This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

Guaporé, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil)

Last modified: 2012-04-07 by ian macdonald
Keywords: rio grande do sul | guaporé |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors



Guaporé, RS (Brazil) image by Dirk Schönberger, 16 February 2012
Source: http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guapor%E9_(Rio_Grande_do_Sul)


See also:

Description of the Flag

A horizontal bicolour, white over green with the municipal arms in the centre on a white disk.

Official website at http://www.guapore.rs.gov.br
Dirk Schönberger, 16 February 2012

The municipality of Guaporé (22,810 inhabitants in 2010; 298 sq. km) is located in northeastern Rio Grande do Sul, 200 km of Porto Alegre.

Guaporé, named for Tupi-Guarani words meaning "the desert valley", was mostly settled by Italian colonists. Around 1800, a few families moved along river Taquari and settled the present-day site of the municipality of Muçum, a former district of Guaporé. German cattle- breeders from the town of Montenegro settled the heights of Boa Vista, then called Bela Vista, today part of the municipality of São Valentim do Sul. Bela Vista was increased by Italian colonists coming from Bento Gonçalves, Garibaldi, and, mostly, Veranópolis. The colony of Guaporé was established in 1892; four years later, it was equipped with a telephone station and a post office. The municipality of Guaporé was established by Decree No. 664 of 11 December 1903 and inaugurated on 1 January 1904. The Pasquali family introduced in 1907 jewellery to Guaporé, progressively making of the town the main center of jewellery in Rio Grande do Sul and the second in Brazil. In the 1990s, lingerie production developed in Guaporé, equally making of the town the main center of lingerie in Rio Grande do Sul and the second in Brazil

The symbols of Guaporé, designed by Emílio Benvenuto Zanon and revised by Arcinoé Antonio Peixoto de Farias, are prescribed by Municipal Law No. 1,096 of 10 December 1980. The flag uses the white and green colors, symbolizing peace, friendship, work, prosperity and religious faith, and honor, civility, courtesy, joy and abundance as the green fields in spring announce profuse harvests, respectively.

The coat of arms is "a classical Flemish-Iberic shield surmounted by an eight-towered mural crown argent ports gules, argent a Mercury's helmet gules a half gear wheel sable, in base a double mantle vert over waves argent. The shield surrounded dexter by a maize plant fructed proper and a grapevine fructed proper sinister by an apple- tree branch fructed proper and a grapevine fructed proper. Below the shield a scroll gules inscribed in letters argent 'GUAPORÉ' surrounded by the years '1892' and '1903'."

The classical Flemish-Iberic shield was used in Portugal and Spain at the time of the discovery of Brazil, when it was adopted to replace the Samnitic shield of French origin used before as a tribute to Count Henry of Burgundy, the first Count of Portugal, of French origin. The Mercury's helmet and the gearwheel stands for commerce and industry, respectively. Gules (red) represents commitment, patriotic love, audacity, intrepidness, courage and valiance. Sable (black) is the heraldic symbol of prudence, strength, constancy and wisdom. Vert (green) is a symbol of honor, civility, courtesy, joy and abundance. It is also the symbol of hope, as the fields greening in spring promise abundant harvests. The double mantle alludes to the topography of the municipality, made of small hills. The base argent with waves vert recalls fiver Guaporé, the namesake of the town. The eight-towered mural crown stands for a town of 2nd rank, that is the seat of a county ("comarca"). Maize, grapes and apples are the main products of the fertile soil of the municipality. The scroll is charged with the years of foundation of the colony ("1892") and emancipation of the municipality ("1903").
http://www.guapore.rs.gov.br/?c=guapore.php 

Ivan Sache, 25 March 2012