Its first inhabitants were the Tupi Guarani Indians, who gave it its first names: Miembipe and Jurerê Mirim.
The first to land here was the Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca in 1541. The bandeirantes pioneers came a century later with Francisco Dias Velho, who founded the population of Nossa Senhora do Desterro. To maintain the settlement, from 1748 to 1756 the Portuguese government sent nearly 5 thousand settlers from the Azorean Islands and Madeira. In 1894, in homage to Marechal Floriano Peixoto, the city received its current name - Florianópolis.The city was first setlled by Spaniards in 1542, but by 1675 the Portuguese took control of the island. The captaincy of Santa Catarina was created in 1738 to serve as an outpost in the Portuguese-Spanish territorial wars.
During the 19th century a considerable immigration of non-Portuguese peoples occurred. Germans arrived as early as 1829 and came in great numbers during the 1850s, settling not only in Florianopolis, but also along the valleys in the mainland. Anita Garibaldi, wife of Giuseppe Garibaldi fought in the Farroupilha Revolution of 1839, an unsuccessful separatist rebellion in the early days of the empire. Later other waves of immigrants from Italy, Poland, Russia and Germany arrived in Santa Catarina to build new lives.