Jaraguari

It was first settled by Brazilians in 1875 when Porfirio Alberto de Freitas, his wife, and his brother in-law settled into Jaraguari Velho (then called Fazenda Estiva). In January 1909, José Thomaz Barbosa would draw up the borders of the municipality. Later, de Freitas ordered the construction of a church. It was only completed in 1923. It had been named Senhor Divino Espírito Santo, and was destroyed in 1930. After that, Japanese settlers arrived and created a separate community. In 1953, Jaraguari was made a municipality. The name was derived from Araguari, the old hometown of de Freitas. A J was added because Jaragua means grass in Brazilian Portuguese.^[2]

Jaraguari is largely covered by forests, but has suffered 1.5% forest lost in the past 20 years, with much of this picking up pace in the 2010s.^[3]