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Happy Mondays

Happy Mondays is an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980. The original line-up consisted of brothers Shaun Ryder (vocals) and Paul Ryder (bass), Gary Whelan (drums), Paul Davis (keyboard), and Mark Day (guitar). Mark "Bez" Berry later joined the band onstage as a dancer and percussionist. Rowetta joined as a second vocalist in 1990. They were initially signed to Tony Wilson's Factory Records label.

The group's work bridged the Manchester alternative rock music of the 1980s and the emerging UK rave scene, drawing influence from funk, house, and psychedelia to pioneer the Madchester sound. They experienced their commercial peak with the releases Bummed (1988), Madchester Rave On (1989), and Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches (1990), with the latter going platinum in the UK. Happy Mondays disbanded in 1993, and have since reformed several times in subsequent decades.

First incarnation
The band were signed to Factory Records after passing a demo tape to Phil Saxe, a trader at Manchester Arndale who was on friendly terms with Mike Pickering, a DJ at the Haçienda nightclub. Saxe became the band's manager.

Their first release was the "Forty Five EP", often called the "Delightful EP" after its first track. It was released on Factory Records in September 1985. Their first album, Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out), was released in 1987 and was produced by John Cale. This was followed by two further albums: Bummed, in 1988, produced by Martin Hannett, and Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, in 1990, produced by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne. The latter, recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, went platinum in the UK, selling more than 350,000 copies. Singles "Step On" and "Kinky Afro" from this album both reached number 5 in the UK singles chart.

By the late 1980s, the Happy Mondays were an important part of the Manchester music scene and personified rave culture. Numerous world tours meant the band had international success as well as massive success in their home country. The line-up of the band during this first and most important ten-year phase never changed, and the six original members Shaun Ryder, Paul Ryder, Gary Whelan, Paul Davis, Mark Day, and Bez remained a tight unit until the first incarnation came to an end in 1993. The band headlined the Friday night at Glastonbury Festival 1990. In November of that year, Paul McCartney commented in NME: "I saw the Happy Mondays on TV, and they reminded me of the Beatles in their 'Strawberry Fields' phase."

Musically, the band fused indie pop guitars with a rhythmic style that owed much to house music, Krautrock, funk, and northern soul. Much of their music was remixed by popular DJs, emphasising the dance influences even further. In style and dress, they crossed hippy fashion and ideals with 1970s glamour. Sartorially and musically, the band helped to encourage the psychedelic revival associated with acid house. One of their most popular songs is "Lazyitis (One Armed Boxer)", featuring a surreal duet between Ryder and Karl Denver. In February 1991, Happy Mondays played in Rock in Rio 2 at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and famously went to meet Ronnie Biggs in Brazil with Piers Morgan, who at the time was a writer for The Sun newspaper. The Mondays also influenced many bands around the Northwest and beyond, including the Stone Roses, Oasis, and the Charlatans. A multi-city US tour followed, with the group returning home early in May 1991. In 1991, they played to 30,000 people at Elland Road, Leeds, said to be the Happy Mondays' own Spike Island. By July that year, they revealed details of a fourteen track 'official bootleg' live album, Baby Big Head, recorded at the Elland Road concert. The official record label release, Live followed later in the year.

Yes Please! followed in 1992, produced by Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, recorded at Eddy Grant's studio in Barbados. The album was a commercial failure that bankrupted Factory Records.

Second incarnation
Happy Mondays disbanded in 1993, and Shaun Ryder and Bez formed Black Grape with ex-Paris Angels guitarist "Wags" (who would later go on to serve in the 1999–2000 reincarnation of the Mondays) and ex-Ruthless Rap Assassins star Kermit. Seven years passed, and in 1999 Happy Mondays re-formed, with founding members Shaun Ryder, Paul Ryder, Gary Whelan and Bez but without Paul Davis and Mark Day. In the place of Day and Davis were Wags and a number of other session musicians including Ben Leach who had once been a member of The Farm, percussionist Lea Mullen, and rapper "Nuts". Also joining the new line-up was soul diva Rowetta Satchell (who sang back-up on Pills, Thrills, and Bellyaches, as well as Yes Please!, and who would go on to have solo success). The band toured extensively in the UK and internationally, selling out the 20,000 capacity Manchester Arena and two nights at Brixton Academy, and released a new single, a cover version of the Thin Lizzy hit "The Boys Are Back in Town". The single reached number 24 in the UK Singles Chart. They provided support for Oasis on their "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants" arena tour, played at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, numerous European festivals including T in the Park and also toured Australia the same year. Although critically acclaimed and playing to sell-out crowds, the band once more ceased their activity in 2001 following the departure of bass player and founding member Paul Ryder.

A fictionalised depiction of the band is featured in the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People, with Danny Cunningham as Shaun Ryder and Paul Popplewell as Paul Ryder. Paul Ryder himself had a cameo role in the film as a gangster and Rowetta appeared in the film as herself.

Third incarnation
2004 saw another re-formation, comprising original members Bez, Whelan and Shaun Ryder along with another group of musicians. Shaun Ryder recruited Kav Sandhu to join on guitar & bring in a new group of musicians. Kav brought on-board bassist Mikey Shine, keyboard player Dave Parkinson & guitarist Jonn Dunn. Dave Parkinson was later replaced by Dan Broad. Backing singers on the first tour were Angie Brown and Ron Carroll. from 2004 to 2006 the band were managed by Danny Newman, MD at London Club Turnmills brother of London Club DJ Tall Paul. Rowetta's backing vocal role was now being performed by Julie E. Gordon who toured with the band until 2010. Paul Ryder was not present, having sworn to never perform with his brother again following the 2000 break-up, and formed his own band Big Arm. That year, the Mondays released a live DVD of a show in Barcelona. The Mondays played a variety of festival dates in 2005 (including Global Gathering), capping it off with a concert at the Manchester Arena.

In June 2006, Happy Mondays performed in Liverpool, and on 30 July 2006 they were special guests at the Fuji Rock Festival. In August 2006, the band announced that they had completed their first album in fourteen years, with producers Sunny Levine and Howie B, and had signed to Sanctuary Records. A single "Playground Superstar", from the soundtrack for the football film Goal!, was released a few months prior to completion of the new album, Uncle Dysfunktional released in mid-2007. on Noel Gallagher's label Big Brother Records.

Happy Mondays performed before another re-formed act, Rage Against the Machine, at the 2007 Coachella Music Festival in Indio, California. They were introduced by Tony Wilson. Bez missed the show because he could not get into the US due to "passport issues". The band then toured throughout the summer of 2007 including a trip to the Numusic Festival in Norway. They played Splendour in the Grass in Australia in July 2009, and the UK V Festival in August 2009.

Happy Mondays toured the US and Canada with The Psychedelic Furs in late 2009 with Paul Ryder's son and Shaun Ryder's nephew Jake Ryder filling in for Gaz Whelan on drums.

Happy Mondays appeared at the Wizard Festival in North-East Scotland in August 2010.

This version of the band continued until 2010. Members Mikey Shine, Jonn Dunn & Dan Broad continued to back Shaun Ryder for his solo tour until 2011, surrounding the release of his autobiography.

Fourth incarnation
On 29 January 2012, Shaun Ryder announced on radio station Xfm that the band would return with the original and definitive lineup of himself, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, Gary Whelan on drums, Rowetta as female vocalist, Mark Day on guitar, Paul Davis on keyboards and dancer Mark Berry. They appeared on ITV's This Morning, and were interviewed by Phillip Schofield. Shaun Ryder pronounced that amends had been made, friendships reinstated and that it was just like the old days, but without the madness. They did a 13-date UK tour in May 2012, most of which were sold out, and an extra date was added at London's Brixton Academy due to the demand for tickets. The tour included other shows at the Manchester Arena, plus other dates in Bournemouth, Glasgow, Dublin, Leeds, Sheffield and Nottingham. To coincide with the band's reformation tour a best of album, Double Double Good was released in July 2012, as well as a live recording of the band's May 2012 gig in Brixton. The band went on to play gigs in Chile and Argentina in May 2012 and then a number of European festivals in the summer of 2012, including Ireland's Sea Sessions, Scotland's T in the Park, the band were headliners at Camp Bestival in Dorset in July 2012 and they performed at the V Festivals in August 2012. They then travelled to Majorca and Ibiza to play the Ibiza and Majorca Rocks events.

The band announced in September 2012 that they were writing their first album with the original lineup in more than 20 years.

The band played two nights at the Roundhouse, London and in Manchester in December 2012. They travelled to Dubai in April 2013 to perform and in May 2013 played gigs at Bristol's Vegfest and one in Brighton. June 2013 brought gigs at the Isle of Wight Festival and Scarborough, then in July 2013 they played at the Warrington Music Festival and at Sandown Park Racecourse in Esher, Surrey. They played dates in Belfast, Crewe and Dublin in August 2013. In October 2013 they travelled to Spain to do gigs in Barcelona and Madrid then in November 2013 they kicked off a 16 date UK tour to celebrate 25 years since their second critically acclaimed album Bummed was released, and the band plan to play most of the songs from that infamous album. The band signed to Creation Management in 2015. They have announced an international tour to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches.

In September 2015, the programme Singing in the Rainforest followed the band as they travelled to Panama to record a new song with an isolated tribe called the Embera. The band composed a track with members of the tribe for a performance, penning the track "Ooo La La to Panama". Although billed as the first original line-up recording since 1992, Paul Davis was not present, and no mention of him was made. Gaz Whelan confirmed on Twitter that Davis had left the band.

The band toured Australia and New Zealand in February and March 2019, performing their 1990 album Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches.

On 15 July 2022, the band announced via their Facebook page that Paul Ryder had died in the early hours of that morning. He was 58 years old.

In March 2024 the band embarked on a UK tour with Inspiral Carpets as the support act. Prior to the tour, frontman Shaun Ryder stated that the band would be on hiatus for a few years following the tour.

