Imarui Lagoon

Imaruí Lagoon belonged to the sheltered waters near Laguna on the coast of Santa Catarina. Its shores formed an Indigenous landscape before Portuguese-speaking fishing communities settled there. Waterways linked shore settlements with neighbouring lagoons and the coastal town, and fishing provided a basis for occupation.

Brazil's statistical institute records that fishermen arriving from Laguna began the settlement before 1800. On 23 August 1833 the parish of São João Batista do Imaruí was created under Laguna's jurisdiction. The fishing community thus acquired a recognised ecclesiastical and administrative centre while remaining tied to its older coastal neighbour. The lagoon's early nineteenth-century history rested on these small communities and their access to the water.