer of the waterfalls that put the city on the internatinal tourist route.
The colonization of the region began in 1881. Still at the end of the 19
th Century, a amilitary colony was raised on the frontier marking the colonization of the place by brazilians. However, the place was
relatively isolated and continued to be unpopulated for a long time. The municipal of "Vila Iguassu" was created only in 1914, but the city
received the name of Iguassu only in 1918.
In the beginning of the decade of the 20's, Iguassu began to develop
economically, specially with the enormous quantity of immigrants that started to establish themselves in the region. At this time, the
Rodovia do Café, the BR-277 was built to connect the city to Curitiba. The road only began to be asphalted in the 50's and was finally
inaugurated in 1969. Until today, the Rodovia do Café is the principal means of transport of grains produced in the interior of the state
and of the paraguayan soybeans that were taken to the Paranaguá Seaport.
One of the men that interceded most for the preservation of the waterfalls and
the Atlantic forest of the region was Santos Dumont. He insisted with the governor of Paraná, Affonso Alves de Camargo, for the creation of
the National Park of Iguassu. In the beginning, the area of conservation was just 1000 hectares, but with the increase of the visits to the
placeduring the years, the park grew more and more. Today, the park measures 185 thousand hectares and constitutes one of the largest
reserves of Atlantic forest of the country, being considered as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.
Besides the creation of the park, fundamental for the international projection
of Iguassu, two others featswere important for the development of the city. The bridges that connect Brazil to Paraguay and to Argentina
contributed very much in the increase of the business in the region, and as well as the Itaipu Dam. The dam supplies energy for a large part
of the southern, south-eastern and central-western regions and attracts more than 500 thousand tourists per year. |
Presentation