Awards and nominations
{| class=wikitable ! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result
 * 1989
 * rowspan="3" | NME Awards
 * "WFL"
 * Best Dance Record
 * Won
 * rowspan="4" | 1990
 * ''Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches
 * Best LP
 * Won
 * rowspan="6" | Themselves
 * rowspan=2|Best Band
 * Won
 * rowspan=3|Smash Hits Poll Winners Party
 * Nominated
 * Best New Act
 * Nominated
 * rowspan="3" | 1991
 * Best Indie Group
 * Won
 * rowspan="2" | Brit Awards
 * Best British Newcomer
 * Nominated
 * Best British Group
 * Nominated
 * 2013
 * Q Awards
 * Bummed
 * Q Classic Album
 * Won
 * 2016
 * Ivor Novello Awards
 * Themselves
 * The Ivor's Inspiration Award
 * Won
 * Q Awards
 * Bummed
 * Q Classic Album
 * Won
 * 2016
 * Ivor Novello Awards
 * Themselves
 * The Ivor's Inspiration Award
 * Won
 * Won

Discography

 * Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) (1987)
 * Bummed (1988)
 * Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches (1990)
 * Yes Please! (1992)
 * Uncle Dysfunktional (2007)

Members
Current
 * Shaun Ryder – lead vocals, guitar (1980–1993, 1999–2001, 2004–2010, 2012–2024)
 * Gary Whelan – drums (1980–1993, 1999–2001, 2006–2008, 2012–2024)
 * Mark "Bez" Berry – dancer, maracas (1980–1993, 1999–2001, 2004–2010, 2012–2024)
 * Rowetta – vocals (1990–1993, 2012–2024)
 * Mark Day – guitar (1980–1993, 2012–2024)
 * Dan Broad – keyboards, samples, programming, musical director (2006–2010, 2016–2024)

Former
 * Paul Davis – keyboards, samples, programming (1980–1993, 2012–2015)
 * Kav Sandhu – guitar, keyboards (2004–2008)
 * Paul Ryder – bass, keyboards (1980–1993, 1999–2001, 2012–2022; his death)

title: Happy Mondays


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Mazda RX-8

The Mazda RX-8 is a sports car manufactured by Japanese automobile manufacturer Mazda between 2003 and 2012. It was first shown in 2001 at the North American International Auto Show. It is the direct successor to the RX-7. Like its predecessors in the RX range, it is powered by a rotary Wankel engine. The RX-8 was available for the 2003 model year in most parts of the world.

The Mazda RX-8 utilizes a rotary Wankel engine, and the non-reciprocating piston engine uses a triangular rotor inside a near oval housing, producing from 141 kW and 164 lbft of torque, to 177 kW and 159 lbft of torque from launch. A myriad of various drivetrains are available in the Mazda RX-8.

The RX-8 was discontinued for the 2012 model year without a successor. It was removed earlier from the European market in 2010 after the car failed to meet emissions standards. Due to falling sales from Europe coupled with rising Yen prices, Mazda could not justify the continued sale of the RX-8 in other markets. 192,094 units were produced during its 9-year production run.

Background
Mazda introduced rotary-powered vehicles in the US in 1971, beginning with the R100 and eventually introduced the RX-2, RX-3, RX-4, RX-5, and three generations of the RX-7 sports car in the US and worldwide markets. However, due to the lack of conveniences and user-friendliness, coupled with the high price tag and declining interest in sports cars and coupés at the time, Mazda decided to withdraw the RX-7 from most major markets except Japan. After 1995, Mazda suffered from a relatively undistinguished and ordinary product line in the US except for the MX-5 Miata.

As popular interest in import tuning and performance cars resurged in the late-1990s, due in part to various popular cultural influences, Japanese automakers waded back into the performance and sports car market in the US and in worldwide markets. Endeavoring to rejuvenate itself around this time, partially with financial and management assistance from its new owner Ford, Mazda developed a new line of high-quality cars with desirable styling and driving dynamics superior to competitors, beginning with the Mazda6 and followed by the Mazda3. This paved the way for the arrival of Mazda's next-generation rotary powered sports car.

The RX-8 combined two previous products (the internationally sold RX-7, and the Cosmo which was exclusive to Japan), with the exterior dimensions of the RX-8 to be slightly smaller than those of the Cosmo. Mazda chose not to install the 2.0 L three-rotor 20B-REW, which was discontinued in 1996 when the Cosmo ceased production.

Development and design

The development of the RX-8 can be traced as far back as the 1995 RX-01 concept car, which featured an early iteration of the 13B-MSP engine. Because of Mazda's financial position at the time and the growing market interest in SUVs, the RX-01 did not see further development or production. However, a "skunkworks project" engineering team within Mazda kept the development of the 13B-MSP alive using an elongated MX-5 chassis known internally as "gokiburi-ka", or "cockroach car" translated to English, eventually catching the attention of management, which was by then heavily influenced by Ford. Development of the 13B-MSP advanced and eventually led to the RENESIS name debuting along with the RX-EVOLV concept car which began to bear semblance to the production version of the RX-8 with the "freestyle" rear suicide doors. The styling was further refined, in Mazda tradition, by competition between its design studios in Japan, the US, and Europe. The lead designer was Ikuo Maeda, the son of Matasaburo Maeda (the lead designer of the original RX-7). The project obtained official approval from management under one condition, that the resulting car should have four doors, and eventually the RX-8 concept car (design/engineering model) was produced and shown in 2001, closer resembling the production version. A near-production "reference exhibit" RX-8 was shown shortly thereafter at the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show, pending final approval for production. The production version of the RX-8 closely resembles this vehicle save for minor trim details, and "Job 1" began in February, 2003 at Mazda's Hiroshima plant in Japan.

The RX-8 was designed as a front mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, four-door, four-seater quad coupé. The car has a near 50:50 front-rear weight distribution and a low polar moment of inertia, achieved by mounting the engine behind the front axle and by placing the fuel tank ahead of the rear axle. The front suspension uses double wishbones and the rear suspension is multi-link. Weight is trimmed through the use of materials such as aluminum and plastic for several body panels. The rest of the body is made of steel, except for the plastic front and rear bumpers. The manual gearbox model uses a carbon fiber composite driveshaft to reduce the rotational mass (momentum of inertia) connected to the engine. Power is sent to the rear wheels through a torque-sensing conical limited-slip differential for improved handling. the RX-8 is considered its successor as Mazda's rotary engine sports car.

A prominent feature of the RX-8 is its rear-hinged "freestyle" doors (similar to suicide doors) that provide easier access to the rear seats. The RX-8 has no B-pillars between the front and rear doors, but the leading edge of the rear door acts as a "virtual pillar" to maintain structural rigidity. Because of the overlapping design, the rear doors can be opened only when the front doors are open. The RX-8's cabin was designed to allow enough room to house four adults, making it a genuine 4-seater rather than a 2+2. In designing the RX-8, Mazda's engineers were able to achieve a chassis stiffness rating of 30,000 Nm/deg.

Initial release (2003–2008)
The earlier models of the RX-8, having chassis codes SE3P, and JM1FE, were produced from the 2003 model year, though the car's U.S. debut was for the 2004 model year. It is powered by the RENESIS 13B-MSP (2-rotor, multi-side-port) Wankel engine displacing 1308 cc. The 4-port standard RENESIS was rated at 191 hp and was coupled with either a 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic transmission. From 2003 – 2008, the 4-port Generation One was available with a four, five or six-speed manual transmission and was rated at 238 hp. From 2006 – 2008, the 6-port, 6-speed automatic paddle-shift variant was available. The 6-port engine was not sold in Europe.

RX-8 Generation One Port Options

 * 2004 – 2005 – 4-speed Automatic transmissions (North America): 4-port engine
 * 2003 – 2008 – 4-speed Automatic transmissions (Europe): 4-port engine
 * 2006 – 2008 – 6-speed Automatic transmissions (paddle shift available): 6-port engine (not sold in Europe)
 * 2003 – 2008 – 6-speed Manual transmissions: 6-port engine (high power)
 * 2003 – 2008 – 5-speed Manual transmissions: 4-port engine (not sold in North America)

For the North American market, Mazda revised the reported output rating of the standard and high power RENESIS soon after launch to 189 hp and 237 hp, respectively. With exhaust ports now located in the side housing, the RENESIS boasted improved fuel efficiency and emissions rating over the 13B-REW employed by the preceding RX-7, thereby making it possible to be sold in North America.

At launch, the RX-8 was available in various models in different markets around the world. The variations according to different markets are as follows:

Automatic versions all had lower output/lower rpm engines due to the lack of availability of a transmission that would be able to reliably cope with the engine's high rpm limits.
 * 6-speed manual with a claimed output of 232 hp at 8,250 rpm and 159 lbft of torque at 5,500 rpm with a 9,000 rpm (redline limited) (Sold in North America). This model was equivalent to the "Type S" trim in Japan.
 * 5-speed manual with engine tuned to 189 hp with the redline reduced to 7,500 rpm. This powertrain combination was not available in North America.
 * 6-speed automatic with paddle shifting option (introduced in the U.S. for the 2006 model year, replacing the 4-speed automatic transmission of 2004–2005) with the engine rated at 212 hp and 159 lbft of torque with a redline at 7,500 rpm. This was the revised standard RENESIS, now with two extra intake ports like the high power version. The 2006 automatic RX-8 model also was given a second oil cooler, as was standard in the manual transmission model.

Mazdaspeed
In 2003 Mazda announced a factory Mazdaspeed Version of the RX-8 exclusively in Japan. Based on the Type S and tuned by Mazda's in-house division Mazdaspeed, the car included both mechanical, suspension, and aerodynamic improvements over the standard RX-8's. Mazdaspeed RX-8's were considered the highest performance model of the pre-facelift RX-8. Mechanical and suspension improvements included a new performance exhaust system, upgraded spark plugs, grounding kit, lightweight flywheel, re-balanced eccentric shaft, performance brake pads, stiffer anti-roll bars, four point front strut tower brace, rear strut tower brace, as well as a set of height and damping force adjustable coil-overs. Mazdaspeed also redesigned the aerodynamics of the car, giving it a new front bumper, with enlarged venting and oil cooler ducting, as well as side skirts, rear under spoiler, and a rear wing. The Mazdaspeed RX-8 was offered in either Strato Blue Mica, or Sunlight Silver Metallic as exclusive colors. A total of 480 factory Mazdaspeed Version RX-8's were built, and had a suggested retail price of JP¥3,650,000.00. Mazda also sold Mazdaspeed accessories worldwide through their dealerships. These accessories included both parts that weren't equipped on factory Mazdaspeed RX-8's as well as nearly all the parts equipped on the factory Mazdaspeed Version. This allowed standard RX-8's to be upgraded to Mazdaspeed standards through dealerships around the world.

