Czech Brazilians refer to Brazilians of Czech descent who were born in or who trace their ancestry to the territory of the historic Czech lands or succession states, now known as the Czech Republic, and are residents and/or citizens of Brazil.
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Czech people in Brazil
Although Czech Jesuits such as Valentin Stansel had been working in Brazil since the 18th century, the first Czech immigrants arrived in 1823. Among these early immigrants was Jan Nepomuk Kubíček, a Catholic carpenter from Třeboň and one of the great-grandfathers of Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, the 24th President of Brazil (from 1956 to 1961).
In the 20th century there were three large waves of Czechs who moved to Brazil: in the 1930s, after the Communist takeover (1948) and after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact troops (1968). Most of those immigrants settled down in Southern Brazil.
Though Czechs correspond to a small proportion of all immigrants who landed in Brazil, the Czech immigration is significant if counted in absolute numbers. An evidence of such representativeness is that a search in the 2007 phone book of São Paulo reveals that all the 10 commonest Czech male surnames can be found among the inhabitants of the mentioned Brazilian city.
Southern Brazil
More or less influence of the Czech immigration can be noticed in the three states of Southern Brazil (Santa Catarina, Paraná, and Rio Grande do Sul). In such states, the Czechs arrived since the 19th century and were often a minority in areas predominantly settled by Germans or Poles.
In Santa Catarina, the Czech immigrants occupied the regions of Vale do Itajaí and Northern parts of the state, e.g. Joinville, São Bento do Sul and Mafra.
In Rio Grande do Sul, most Czechs settled down in the Serra Gaúcha (notably in the town of Nova Petrópolis), the North Coast, the area of Missões and the Central Lowlands.
In Paraná, the Czech immigration is noticeable in the Northern areas, e.g. Rolândia and Londrina, where in 1932-1940's Czechs and Poles used to dispute the available lands for coffee cultivation, particularly in the rural district of Warta (Northern Londrina).
Central-Western Brazil
In Central-Western Brazil the Czech immigrants arrived mostly in the 1940-1950's led by the entrepreneur Jan Antonín Baťa, a Czech shoe manufacturer who left Czechoslovakia after the Nazi occupation of the Sudetenland.
The colonization of part of the Southeastern region of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul was made possible thanks to the Companhia Viação São Paulo-Mato Grosso (São Paulo-Mato Grosso Transport Company) owned by Baťa and managed by another Czech immigrant, Vladimir Kubik.