Physically
they had to adapt themselves to a new climate. From the moment of their
arrival on the parcel of land allotted to them they were in contact with
many objects for which their mother tongue offered no designation. The
animals, plants, insects and even the agricultural implements in the new
home land had, to a large extent, names for which the German language
offered no equivalent. As a result, many non-germanic words had to be
immediately adopted.
In reference to the older colonies, the German-speaking immigrants from
any particular section of Germany, Switzerland or Austria would more or
less settle in a particular section of Brazil. Thus we have Petropolis
in Rio de Janeiro settled by former inhabitants of the Coblenz district
and Blumenau in Santa Catharina settled largely by Pomeranians. In a
general way it may be stated that the older colonies were in this
respect relatively homogenious, while those founded since the middle of
the past century drew their settlers to a larger extent from different
German-speaking sections of Europe.
The settlers, largely drawn from the agricultural class, naturally
brought with them from Europe a variety of German dialects.
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