Colonies located within the confines of other German colonies (_e.g.,_ Hansa, São Bento _etc._) are not listed.
_Direct immigration_ signifies immigration from Europe.
_Indirect immigration_ signifies immigration from a South American country bordering on Brazil; immigration from another Brazilian state; or from another colony within the same state.
Numerical statistics concerning individual colonies have been avoided except in a few cases where they are of sufficient comparative importance to be noted in a work of this scope.
All the colonies coming in consideration (excepting some of those founded since 1890) have been "emancipated," _i.e.,_ they no longer receive special aid from, the government and their special colonial directorates have been abolished.
The states of Brazil which are important so far as German colonization is concerned are Bahia, Minas Geraes, Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro (Federal District), São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catharina and Rio Grande do Sul.[7] This is the geographical order from north to south and the one according to which they will be taken up.
In this state is located the first German colony founded in Brazil. It is =Leopoldina=, started as a private undertaking by Busch, Reycke and Freireiss in 1818.[8]
=Frankenthal=, another private colony, was founded in 1822 by Peter Weyll and Saueracker.[9]
Of all the states mentioned, Bahia is the least important so far as German colonization is concerned. This is largely due to the fact that its climate is too tropical to favor such colonization oft an extended scale.
The private colony =Theophilo Ottoni=,[10] in the north-eastern part of the state was founded by a German stock-company in 1851.
Recent state colonies where Germans form a considerable part of the population are =Nova Baden, Francisco Salles, Itajubá, João Pinheiro, Constança, Vargem Grande,= and =Rodrigo Sylva=.[11]
Germans form a considerable part of the population of the capital of the state (Bello Horizonte) and of the important city of Juiz da Fora.
The state colony =Santa Izabel= was founded in 1847. The first settlers were composed chiefly of Rhenish Prussians.
=Santa Leopoldina=, another state colony, was founded in 1857. A suggestion as to the origin of the first settlers is offered by the names of the different districts into which the colony was first divided; _viz._; Schweiz, Sachsen, Pommern, Rheinland, Tirol and Holland.