NR-A
Mazda introduced the NR-A kit for the RX-8 Type S in January 2004, approved by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF). The NR-A kit, sold through Mazda Anfini and other dealers throughout Japan, brings the RX-8 up to specification in terms of eligibility for participation in the one-make Party Race sanctioned by JAF. The kit includes a roll bar, sports radiator, oil-cooler kit, tow hooks, and racing brake pads.

Hydrogen RE

At the 2004 North American International Auto Show, Mazda unveiled the RX-8 Hydrogen RE concept car, designed to run on either hydrogen or gasoline. In February 2006, Mazda announced that it would start leasing a dual fuel RX-8 to commercial customers in Japan, and in March, 2006 announced its first two customers, claiming the first fleet deliveries of a dual hydrogen/gasoline production car. In 2008, 30 RX-8 HRE were delivered to HyNor.

Shinka
In 2005 and 2006, Mazda introduced the first special edition of the RX-8 called "Sports Prestige Limited" in Japan and "Shinka" in North America. The Shinka takes its name from the Japanese word meaning "transformation" or "evolution". Marketed as a more luxurious grand touring model, it came with Black Cherry in 05 and Various Special exterior colors in 06. Sand color parchment leather and suede interior along with subtly chromed 18-inch wheels. Out of the total production of 2,150 vehicles, 1,357 were produced for the North American market. The most significant mechanical change were slightly revised Bilstein shocks and suspension cross member injected with urethane foam to improve ride quality.

Evolve
Launched in 2006, the 'Evolve' was the first special edition for the UK. The new model was named after the original Mazda concept car seen in Detroit in 2000 and was limited to a production run of just 500 cars.

Based on the 228 hp high-power version, it had several unique exterior features. These include a choice of two exclusive exterior colors (Copper Red Mica 400 and Phantom Blue Mica 100), unique dark silver 18 × 8J alloy wheels, a polished aluminum Rotary crest on the front air dam, dark silver bezel headlamps, sports door mirrors, polished aluminum side air outlet fins, Rotary branded B-pillar trims, chrome exhaust surrounds.

Inside, the Evolve features unique stone leather and alcantara sporty seat trim, plus black leather-wrapped steering wheel, gear knob and hand-brake lever.

PZ

In May 2006, Mazda released the RX-8 PZ for the UK market. This car was jointly developed with motorsports company Prodrive. Only available with a six-speed manual, it featured custom 10-spoke alloy wheels supplied by Italian F1 team supplier OZ Racing in "Dark Silver" finish, mirrors developed to reduce drag, front and rear black mesh grilles, and a rear spoiler to provide more stability at higher speeds. Both the wheels and rear wing are badged in carbon fiber with "Prodrive". Significant revisions were also made to the suspension to improve the handling: dampers from Bilstein and coil springs from Eibach are used in addition to reducing the ride height by 15 mm and an increase in spring rate of 60%. Finally, the car was supplied with a unique upgraded twin exhaust system, with exhaust tailpipes branded as "Prodrive". Only 800 cars were made at an MSRP of £25,995. It was available in two colors, Galaxy Grey (380) and Brilliant Black (420).

Revelation
The Revelation was an Australian special edition of the RX-8 with a limited production run of 100 cars. The model incorporated the top specification features of the standard RX-8 with the 9-speaker Bose sound system, sand beige colored leather seats, more piano black accents on the interior, and came with the same 13B Renesis rotary engine. Like regular RX-8 variants, the Revelation features 18-inch alloy wheels and tires, traction control, Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), six airbags, cruise control, power windows/mirrors, limited-slip differential, 6-CD in-dash audio system and climate control air conditioning. The revelation though, added stiffer anti-roll bars, foam-filled cross members and special edition grey-spoke alloys. The Revelation also offered a new color, Copper Red, and also came in Brilliant Black. It also came with xenon headlights with chrome bezels, while being the first Mazda sold in Australia with keyless entry and start.

Nemesis
The 'Nemesis' model is the third special edition model launched as a UK exclusive. It was launched in 2006, although some cars were registered in 2007 due to stock runoff. The 'Nemesis' features unique paint colors and interior trim, plus an exclusive accessory package, at a cost that was at the time £330 less than the model on which it is based – when similarly specified. Based on the standard 189 hp version of the Mazda RX-8, it included a unique stone leather seat trim interior and came with a five-speed manual transmission. The Nemesis has several other unique exterior and interior features. Two exclusive colors were available, Copper Red Mica and Stormy Blue Mica, each Nemesis also comes with a polished aluminum Rotary crest on the front air dam, polished aluminum side air-outlet trims behind the front wheel arches, special B-pillar trims with a Rotary crest and 'Nemesis' badging. Inside, these special edition models also featured Nemesis branded luxury carpet mats and Mazda RX-8 branded aluminum door scuff plates. Like other standard 245 hp RX-8s, the Nemesis has front fog lights, heated front seats, electrically operated driver's seat, climate control air conditioning, 9-speaker BOSE premium audio system with 6-CD auto-changer, plus a black leather-wrapped steering wheel, gear knob and hand-brake lever. The Nemesis has a top speed of 139 mi/h and accelerates from 0 to 60 mi/h in 7.2 seconds. Each Nemesis buyer also qualified for a complimentary Prodrive experience day. Just 350 examples were built, 200 in Copper Red and 150 in Stormy Blue.

Mazdaspeed M'z Tune
In December 2006, a new Mazdaspeed RX-8 became available exclusively in Japan. The Mazdaspeed M'z Tune was focused on performance without the expense of comfort, and was equipped with a performance exhaust system, lightweight flywheel, improved radiator, Bilstein shock absorbers, and sport springs. The car came with a new exclusive aerodynamic kit, featuring a new front lip, side skirts, and rear lower bumper.

Kuro
In 2007 Mazda released a Japan-North America limited edition known as the Kuro (Japanese for black). Production run was limited to 500 cars. All cars were finished in Sparkling Black paint, with 18-inch Monoblock wheels. The Kuro version used a more evolved RENESIS engine and 6-speed manual transmission with a claimed output of 227 hp and 156 lbft. Inside, it featured white leather interior, Bose premium audio system with 6-CD auto-changer, heated seats, electrically-operated driver's seat, and climate control air conditioning, cruise control, traction control, dynamic stability control and eight airbags. This edition has racing-type fully adjustable front & rear Tein suspension, bigger exhaust tips, fog lights, stiffer anti roll bars, better engine cooling system, limited-slip differential and a rear spoiler to provide more stability at higher speeds. After the Kuro version, Mazda announced that this is the absolute Mazda RX-8 version with a suggested retail price of US$60,000/JP¥6,653,550.00.

40th Anniversary Limited Edition
2008 saw the introduction of a limited edition to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Mazda's rotary engine. It had 10-spoke, 18-inch diameter alloy wheels of a new design that were later incorporated in the 2009 facelift. Also added were blue-light front fog lamps, a 40th Anniversary badge on each front wing and an aerodynamic rear spoiler. Exclusive sport-tuned suspension with Bilstein dampers were added along with an enhanced urethane foam injected front cross member intended to improve steering feel. The 40th anniversary limited editions were slightly different in the various international markets. The Japanese version came in Marble White as a homage to the Mazda Cosmo Sport, which was initially only available in white. The North American (USA and Canada) version came in Metropolitan Grey Mica exterior color with the interior clad in special Cosmo Red leather. In North America, this special edition was available only in 2008. For Canada – production was limited to 100 cars. The interior had black leather with copper red accented door inserts. For the Australian market, only 200 examples of the 40th Anniversary Edition were produced in 2008 exclusively. It was available in Metropolitan Grey, Dark Blue, or Brilliant Black exterior paint. The interior came with exclusive white Alcantara and black leather seats with contrasting white stitching. In the United Kingdom, this edition was limited to 400 cars which came in two exclusive exterior colors – Metropolitan Grey Mica or Crystal White Pearlescent. Seats were trimmed in black leather with stone Alcantara midsections.

Mid-cycle refresh (2008–2012)
In November 2008, Mazda improved the RX-8 body rigidity through the addition of structural reinforcements, by adding a trapezoidal shock tower brace and enhancing the local rigidity of the front suspension tower areas. The rear suspension geometry was revised for better handling, and the final-drive-gear ratio on manual transmission cars was shortened from 4.444 to 4.777 for improved off-the-line performance. While minimal, these changes gave the updated RX-8 increased acceleration and performance. Mazda engineers claimed that the second generation RX-8 was (slightly) faster than the previous generation due to the lower gearing and improved suspension. The Renesis II engine iteration that was launched in the 2009 model year included a third oil injection port in each rotor housing to feed oil to the middle of the rotor facing, making this their first all-new EMOP (Electric Metering Oil Pump) with a total of 6 lubrication injectors, plus an all-new engine oil pump with higher pressure rating that requires specific oil filter rated for the higher pressure. New catalytic converter was used to reduce clogging that resulted in overheating exhaust stream forward of the catalytic converter and eventual rotor side seal failure, which was responsible for majority of RX-8 engine failures. Ignition coil packs, which suffer reduced performance over time and leads to unburnt fuel and oil that eventually clogs the catalytic converter, was not upgraded from series 1 RX-8. Due to higher usage cycle that is two to three times higher in Wankel compared to Otto cycle, ignition coil packs on RX-8 can degrade much sooner than Piston engines using similar hardware, and cause unburnt fuel to reach the catalytic converter, clogging it and cause engine overheating leading to side seal springs failure.

The updated RX-8 also received design enhancements that were meant to freshen the styling and give the RX-8 a new look, without impairing the basic design theme. Refinements for the 2009 model year included a more aggressive restyled front and rear bumper as well as a new front fascia. The updated RX-8 also came with sporty, high-quality finish front and rear headlamps as well as larger exhaust pipes (now measuring 90 mm across). The 2009 RX-8 also offered a new five-spoke wheel design featuring a symbolic and sporty design reminiscent of the rotary engine, with different arrangements for each wheel size. A rear spoiler was also added dependent on the trim level selected. There were three trims available to consumers from 2009 to 2012: Sport, Grand Touring, and R3.

Mazdaspeed Concept

In 2008, Mazda unveiled a Mazdaspeed RX-8 equipped with racing seats, and a new aerodynamic package for the refreshed RX-8. Mazda however didn't end up selling any new generation Mazdaspeed editions or accessories to the public.

