The aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, failed harvests and oppressive tax burdens made life difficult for people in Germany at the beginning of the 19th century.

Then came a tempting offer from the other side of the world — 77 hectares of land for every family willing to settle in Brazil. Plus livestock, seeds and agricultural equipment, as well as financial assistance for the first two years.

It's more than many German farmers, craftsmen and day laborers ever dared to hope for at home. Soon the first of them responded to the call to say goodbye to their old home.

In January 1824, a ship named Argus arrived at the port of Rio de Janeiro with around 280 people on board. It was the first ship carrying Germans "in the service of the Brazilian Empire." The new arrivals settled in the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, and on July 25, 1824, established the city of Sao Leopoldo, named after the Brazilian Emperor's Austrian wife Leopoldine. In fact, she had campaigned for the recruitment of Germans to Brazil.

The South American country had moved on from being a Portuguese colony just two years prior, and the decision by Emperor Dom Pedro I to take in the immigrants was not just a goodwill gesture. He wanted them to fight, if necessary, against Brazil's enemies, but above all he needed settlers to farm in the country's south.

"The end of slavery was in sight, and the question arose as to where to get new workers," said historian Stefan Rinke from the Institute for Latin American Studies at the........

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