[2] The advantageous geographic position of the island of Santa Catarina with the port of Laguna, which was very frequented by ships going from Europe to the Río de la Plata and the Pacific Ocean; and other political reasons determined King João V, in 1738, to form with the island and the adjacent continental land a separate captaincy or government, independent from the Captaincy of São Paulo, to which it had belonged until that time.

[2][3] With the Portuguese expansion to the south of the colony, to the Río de la Plata region, there was a need to form a new administrative unit of the kingdom to guarantee the possession of these lands.

[3] After 1807, with the creation of the general captaincy of São Pedro do Rio Grande (future Rio Grande do Sul), its borders comprised: To the north, the Saí Guaçu river (Joinville), to the south the Mampituba river (Torres), to the west the Serra Geral, which runs from north to south, closer to the coast and the east of the Atlantic Ocean.

Allied to this factor would be the precarious economic development of the region, the desire to put out to sea, but mainly the excess population which, as a result, caused food shortages at certain times.

[3] When war broke out between Portugal and Spain,[4] the island of Santa Catarina was poorly defended despite its strategic importance and abandoned by the Portuguese fleet, which did not want to endanger its ships.