R3

The R3 version was first introduced in 2008 in Japan. This version was very limited and had the 1.3 L RENESIS Wankel engine. The R3 model was again introduced in 2009. The 2009 R3 package added slightly improved suspension over the base model by adding Bilstein shock absorbers and a foam filled front crossmember to improve rigidity. It also came with 19-inch forged aluminum-alloy wheels and high performance tires. On the exterior, the R3 had a different, lower front bumper sporting a splitter, lower side sills, and a standard rear spoiler. There is a pair of special Recaro seats up front, along with the same 300-watt Bose audio system, along with Bluetooth and the Mazda advanced keyless entry and start system. No electric sunroof was offered in the R3 model.

Spirit R

The Spirit R is a limited edition of the RX-8 built to celebrate the end of the RX-8's production. The name "Spirit R" was based on the final limited edition of the RX-7, the RX-7 Spirit R. The Spirit R was originally limited to only 1,000 cars and exclusively sold in Japan, but ultimately sold more than 1,000 due to unprecedented demand. The Spirit R is essentially an R3 with some cosmetic changes that are outlined below.

The manual transmission model came with exclusive lightweight red leather SPIRIT R bucket seats from Recaro, exclusive piano-black transmission tunnel trim, exclusive front and rear red brake calipers, Spirit R badges on the C pillars, and lightweight forged 19-inch BBS aluminum alloy wheels in a Spirit R exclusive bronze. The automatic transmission model included 10-way adjustable power leather seats with lumbar support and 2-position memory in black with red stitching, and 18-inch lightweight gunmetal grey BBS wheels wrapped in Bridgestone Potenza summer tires. Some models came with red leather seats with white stitching. A tire upgrade was also available, swapping the Bridgestone's for higher performance Falken extreme summer tires. The automatic models could be specified with the manual transmission model's Recaro bucket seats and 19-inch wheels.

The body color choices for the Spirit R were limited to Aluminum Metallic, Sparkling Black Mica, and a special color, Crystal White Pearl Mica, exclusive to the Spirit R.

A small number of Spirit R RX-8s can be found in Indonesia, Malaysia, and New Zealand.

End of production
Sales of the RX-8 ended in 2010 in Europe after failing to meet the region's emission standards.

The production of the RX-8 ended in 2012 in Japan; Mazda had produced 192,094 units since 2003. Production of the rotary engine ended on June 21, 2012, followed by the end of RX-8 assembly on June 22, 2012, at Mazda's Ujina, Hiroshima plant.

Warranty extension program
Mazda North American Operations extended the engine warranty on all model year 2004–2008 RX-8s. The warranty extension covered only the engine core, consisting of the rotor housing and internal parts, as well as the seals and gaskets. It did not include clutch or drivetrain (transmission or differential). An extended engine warranty for emissions was not offered in any other RX-8 markets.

Motorsport

The RX-8 has been campaigned and used in various racing series by privateers. It has seen a considerable amount of success, the most prominent of which being the 2008 and 2010 24 Hours of Daytona GT-class wins campaigned by SpeedSource Race Engineering. This victory also marks the 23rd endurance race win at Daytona by a Mazda rotary-powered race car. While the cars are powered by the 20B rotary engines, the car is in fact built on a tube frame chassis and not on the production car.

Ryan Eversley won both races of the 2010 SCCA World Challenge Mid-Ohio Grand Prix in the touring car class.

Other racing series include the KONI Challenge Series in the Street Tuner class. In the UK, the RX-8 featured in the Mazda sponsored "Formula Women" series (2004), which involved all women drivers with slightly modified RX-8s, and the RX-8 was also campaigned successfully in the Britcar series endurance races (2005/2006). In Belgium, Mazda are currently sponsoring an RX-8 silhouette racer in the GT series. The car also won the IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge in 2005.

In 2014 the North Island Mazda Rotary Racing Association in New Zealand launched a RX-8 category in its Pro7 racing series which is the oldest MotorSport NZ sanctioned series in NZ. The RX-8's now dominate this racing series and is competed in the North and South Islands as well as a NZ championship. The category was renamed in 2019 to the Mazda Racing Series and now some of the largest grids in the country.

In 2019, the Classic Sports Car Club in the UK launched the RX-8 Trophy for road legal first generation Mazda RX-8's. Developed in two years, the class was designed to provide the cheapest way of going racing in a performance car. The class stipulates that the RX-8 entering the race must have a valid MOT and retain creature comforts such as air con, heater and stereo, therefore allowing the car to be used as a daily driver, as well as to and from the race track.

The RX-8 has been used occasionally for professional drifting (Formula Drift), with drivers like Masao Suenaga from Japan, "Mad" Mike Whiddet from New Zealand, and Kyle Mohan from the USA choosing the develop the chassis each to suit their own goals.

Awards
As of October 2006 the RX-8 has won 37 international motoring awards including 2003 International Engine of the Year, the 2003 Japanese Car of the Year, Australia's Wheels magazine's Car of the Year for 2003, the 2004 Singapore Car of the Year, the 2004 U.S. Best Sports Car, and several UK Best Car Awards. It was named on Car and Driver magazine's Ten Best list for 2004, 2005, and 2006. It also took home first place on Car and Driver's "Four of a Kind" comparison test. 2010 RX-8 placed third out of seven on Car and Driver's The Best-Handling Car in America for Less Than $100,000. It was also awarded the Editors' Choice Award by Grassroots Motorsports in 2003.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Mazda RX-8


text:
1801 in music

Events

 * January 12 – Domenico Cimarosa is buried at Chiesa di Sant’Angelo, Venice, with a requiem mass performed by local musicians.
 * March 28 – Ludwig van Beethoven's ballet The Creatures of Prometheus (Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus) premières in Vienna's Burgtheater.
 * April 12 – Théâtre Feydeau in Paris closes down as a result of its director's other commitments.
 * April 21 – The Teatro Nuovo in Trieste is inaugurated with a performance of Johann Simon Mayr's Ginevra di Scozia.
 * April 24 – Joseph Haydn's oratorio The Seasons is premièred as Die Jahreszeiten in Vienna for its aristocratic patrons at the Palais Schwarzenberg; it has its public première on May 19 at the Redoutensaal.
 * December 27 – Nineteen-year-old Niccolò Paganini becomes first violin of Lucca's national orchestra.
 * Publication of Introduction to the Art of Playing on the Piano Forte by Muzio Clementi in London.
 * Probable publication of A Favorite Collection of Tunes with Variations Adapted for the Northumberland Small Pipes, Violin, or Flute by William Wright in Newcastle upon Tyne with contributions by John Peacock (piper).

Published popular music

 * "'Twas in the Solemn Midnight Hour", composed and sung by Mrs Bland

Classical music

 * Ludwig van Beethoven
 * Violin Sonata No. 4, Op. 23
 * Violin Sonata No. 5, Op. 24
 * Piano Sonata No. 12, Op. 26
 * Piano Sonata No. 13 & No. 14 (Moonlight), Op. 27
 * Piano Sonata No. 15, Op. 28
 * String Quintet, Op. 29
 * The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43
 * Johann Baptist Cramer – Piano Sonatas, Op. 25
 * Jan Ladislav Dussek
 * Two Piano Sonatas C.184-5
 * Piano Concerto, Op. 49
 * John Field – Three Piano Sonatas Op. 1
 * Franz Joseph Haydn
 * Mass in B-flat major, Hob.XXII:13
 * The Spirit's Song, Hob.XXVIa:41
 * The Seasons
 * Franz Krommer – 3 String Quartets, Op. 19
 * John Marsh – Symphony no. 30 in E minor
 * Pavel Vranický – Ballet Das Urteil des Paris
 * Johann Baptist Wanhal – Clarinet Sonata in C major
 * Joseph Woelfl – Duet for Cello and Piano, Op. 31
 * Anton Wranitzky – 3 String Quintets, Op. 8
 * Carl Friedrich Zelter – 12 Lieder am Clavier zu singen, Z.122

Opera

 * Domenico Cimarosa – Artemisia
 * Simon Mayr – Ginevra di Scozia
 * Étienne Méhul – L'irato
 * Rodolphe Kreutzer – Astyanax
 * Marcos Portugal – La morte di Semiramide
 * Johan Rudolf Zumsteeg – Das Pfauenfest

Methods and theory writings

 * Johann Georg Heinrich Backofen – Anleitung zum Harfenspiel
 * André Ernest Modeste Grétry – Méthode simple pour apprendre à préluder (Paris: l'imprimerie de la République)
 * Johann Christian Kittel – Der angehende praktische Organist (Erfurt: Beyer und Maring)
 * Giovanni Punto – Étude ou Exercice Journalier (Offenbach: Johann André)
 * Karl Zelter – Karl Friedrich Christian Fasch (Berlin: Johann Friedrich Unger)

Births

 * January 11 – John Lodge Ellerton, composer (died 1873)
 * January 29 – Johannes Bernardus van Bree, composer (died 1857)
 * February 1 – Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, Swedish Composer (died 1878)
 * February 21 – Jan Kalivoda, composer
 * February 22 – William Barnes, lyricist and writer (died 1886)
 * March 11 – Frédéric Bérat, composer and songwriter (died 1855)
 * March 19 – Salvatore Cammarano, Italian librettist (died 1852)
 * March 26 – Sophie Daguin, ballerina and choreographer (died 1881)
 * April 12 – Joseph Lanner, composer (died 1843)
 * June 20 – Gustavo Carulli, composer (died 1876)
 * June 25 – Antonio D'Antoni, composer and conductor (died 1859)
 * August 1 – Karl Johann Philipp Spitta, librettist and poet (died 1859)
 * September 13 – Stefan Witwicki, lyricist and poet (died 1847)
 * October 17 – Alessandro Curmi, pianist and composer (died 1857)
 * October 23 – Albert Lortzing, composer (died 1851)
 * November 3 – Vincenzo Bellini, composer (died 1835)
 * November 27 – Aleksandr Varlamov, Russian composer (died 1848)

Deaths

 * January 11 – Domenico Cimarosa, composer, 51 (probable stomach cancer)
 * March 2 – Charles-Albert Demoustier, lyricist and writer (born 1760)
 * March 14 – Christian Friedrich Penzel, composer, 63
 * March 21 – Andrea Luchesi, composer, 59
 * March 25 – Friedrich von Hardenberg, librettist and poet (born 1772)
 * May 13 – Bartholomeus Ruloffs, Dutch conductor and composer, 59
 * May 14 – Johann Ernst Altenburg, composer, organist and trumpeter, 66
 * August 31 – Nicola Sala, composer and music theorist, 88
 * October 23 – Johann Gottlieb Naumann, conductor and composer, 60
 * November – Thomas Augustine Geary, Irish composer (born 1773)
 * November 9 – Carl Stamitz, composer, 56
 * December 10 – Jonathan Battishill, composer of church music, 63

title: 1801 in music


text:
Talk:Cathedral of Notre Dame

I started the text for this page as it was a 'red link' from the page Louis Pasteur, though it appears that there are other pages about the same Cathedral but I do not know how to resolve the matter as I have only recently enrolled. Songwriter 21:22 1 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Yep -- this should be a disambiguation page -- There are TONS of Cathedrals of Notre Dame, including the one called Notre Dame de Paris. Boots

title: Talk:Cathedral of Notre Dame


text:
Santa Catarina (state)

Santa Catarina is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It is located in the centre of the country's Southern region. It is bordered to the north by the state of Paraná, to the south by the state of Rio Grande do Sul, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west by the Argentine province of Misiones.

