Lapa

Lapa grew from a stopping place on the Caminho de Viamão, the route by which drovers moved cattle and mules from the southern grasslands toward São Paulo. Pasture and water made the site useful on the long journey across the Paraná plateau, and a small settlement developed around the resting place, then known as Santo Antônio do Registro.

Land grants encouraged settlement during the eighteenth century. In 1769 a parish dedicated to Santo Antônio was established, giving the growing community a church and a local religious centre. The economy combined cattle raising and subsistence agriculture with services for travellers, and depended in part on enslaved labour. The road tied the settlement to the wider movement of animals and goods across southern Brazil.