German Brazilians

German Brazilians (German: Deutschbrasilianer, Hunsrik: Deitschbrasiliooner, Portuguese: teuto-brasileiros) refers to Brazilians of full or partial German ancestry. German Brazilians live mostly in the country's South Region, with a smaller but still significant percentage living in the Southeast Region.

Between 1824 and 1972, about 260,000 Germans settled in Brazil, the fifth largest nationality to immigrate after the Portuguese, Italians, Spaniards and Japanese.

The first German immigrants to Brazil arrived as early as the 16th century, although organized immigration began only in the 19th century. The causes of this process can be found in the frequent social problems that occurred in Europe and the abundance of land in Brazil. In 1986, Born and Dickgiesser estimated the number of German descendants in Brazil at 3.6 million. According to another survey, from 1999, by sociologist and former president of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Simon Schwartzman, 3.6% of the Brazilians interviewed claimed to have German ancestry, a percentage that, in a population of about 200 million Brazilians, would represent 7.2 million descendants. In 2004, Deutsche Welle cited the number of 5 million Brazilians of German descent. According to a 2016 survey published by IPEA, in a universe of 46,801,772 names of Brazilians analyzed, 152,5890 or 3.3% of them had the only or the last surname of Germanic origin.

German immigration to Brazil began before the independence from Portugal and remained relatively constant until the 1960s. The reasons for this emigration lie, on one hand, in the socio-political-economic transformations that Germany underwent and, on the other, in the exceptional conditions that favored the attraction of European immigrants in Brazil. Between 1824 and 1972, about 260,000 Germans entered Brazil; the fifth nationality that immigrated the most to the country, after the Portuguese, Italians, Spaniards and Japanese.

The Germans were among the nationalities that managed to preserve their culture in Brazil the most. Due to their isolation in hard-to-access regions, especially in the southern states, it was possible to create several predominantly Germanic colonies. One of the most significant examples of cultural maintenance was the proliferation of German schools in Brazil, as well as a German-language press. As a consequence, thousands of descendants were educated in German, without knowledge of the Portuguese language. Over time, the traits of Germanness became weaker, but the influences persist more or less until today. For example, one can cite the large number of Brazilians of German origin who still speak German or other Germanic dialects such as Hunsrückisch and Pomeranian.

The result of German immigration in Brazil was the formation of a Teuto-Brazilian population, which integrated into the Brazilian context, but without abdicating its culture. In addition to the cultural influence, one can add the German contribution to the diversification of Brazilian agriculture, through the formation of a typical peasantry, strongly marked by the traits of peasant culture from Central Europe. The Germans also participated in the process of urbanization and industrialization of Brazil, as well as in the introduction and modifications in the architecture of cities and in the Brazilian physical-social landscape.