The state covers an area of approximately 95730.69 km2, comparable to Hungary, and ranking as the seventh smallest Brazilian state by area. With a population of 7.6 million inhabitants in 2022, it is the tenth most populous state in Brazil. Its capital is Florianópolis, the second most populous city in the state after Joinville. Alongside Espírito Santo, Santa Catarina is one of the two states whose capital is not the largest city. Jorginho Mello, a member of the conservative Liberal Party, has been the governor of the state since 2023.

It is one of the Brazilian states with the most mountainous terrain, where 52% of the territory is located above 600 metres. According to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system, Santa Catarina predominantly features a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) in the coastal lowlands and the lower altitude areas of the plateau, whilst the remainder of the plateau is characterised by an oceanic climate (Cfb).

The state of Santa Catarina is one of the oldest states in Brazil. It separated from São Paulo in 1738, with José da Silva Pais serving as its first governor. The state was established to extend Portuguese dominions to southern Brazil, reaching as far as the Rio de la Plata region. It is also the oldest state in the South Region of Brazil, predating Rio Grande do Sul (1807) and Paraná (1853). The state was populated by various peoples throughout its history, such as the indigenous Carijós people of the Tupi-Guarani group, and later became an important destination for Azorean Portuguese, Italian, German, and other European immigrants. African slaves and their descendants also contributed to the formation of the state's population.

The socioeconomic indicators of Santa Catarina rank among the best in Brazil. The state leads in life expectancy and public safety, and boasts the lowest rates of homicide, illiteracy, poverty and extreme poverty in the country. It holds also the third-highest Human Development Index (HDI), the third-highest GDP per capita, and the third-lowest rates of infant mortality. Additionally, it is the federative unit with the least economic inequality in Brazil.

Etymology
Francisco Dias Velho, who arrived on the island now known as Santa Catarina around 1675, is said to have given the place its name. There, he built a chapel dedicated to Catherine of Alexandria, whom, it is claimed, one of his daughters was named after. Other authors attribute the origin of the name to Sebastian Cabot, who is said to have dedicated the island. At that time, the renowned Venetian explorer and cartographer passed through the area between 1526 and 1527. He is thought to have consecrated it to Saint Catherine, or rather, honoured his wife, Catarina Medrano. The name of the state is derived from that of the island.

The state's native inhabitants are called Catarinenses or Barrigas-Verdes (lit. Green-Belly). The origin of the term comes from the waistcoat worn by the soldiers of the Portuguese military forces, under Joaquim Francisco do Livramento. These troops, in 1753, departed from Santa Catarina to fight in Rio Grande do Sul and secured for Brazil the conquest of the Captaincy of Santa Catarina.

Originating from Catholicism, the name honours the state's patron saint. The Romans worshipped an ancient deity, Sancus, who ensured promises and oaths were not violated, mandating their fulfilment. From his name comes the Latin verb sancire, "to consecrate". Sanctus, "holy, consecrated, which must, above all, be treated with respect", is the past participle of the verb itself. Etymologically, the name Catherine derives from the Greek term εκατερινα, meaning "pure" or "immaculate".

Indigenous peoples, colonial and imperial era
At the outset of the 16th century, the area now known as the state of Santa Catarina was populated by the Carijós, a tribe belonging to the Tupi-Guarani group. These Indigenous peoples were catechised (educated and pacified in the Catholic faith) starting from 1549.

Expeditions from Portugal and Spain commenced exploration of the Santa Catarina coast in the early years following Brazil's discovery by Europeans. Sebastian Cabot, en route to the Rio de la Plata, navigated past the island then known as Dos Patos, bestowing upon it the name Santa Catarina in 1526. In 1534, John III of Portugal awarded the mainland territories to Pedro Lopes de Sousa. Nevertheless, these lands remained largely uninhabited, with Jesuits, Spanish, and Portuguese settlers exploring them but failing to establish any permanent settlements throughout the 16th century.

From the outset of Brazil's colonisation, the lands of Brazil's southern region did not greatly interest the Portuguese colonisers. This was due to the absence of precious metals and its colder climate (as frosts hindered the cultivation of sugarcane). The Portuguese only began to take an interest in the region in the mid-17th century. The settlement of Nossa Senhora da Graça do Rio de São Francisco was established by Manuel Lourenço de Andrade and his friends in 1658. The present-day city was the first permanent settlement in the region.

The settlement of Nossa Senhora do Desterro, on the island of Santa Catarina, was established by the Paulista bandeirante Francisco Dias Velho in 1675. At that time, the notable settler was accompanied by his heirs, slaves, and servants. In 1676, the settlement of Laguna was initiated by Domingos de Brito Peixoto. The Captaincy of Santa Catarina, initially linked to São Paulo, was founded in 1738. It was separated from São Paulo and incorporated into Rio de Janeiro's in 1739.

From the 1740s onwards, initiated by Alexandre de Gusmão, minister of King John V, Portugal began a colonisation and settlement project in southern Brazil, aiming to secure possession of the territory disputed by the Spanish. With this objective, immigration from Madeira Island and the Azores was sought. An insular defensive system was implemented. From 1748 to 1756, around five thousand Azorean immigrants began to populate the island and the coastline of the captaincy. Disputes between Portugal and Spain led to the occupation and destruction of the island of Santa Catarina by Spanish troops in 1777. The First Treaty of San Ildefonso forced the Spanish to surrender the invaded region.

The Captaincy of Our Lady of the Rosary of Paranaguá was founded by the Marquis of Cascais in 1656. It replaced the Captaincy of Santana, which began at the mouth of the Paranaguá Bay and ended in the current city of Laguna. It is bounded by the Captaincy of Santo Amaro (part of the second section of São Vicente) to the north, the salty waters of the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Governorate of New Andalusia to the west. These extinct states were delimited by the Treaty of Tordesillas.

The captaincy was elevated to the status of a province with the declaration of independence of Brazil. The province of Santa Catarina suffered profound consequences from the Ragamuffin War, which took place in Rio Grande do Sul in 1835. The revolutionaries, led by Giuseppe Garibaldi and David Canabarro, invaded Laguna and declared the Juliana Republic in July 1839. Defeated by the troops of the Empire of Brazil, the rebels left Laguna. The new South American country had a short duration because, when its independence was proclaimed, it stopped paying the Riograndense Republic due to lack of resources. The last Ragamuffin trenches were demolished in 1840. European colonisation, especially from Germany and Italy, was boosted in the second half of the 19th century. The colonies of Dona Francisca, later Joinville, were established in 1850; Blumenau in 1852; and Brusque in 1860.

Republican period
The province adhered to the proclamation of the Republic. However, the appointed governor rebelled against the federal government of the time, supporting the Federalist Revolution in 1893. Desterro became the naval base of the revolutionary squadron led by Custódio José de Melo.

The armed conflicts spread throughout the coast of Santa Catarina. Defeated in 1894, the revolutionaries were severely punished by the loyalist troops. Hercílio Luz was elected governor in 1894 and developed a policy for the pacification of the region and the repair of the infrastructural problems that the state had suffered. Desterro was renamed Florianópolis, in honour of Floriano Peixoto, following a turn of events that cost the lives of the defenders of the revolution.

The Contestado War began in 1912. This conflict pitted the needy inhabitants of the region located between the Negro, Iguazu, Canoas, and Uruguay rivers against the official forces. José Maria de Santo Agostinho, a healer considered sacred, led the backlanders. Moreover, Paraná and Santa Catarina were disputing the region where they lived, which is why the area was called Contestado. The disagreement between the two federative units and the armed conflict of the caboclos only ended completely in 1916. Santa Catarina's territory was invaded by the rebellious forces, which came from Rio Grande do Sul, in 1930. However, Florianópolis resisted until the triumph of the revolution throughout the country.

During the Second World War, it was necessary to address the issue of Nazi infiltration in the state. In this area, the Brazilian military effort was not compromised by groups of Germans, following a futile attempt. Up until 1945, intervenors governed the state throughout President Getúlio Vargas's administration. Since the 1950s, encouragement for the colonisation of the far west and the centre of the state by Italian-Brazilian settlers has contributed to the progress of Santa Catarina. These settlers came from Rio Grande do Sul.

Geography
Santa Catarina is one of the three states in the Southern Region of Brazil. It is bordered to the north by the state of Paraná, to the south by the state of Rio Grande do Sul, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west by the Argentine province of Misiones. The state covers an area of approximately 95730.69 km2, comparable to Hungary, and ranking as the seventh smallest Brazilian state by area.

Its territory is entirely below the Tropic of Capricorn, in the southern temperate zone of the planet. It follows the UTC−03:00 time zone (Brasília time), three hours behind Greenwich Mean Time. Its extreme points are: to the north, the Saí-Guaçu river in the municipality of Itapoá; to the south, the Mampituba river in Praia Grande; to the east, the Ponta dos Ingleses in Florianópolis; to the west, the confluence of the Uruguay and Pepiri-Guazu rivers in Itapiranga, on the border with Argentina.

Relief
Santa Catarina has 77% of its territory above 300 metres and 52% above 600 metres, making it one of the Brazilian federative units with the highest relief. Four geomorphological units, ranging from the coast to the interior, form the state's relief: the coastal lowland, the Serra do Mar, the Palaeozoic plateau, and the Basaltic plateau. The lowest altitudes are found in the coastal lowland, which encompasses lands located below 200 metres. In the northern part, it is quite wide, extending far inland through the valleys of the rivers that flow from the Serra do Mar. Meanwhile, towards the south, it gradually narrows.

