Immigration and memory

It is travel made to meet a people in the place where they live and the heritage they preserve. The Ministry of Tourism calls this segment ethnic tourism, part of cultural tourism: experiences with ethnic groups such as descendants of immigrants, indigenous communities and quilombola communities.

In Brazil, organized immigration began in the 19th century. In 1824, the first German settlers arrived in Rio Grande do Sul. From 1875, Italian families moved up into the Serra Gaúcha. In 1908, the ship Kasato Maru brought the first group of Japanese immigrants to the coast of São Paulo.

Indigenous peoples lived here long before, and quilombos formed over centuries. Some of these communities organize their own visits, with home guides, and decide what to show. When the traveler is tracing their own family history, it is usually called roots tourism.

São Leopoldo, in Rio Grande do Sul, is called the cradle of German colonization in Brazil: it was there that the first settlers disembarked in 1824, and the Museu Histórico Visconde de São Leopoldo preserves documents and objects from that arrival. In the Serra Gaúcha, Bento Gonçalves tells the story of Italian immigration on the Caminhos de Pedra route, a rural road with stone and wooden houses, mills, cantinas and studios maintained by descendants.

In Santa Catarina, Pomerode preserves a large set of half-timbered houses, and some residents still speak German and Pomeranian at home. Blumenau, founded in 1850 by German settlers, gathers museums about colonial life. In Paraná, the Parque Histórico de Carambeí reconstructs the village of Dutch settlers who arrived in 1911, with houses, a church and a mill.

In São Paulo, the Immigration Museum operates in the former Hospedaria de Imigrantes do Brás, through which, from the late 19th century, newcomers who went on to the coffee farms passed. The city also preserves the Liberdade neighborhood, linked to Japanese immigration, and Bixiga, of Italian tradition.

In Porto Seguro, Bahia, about 12 kilometers from the center, the Pataxó people welcome visitors in the Reserva da Jaqueira, an area of preserved forest, with a talk, singing, dancing and fish roasted in patioba leaf. In Cavalcante, in the Chapada dos Veadeiros, Goiás, the quilombola community Kalunga do Engenho II is the gateway to Cachoeira Santa Bárbara, visited only with a community guide.

An itinerary of four to seven days allows you to combine two or three nearby colony towns by car, with time for rural roads. Small museums and memory houses depend on volunteers and open for short periods.

A visit to a village or a quilombo is arranged in advance with the community association or with a local agency that works with them. It’s common to have a maximum number of visitors per day. Ask permission before photographing people, follow the guide’s instructions and buy crafts directly from the makers. The visit is paid separately: check the current rates.

Anyone searching for ancestors should start at home, gathering full names, approximate dates and the port or city of arrival. With this information, research continues in passenger lists, lodging registers, state public archives, notary offices and church baptism and marriage books.