The Serra do Mar occupies the coastal lowland in the western part. In the north of the state, it forms the mountainous edge of a reasonably average plateau. It has a very different feature from what is found in other states such as Paraná and São Paulo. In Santa Catarina, it constitutes a range of mountains, with points above one thousand metres. This range is formed by a group of massifs isolated by the deep valleys of the rivers that descend to the Atlantic Ocean. Behind the Serra do Mar, the Palaeozoic plateau extends. Its flattened area is divided into spaces separated by rivers, which flow eastward. The Palaeozoic plateau decreases in altitude from north to south. In the southern portion of the state, it merges with the coastal plain, since the Serra do Mar does not extend to this region of Santa Catarina.

The Basaltic plateau encompasses a significant portion of the state's territory. Comprising basaltic sediments (lava flows), interspersed with sandstone deposits, its eastern boundary is a mountainous edge known as the Serra Geral. In the north of the state, the edge of the basaltic plateau is situated inland. Moving southwards, it progressively approaches the coast until, at the border with Rio Grande do Sul, it starts to descend directly towards the sea. The plateau area is reasonably average and slopes gently westward. The rivers, flowing towards the neighbouring state of Paraná, have carved deep valleys into it. The lands of the mixed ombrophilous forest are infertile, as are the soils of the grasslands, which are utilised for dairy and beef cattle farming. The soils of the humid subtropical forest are characterised by their fertility.

Climate
According to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system, Santa Catarina predominantly features a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) in the coastal lowlands and the lower altitude areas of the plateau, whilst the remainder of the plateau is characterised by a subtropical oceanic climate (Cfb). Both have the four seasons well-defined and a rainfall regime evenly distributed throughout the year.

The humid subtropical climate (Cfa) records average temperatures of 20 °C in the lowlands and the Uruguay Valley, and 18 °C in the western extremity of the state. Conversely, the temperate subtropical climate (Cfb) sees average temperatures ranging between 16 and 18 °C. There is a significant difference between summer and winter temperatures, leading to a considerable thermal amplitude throughout the year. Winters vary from cool to cold, with some regions experiencing about 25 days of frost annually. During this period, the incursion of polar air masses is more common, some being stronger and more extensive, causing temperatures to fall below zero in various cities. The majority of these cities are located in the Midwest, North Plateau, and South Plateau. Notably, Bom Jardim da Serra, São Joaquim, Urubici, and Urupema, situated on the South Plateau, rank among the coldest municipalities in the country.

A large part of Rio Grande do Sul is situated at latitudes lower than Santa Catarina. Despite this, it is in the higher areas of the Santa Catarina southern plateau where there is a higher occurrence of snowfall in Brazil during the winter months. The state also holds the record for the lowest temperature recorded in Brazilian territory by official bodies. The temperature reached −14 °C in Caçador on 11 June 1952. On the other hand, the highest temperature reached 44.6 °C in Orleans on 6 January 1963. The hottest localities in the state are located in the regions of the southern coast, Itajaí Valley, and extreme west. This is because here lies the city considered the hottest in Santa Catarina, Itapiranga. In these regions, temperatures can exceed 40 °C in the summer or on other extreme occasions.

Hydrography
The rivers that flow through the state's territory are part of both autonomous systems delineated by the Serra Geral and Serra do Mar mountain ranges. The South Atlantic basin is made up of inter-delimited basins, such as those of the Itajaí-Açu, Tubarão, Araranguá, Tijucas, and Itapocu rivers. In the interior of the state, two basins come together to form the Plata basin: that of the Paraná, whose most important tributary is the Iguazu River, and that of the Uruguay River. The latter has as its main tributaries the Pelotas, Canoas, Chapecó, and Do Peixe rivers.

Fauna and flora
Fully embedded within the Atlantic Forest biome, the original vegetation of Santa Catarina encompasses two formations: forests and grasslands.

On the plateau, they occur in the form of mixed coniferous (Araucaria) forests with broadleaved trees and, in the lowland and foothills of the Serra do Mar, solely as broadleaved forest. The grasslands appear as scattered patches within the mixed forest. The main ones are those of São Joaquim, Lages, Curitibanos, and Campos Novos.

In the fauna of Santa Catarina, about 600 species of birds, 150 mammals, and 140 systematic denominations of amphibians are catalogued. There are 1,150 Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), in addition to the registration of about 2,300 vascular plants.

Flag
The flag of Santa Catarina is a rectangle divided into three horizontal bands: the upper and lower, sips, and the central, argent. In the middle you can see a sinople rhombus with the coat of arms in the center. On August 15, 1895, Santa Catarina received a flag, designed by José Artur Boiteux. It had thirteen horizontal stripes of sips and argent in a quantity similar to that of districts in the state. Inside the sinople rhombus, jalde stars symbolized the municipalities.

Demography
According to the 2022 Brazilian census conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Santa Catarina has a total population of 7.6 million and a population density of 79.5 inhabitants per square kilometre. This ranks it as the tenth most populous state in Brazil, accounting for 3.75% of the country's total population. The state's largest city, Joinville, has a population of 616,317, making it the 34th most populous city in Brazil. Meanwhile, its capital, Florianópolis, which is the state's second-largest city, has a population of 537,211, ranking it 39th among Brazilian municipalities by population.

The population grew by approximately 1.3 million inhabitants since 2010, representing an increase of 21.79% between 2010 and 2022. In 2022, around 50.71% of the population (3,859,258 people) were female, whilst about 49.28% of the population (3,751,103 people) were male.

The Human Development Index of Santa Catarina is considered high according to the UNDP. According to the latest Atlas of Human Development in Brazil, released in 2023 with data pertaining to 2021, the state has the 3rd highest HDI among the federal units in Brazil, with an overall index of 0.792. Breaking down the index into indicators of income, education, and life expectancy, the state ranks 4th in income (with an index of 0.759), 3rd in education (with an index of 0.790), and 3rd in life expectancy (with an index of 0.827). The socioeconomic indicators of Santa Catarina rank among the best in Brazil. The state leads in public safety, and boasts the lowest rates of homicide, poverty and extreme poverty in the country. It holds also the third-highest GDP per capita, and the third-lowest rates of infant mortality and illiteracy. Additionally, it is the federative unit with the least economic inequality in Brazil.

Ethnicity
According to the 2022 Brazilian census, the population of Santa Catarina was primarily composed of White Brazilians (76.28%), mixed race individuals (19.22%), Afro-Brazilians (4.07%), indigenous peoples (0.25%) and Asian Brazilians (0.18%).

Historically, the region was primarily inhabited by the Kaingang, Xokleng, and Guarani peoples, whose populations were reduced since the beginning of colonisation but have survived to the present day. During colonial Brazil, Spanish colonisers were the first to initiate settlement in the territory of Santa Catarina. However, the territory later came under Portuguese control, marked by Portuguese immigration and the arrival of African slaves. Subsequently, the territory experienced further population growth with the arrival of more Portuguese (especially Azoreans) and other European immigrants (Italians, Germans, Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Jews, Dutch, Belgians, Swiss, Austrians, French, English, Irish, Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Czechs, Slovaks, Greeks, and Russians), as well as by the Japanese.

Languages
In Santa Catarina, two different groups of languages are spoken: indigenous languages and allochthonous languages, some of which are minority languages. There are three indigenous or native languages: Kaingang, Mbyá-Guarani, and Xokleng. With the European settlement of the state, allochthonous or immigrant languages emerged and persist today. These languages include Portuguese (by far the most widely spoken and used language in the state), Talian and other Italian dialects, High German variants, and Low German variants such as the Pomeranian dialect near Blumenau and Pomerode. Certain dialects were born in the region. Among them is Portuñol, a combination of Portuguese and Spanish spoken in the border regions with Argentina. And Katarinensisch, part of the Hunsrik dialect, originating from the national language of Germany. Other linguistic nuclei on a smaller scale include Spanish, Polish, Lithuanian, Japanese, Arabic, Yiddish and others.

Religions
According to the 2010 population census, the population of Santa Catarina comprises Roman Catholics (73.07%); Protestants or Evangelicals (20.4%); Spiritists (1.58%); Jehovah's Witnesses (0.74%); Mormons (0.11%); the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church (0.17%); Buddhists (0.05%); new Eastern religions (0.04%), among which Messianics constitute 0.03%; Muslims (0.01%); Orthodox Christians (0.07%); followers of Umbanda (0.14%); Jewish (0.02%); Spiritualists (0.03%); adherents of esoteric traditions (0.17%); Indigenous religions (0.03%); practitioners of Candomblé (0.09%); and Hindus (0.01%). Another 3.27% had no religion, including atheists (0.29%) and agnostics (0.6%); 0.29% followed other Christian denominations; 0.21% had an undetermined faith; 0.04% were unsure, 0.04% followed other Eastern religions, and 0.03% did not declare.

Economy
The industrial sector is the largest contributor to the GDP at 52.5%, followed by the service sector at 33.9%. Agriculture represents 13.6% of GDP (2004). Santa Catarina exports include aviculture 26.1%, wood products 15.4%, compressors 8.5%, cotton 6.8%, and vehicles 5.8% (2002). Its share of the Brazilian economy stood at 4% in 2005.

Santa Catarina has one of the highest standards of living in Brazil and is a major industrial and agricultural center. The capital city, Florianópolis, has a diversified economy, being an important location for the technology industry and a major tourist destination. Commerce and services are also very strong in the capital. Cities in Florianópolis metro area, like São José, Palhoça, and Biguaçu are important and diverse industrial centers, as well as strong commercial areas. In the northeast of the state, electric-mechanical, textile and furniture industries are strong; in the west, cattle and poultry breeding predominate, while in the south it is ceramics and shellfish. The corridor between Joinville, Jaraguá do Sul and Blumenau is heavily industrialized—more than 50% of the state's industrial output is concentrated in this small, but highly developed area. In agriculture, the state stands out in the production of rice, apple and onion, in addition to significant production of soy, maize, banana, grape, garlic, barley, wheat and yerba mate.

With only 1.12% of the national territory, Santa Catarina was the eighth-largest producer of maize and the eleventh-largest producer of soybeans in Brazil, in the year 2017. When production per unit area is considered, the State becomes the national leader in corn, with an average of 8,100 kilograms per hectare, and second in soybeans, with 3.580 kilos per hectare. In 15 years, there has been a 118% growth in corn productivity and 58% in soybean. In 2019, corn production in the state reached 2.8 million tons (in 2018, Brazil was the third-largest producer in the world, with 82 million tons. However, the annual demand for corn in the state is 7 million tons—97% is for animal consumption, especially for pigs and broilers (83.8%), as Santa Catarina has the largest pig population among Brazilian states and the second largest in poultry. The corn deficit is covered by interstate imports, mainly from Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Paraná and Goiás, and from countries like Argentina and Paraguay. In soy production, in 2019 the state harvested 2.3 million tons (Brazil produced 116 million tons this year, being the largest producer in the world).

The state was the second-largest rice producer in the country in 2020, second only to the Rio Grande do Sul, harvesting around 1.1 million tons of the product. Total national production was 10.5 million tons this year.

The three Southern States of the country are responsible for 95% of the national apple production, and Santa Catarina tops, competing with the Rio Grande do Sul. The São Joaquim region is responsible for 35% of the apple planting.

Santa Catarina is also a national leader in the production of onions. In 2017, it produced 630,000 tons, especially in the municipalities of Alfredo Wagner, Angelina and Rancho Queimado.

In banana production, Santa Catarina was the fourth-largest national producer in 2018.

Santa Catarina was the third-largest producer of garlic in Brazil in 2018, with a planted area of approximately two thousand hectares. The Curitibanos region is the largest producer in the state.

Santa Catarina is one of the few states in the country that cultivate barley. In the 2007–2011 period, the state had 2.5% of national production. The cultivation was concentrated in the microregions of Canoinhas (57.6%), Curitibanos (26.5%) and Xanxerê (11.5%). It is also one of the few states that cultivate wheat, due to its favourable climate. In 2019 the estimated production of the state was 150,000 tons, still small compared to the 2.3 million tons produced by both Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná. Since the country has to import these two cereals in high volume every year, the state has been trying to stimulate the production of winter grain crops with incentive programs.

Santa Catarina produced close to 100,000 tons of yerba mate in 2018, mainly in the cities of Chapecó and Canoinhas. The state had an annual production of about 23,000 tons of grapes in 2019, with 86% of the state production located in the municipalities of Caçador, Pinheiro Preto, Tangará and Videira. Most of the national production, however, is located in Rio Grande do Sul (664,200 tons in 2018). Santa Catarina is the largest producer of pork in Brazil. The state is responsible for 28.38% of the country's slaughter and 40.28% of Brazilian pork exports. The number of pigs in Brazil was 41.1 million in 2017. Santa Catarina had 19.7% of the total.

The number of chickens in Brazil was 1.4 billion in 2017. Santa Catarina had 10.8% of the national total, the fourth largest in the country.

Brazil is the fifth-largest milk producer in the world, having produced almost 34 billion liters in 2018, 4% of world production. Santa Catarina was responsible for 8.78% of the national production, almost 3 billion liters of milk. In the production of chicken eggs, Santa Catarina represented 4.58% of the national total, which was 3.6 billion dozens in 2018. The state alone was responsible for 165 million dozens. In cattle raising, Brazil had almost 215 million head in 2017. Santa Catarina had about 5 million head of cattle in 2018.

Santa Catarina was the fifth-largest honey producer in the country in 2017, with 10.2% of the national total.

Fishing plays an important role in the state's economy. The production of oysters, scallops and mussels in Brazil was 20,900 tons in 2017. Santa Catarina was the main producer, responsible for 98.1%. Palhoça, Florianópolis and Bombinhas led the ranking of municipalities. Santa Catarina is the largest coal producer in Brazil, mainly in Criciúma city and its surroundings. The production of crude mineral coal in Brazil was 13.6 million tons (Mt) in 2007. Santa Catarina produced 8.7 Mt; the Rio Grande do Sul, 4.5 Mt; and Paraná, 0.4 Mt. Despite the extraction of mineral coal in Brazil, the country still needs to import about 50% of the coal consumed, as the coal produced in the country is of low quality, with a lower concentration of carbon. Brazil's coal reserves are 32 billion tons and are mainly in the Rio Grande do Sul (89.25% of the total), followed by Santa Catarina (10.41%). The Candiota Deposit (RS) alone has 38% of all national coal. As it is the coal of inferior quality, it is used only in the generation of thermoelectric energy and at the site of the deposit. The oil crisis in the 1970s led the Brazilian government to create the Energy Mobilization Plan, with intense efforts to discover new coal reserves. The Geological Survey of Brazil, through works carried out in the Rio Grande, do Sul and Santa Catarina greatly increased the reserves of coal previously known, between 1970 and 1986 (mainly between 1978 and 1983). In 2011, coal accounted for only 5.6% of the energy consumed in Brazil, but it is a strategic alternate source that can be activated when, for example, low water levels in dams reduce hydroelectric power generation. This happened in 2013, when several thermoelectric plants were shut down to maintain the necessary supply, albeit at a higher cost.

Santa Catarina had an industrial GDP of R$63.2 billion in 2017, equivalent to 5.3% of the national industry. It employs 761,072 workers in the industry. The main sectors are Construction (17.9%), Food (15.9%), Clothing (7.4%), Industrial Public Utility Services, such as Electricity and Water (6.9%), and Textiles (6.0%). These 5 sectors constitute 54.1% of the state's industry.

The main industrial centers in Santa Catarina are Jaraguá do Sul, Joinville, Chapecó and Blumenau. The first is diversified, with factories of fabrics, food products, foundries, and the mechanical industry. Chapecó's economy is based on agribusiness. Blumenau concentrates on the textile industry (together with Gaspar and Brusque) and recently also on software. In the interior of the state, there are numerous small manufacturing centers, linked to both the use of wood in industry and the processing of agricultural and pastoral products. In the textile industry, Santa Catarina stands out. Brazil, despite being among the five largest producers in the world in 2013, and a large consumer of textile and clothing, do not participate proportionately in global trade. In 2015, Brazilian imports ranked 25th (US$5.5 billion), and in exports, it was only 40th in the world. At 0.3% market share in the global textile and clothing trade, Brazil is constrained by uncompetitive pricing compared to producers in China and India. The gross value of production, which includes consumption of intermediate goods and services, by the Brazilian textile industry, corresponds to almost R$40 billion in 2015, 1.6% of the gross value of Industrial Production in Brazil. The South has 32.65% of production, Among the main textile clusters in Brazil, the Vale do Itajaí (SC) stand out. In 2015, Santa Catarina was the second-largest textile and clothing employer in Brazil. It led in the manufacture of pillows and is the largest producer in Latin America and the second in the world in woven labels. It is the largest exporter in the country of toilet/kitchen clothes, cotton terry cloth fabrics, and cotton knit shirts. Some of the most famous companies in the region are Hering, Malwee, Karsten and Haco.

In the food industry, Brazil was the second-largest exporter of processed foods in the world in 2019, with a value of US$34.1 billion in exports. The Brazilian food and beverage industry's revenue in 2019 was R$699.9 billion, 9.7% of the country's gross domestic product. In 2015, the industrial food and beverage sector in Brazil comprised 34,800 companies (not counting bakeries), the vast majority of which were small. These companies employed more than 1.6 million workers, making the food and beverage industry the largest employer in the manufacturing industry. There are around 570 large companies in Brazil, which constitute a major proportion of industry revenues. Companies such as Sadia and Perdigão (which later merged into BRF), Seara Alimentos (which today belongs to JBS), Aurora (all meat specialists), Gomes da Costa (fish and canned), Eisenbahn Brewery and Hemmer Alimentos (specialist in preserves such as cucumber, beet, heart of palm, among others) are based in Santa Catarina.

In the automotive sector, the state has GM and BMW plants.

The wood and paper industry is concentrated in (Canoinhas, Três Barras and Mafra) in the north of Santa Catarina, due to raw material availability in the region. In the Serra industries (Rio Negrinho and São Bento do Sul), wood-processing works are carried out, producing various derivatives and final products. The state stands out nationally in the production of wooden furniture. Most companies in this sector are based in these cities, together with Palhoça. The state's industry accounts for 7.5% of the national sector. The state is the second-largest furniture exporter in the country (2014). The Santa Catarina timber industry stands out with a 17.1% share in Brazil. It is among the largest in the country in the production of wooden doors and is a national leader in frames. Responsible for handling R$6.5 billion in gross value of the Industrial Production of Santa Catarina, the paper and cellulose sector is one of the most important economic vocations in the mountainous part of the state. The sector is 8th highest in exports and 10th in job creation in Santa Catarina, with more than 20,200 vacancies, according to data from 2015. The municipalities of Lages and Otacílio Costa together represent about 47% of the exports of the Pulp and Paper sector State role.

Brazil's ceramic tile factories are mainly based in the south of Santa Catarina (including the cities of Imbituba, Tubarão, Criciúma, Forquilhinha, Içara and Urussanga). The state of Santa Catarina also leads the country in the production of crockery and crystals.

The northeast of the state is notable for the production of moto-compressors, auto parts, refrigerators, engines and electrical components, industrial machines, tubes, and connections. Its compressor production makes it a leader in exports among Brazil's states. It is also an important producer of forestry equipment. In metallurgy, the state has the largest national manufacturer of stainless steel sinks, vats, tanks, trophies, medals, fixing elements (screws, nuts, etc.), jacketed tanks for fuels, industrial pressure vessels, and malleable iron connections. It is a world leader in engine blocks and iron heads, being Brazil's largest exporter of this product.

In the leather-footwear sector (footwear industry), the state has a production center in São João Batista.

In the household appliances industry, sales of white goods (refrigerators, air conditioning, and others) were 12.9 million units in 2017. The sector had its peak in 2012, with 18.9 million units. The brands that sold the most were Brastemp, Electrolux, Consul and Philips. Consul is originally from Santa Catarina, having merged with Brastemp and is now a part of the multinational Whirlpool Corporation.

The major cities and their respective fields are:

 * Florianópolis, technology; tourism; services; commerce; government; education
 * Joinville, metal-mechanic; automobile; tourism/events; software development; commerce; plastic; textile; chemistry; education
 * Blumenau, textile; software; commerce and beer
 * São José, industry; commerce and services
 * Criciúma, ceramics
 * Chapecó, cattle and poultry breeding
 * Lages tourism and wood industry
 * Itajai, seaport
 * Jaraguá do Sul, electric motors and textile
 * Palhoça, industry
 * Balneário Camboriú, tourism; commerce
 * Tubarão, ceramics
 * Brusque, textile
 * Rio Negrinho, furniture
 * Caçador, furniture; metal-mechanics; agribusiness
 * Campos Novos, agribusiness
 * Concórdia, Swine industry
 * Curitibanos, Agribusiness, wood industry, education
 * São Joaquim, tourism

Statistics
Vehicles: 2,489,343 (March/2007); Mobile phones: 3.7 million (April/2007); Telephones: 1.6 million (April/2007). Cities: 293 (2007)

Roads
In 2019, Santa Catarina had 62,871 km of highways, 9,321 km of which were paved, and of these, 556 km were duplicated highways.

The main highway is the BR-101, which is fully duplicated, passing along the coast, where most of the 25 cities in the state of Santa Catarina with the highest GDP are located. Other major highways in the state are BR-470 and BR-280, which are currently undergoing duplication works, BR-116, BR-282, BR-153 and BR-158.

Airports
As it is a state without large metropolises, with cities with no more than 600 thousand inhabitants, Santa Catarina has some important airports spread across the state. Five of them carry out commercial flights:

Florianópolis, the capital, is served by Hercílio Luz International Airport for both domestic and international flights. The traffic has grown significantly and in October 2019, a new airport was opened to serve 2.7 million passengers a year.

In Navegantes, there is the Navegantes Airport, the second largest in Santa Catarina and the main gateway to the Vale do Itajaí Region, made up of 12 municipalities with a GDP of R$49 billion, which corresponds to 15.3% of the state's GDP. The airport has a capacity for 3.5 million passengers per year.

In Joinville, there is the Joinville-Lauro Carneiro de Loyola Airport, which serves the largest city in the state of Santa Catarina, with 590 thousand inhabitants. The Joinville region is responsible for 18.3% of the state's GDP and is one of the most important industrial hubs in the development of the south of the country. The airport has a capacity for 800 thousand passengers/year.

In Chapecó, there is the Chapecó Airport, which serves the largest city in the west of the state. The airport handles around 500,000 passengers per year.

In the area close to Criciúma, Brazil's famous coal region, Jaguaruna Regional Airport was opened in 2014, which in 2023 handled around 120,000 passengers per year.

Ports
The state has five specialized ports—Itajaí, São Francisco do Sul, Itapoá, Imbituba and Navegantes—the first two being of great importance. São Francisco do Sul is a major exporter of soy, wood and cellulose, and importer of steel material, such as steel bars and coils, in addition to fertilizers and urea. Itajaí exports a lot of chicken, wood and meat products and imports mechanical and electronic products, chemicals and miscellaneous textiles. Imbituba represents a coal terminal and Laguna, a fishing port. Itajaí had a cargo movement of 18.9 million tons in 2021, and São Francisco do Sul, 13.6 million, being among the ten largest in the country.

Tourism
Santa Catarina offers several destinations and events throughout the year: rural tourism, thermal resorts, ecological tourism, and adventure sports, historic monuments and sights, religious tourism, Beto Carrero World and Unipraias parks in Balneário Camboriú, and beach resorts of Florianópolis, Laguna, Porto Belo and Itajaí.

Some of these sights can only be seen in the off-season, like the snow on the Catarinense Mountain Range—one of the places in Brazil where it snows every year.

Between July and November, southern right whales visit the state's coast. The municipality of Timbó is a center for adventure sports like rafting and canyoning.

The popular festivities take place in October. The Oktoberfest of Blumenau is Brazil's largest and the world's second largest (after Germany's Munich).

Joinville is the host city in July to the widely acclaimed "Joinville Dance Festival", the annual "Festival of Flowers" in November which showcases orchids produced in the region, and several business events in its Convention Center.

Florianópolis, the city/island State Capital attracts a large number of tourists during the summer months who visit its 42 beaches.

There are also many smaller resort towns, including the capital of the microlight aircraft tour flights Itapema, Piçarras, Barra Velha, and Penha, home to the famous amusement park Beto Carrero World.

An interesting collaboration between humans and wildlife has developed in Laguna (birthplace of Anita Garibaldi, the wife and comrade-in-arms of Italian Unification revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi): a pod of bottlenose dolphins drive fish towards fishermen who stand at the beach in shallow waters. Then one dolphin rolls over, which the fishermen take as a sign to cast their nets. The dolphins feed on the escaping fish. The dolphins were not trained for this behavior; the collaboration has been reported since 1847. Southern right whales also can be seen in Laguna from the shore during the winter to spring seasons.

The 17491 ha Turvo State Park, created in 1947, is in the northwest of the state. It contains the Yucumã Falls (Salto do Yucumã, Saltos del Moconá), a dramatic waterfall on the Uruguay River on the Argentinian border. Many tourists come to the park to see the falls, which are 1800 m long and up to 20 m high.

Sports
In the state of Santa Catarina, important athletes were born such as: Gustavo Kuerten, the greatest male tennis player in the country's history; Pedro Barros, one of the most important skaters in the country along with Bob Burnquist; Darlan Romani, world champion in shot put, Tiago Splitter, NBA champion, Fernando Scherer, Olympic medalist and world champion in swimming, and Ana Moser, Olympic medalist in volleyball.

Football
The major football clubs of Santa Catarina are:

Criciuma EC from Criciúma. Criciúma EC, also known as "Tigre" (Tiger), was champion in the Copa do Brasil (Brazilian Cup) in 1991, the most important championship won by a Santa Catarina team in a very long time. Criciúma is the only team from Santa Catarina that played Libertadores of America Cup, in 1992, when it was 5th. Criciúma also won the Brazilian 2002 second series and 2006 C series. Criciuma is currently playing Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the Brazilian national first division. Figueirense FC black and white from Florianópolis. Its nicknames are Figueira (Fig tree) and O Furacão do Estreito (The Hurricane of Estreito). Its stadium is the Orlando Scarpelli, located in the Estreito neighborhood in the mainland part of the city. Figueirense is currently playing in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, the third division of Brazilian football.

Avaí FC, blue and white from Florianópolis. It is also known as O Leão da Ilha (The Lion of the Island). Its stadium is the Aderbal Ramos da Silva, popularly known as Ressacada, located in the Carianos neighborhood, in the south part of the island. Avaí is currently playing in Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, the second division of Brazilian football.

Joinville Esporte Clube from Joinville. It is also known as "Tricolor" or "JEC". JEC won the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, the second division of Brazilian football, in 2014 and was promoted to the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first division, but currently plays in Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, the third division, after two consecutive relegations.

Associação Chapecoense de Futebol from Chapecó. Chapecoense is playing in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first and major division of Brazilian football. The club is currently recovering from the loss of virtually all of its first team in a 2016 plane crash.

Surfing
Campeche Beach is generally considered to have the best and most consistent waves in Brazil, and in April of each year hosts what is currently South America's only ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals) World Championship Tour professional surfing competition. Brazil has played host to many ASP tour events over the past 30 years. Former contest sites include Rio de Janeiro, Barra de Tijuca, and Saquarema, but in past years have seen the tour set up shop in Florianópolis. Previously held towards the end of the tour, the past few years have seen several ASP world champions crowned in Brazil. In 2004 it was Andy Irons, and in 2005 it was Kelly Slater (who had his 2006 ASP World Title already stitched up by Brazil).

title: Santa Catarina (state)


text:
Morton S. Wilkinson

Morton Smith Wilkinson (January 22, 1819 – February 4, 1894) was an American politician.

Born in Skaneateles, New York, he moved to Illinois in 1837 and was employed in railroad work for two years. Upon returning to Skaneateles in 1840, he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1842, and commenced practice in Eaton Rapids, Michigan in 1843. He moved to Stillwater, Minnesota in 1847.

Wilkinson was elected to the first legislature of Minnesota Territory in 1849 and served as Register of Deeds of Ramsey County 1851 – 1853. After moving to Mankato, Minnesota in 1858, he served as a member of the board of commissioners to prepare a code of laws for the Territory of Minnesota in 1858.

After winning the 1859 Senate election in Minnesota he served in the United States Senate from March 4, 1859 to March 3, 1865, as a Republican from Minnesota, in the 36th, 37th and 38th congresses, but was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection. In the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1869 to March 3, 1871, but unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1870.

Wilkinson moved to Wells, Minnesota, and was member of the Minnesota State Senate 1874 – 1877 as well as a prosecuting attorney of Faribault County 1880 – 1884. He died in Wells on February 4, 1894, and was interred in Glenwood Cemetery, Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minnesota.

title: Morton S. Wilkinson


text:
De Materie

De Materie (Matter) is a four-part vocal and orchestral work by Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, written over the period 1984 to 1988. Robert Wilson directed the first staging of the opera on 1 June 1989 at the Muziektheater, Amsterdam, with James Doing, Wendy Hill, Beppie Blankert and Marjon Brandsma as the soloists at the premiere. In the US, part 2 of the work, "Hadewijch", was performed at the Tanglewood Festival in 1994. The complete work received its first US performance in 2004 at Lincoln Center, New York City. "Hadewijch" received its UK premiere at the 1993 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. The UK premiere of the full work was at the Meltdown Festival in 1994.

The work incorporates eclectic musical influences, ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach and Igor Stravinsky to the old Netherlands chanson "L'homme armé" and 20th-century boogie-woogie. The work opens with 144 iterations of the same chord played fortissimo (very loud) and features an extended solo for two large metal boxes played with hammers. The texts are both sung and spoken. The four sections of the work incorporate various texts, with the dates of composition of each section in parentheses: (Timings in minutes and seconds, from the Nonesuch CD listed below)
 * Part 1 ("De Materie", 1986–1987): the 1581 Plakkaat van Verlatinge (Act of Abjuration), with a text on shipbuilding by Nicolaes Witsen and the Idea Physicæ of David van Goorle –
 * Part 2 ("Hadewijch", 1987–1988): Zevende Visioen (Seventh Vision) by Hadewijch –
 * Part 3 ("De Stijl", 1984–1985): text from The Principles of Plastic Mathematics by M. H. J. Schoenmaekers, along with quotes by M. van Domselaer-Middelkoop about his friend, the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian –
 * Part 4 (untitled): excerpts from two sonnets by Willem Kloos, along with a passage from the diary of Marie Curie and her Nobel Prize speech –

Recording

 * Nonesuch Records 7559-79367-2: Susan Narucki, James Doing, Cindy Oswin, Gertrude Thoma; Members of the Netherlands Chamber Choir; Asko/Schönberg; Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor

title: De Materie