| Official Name: | Municipality of Prudentópolis |
| Prudentópolis | |
| Nickname: | Pequena Ucrânia (Little Ukraine) |
| Settlement Type: | Municipality |
| Pushpin Map: | Brazil |
| Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Brazil |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: |  Brazil |
| Subdivision Type1: | Region |
| Subdivision Name1: | South |
| Subdivision Type2: | State |
| Subdivision Type3: | Mesoregion |
| Subdivision Name3: | Sudeste Paranaense |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Osnei Stadler |
| Leader Party: | UNIÃO |
| Established Title: | Founded |
| Established Date: | 12 August 1906 |
| Unit Pref: | metric |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Total Km2: | 2,247.141 |
| Population As Of: | 2022 |
| Population Total: | 49,393 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Population Demonym: | prudentopolitano |
| Timezone: | BRT |
| Utc Offset: | -3 |
| Coordinates: | -25.2128°N -50.9778°W |
| Elevation Footnotes: | [2] |
| Elevation M: | 744 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 84400-000 |
| Blank Name: | HDI (2010) |
| Blank Info: | 0.676 – medium[3] |
Prudentópolis (pronounced as /pt-BR/; Ukrainian: Прудентополіс|translit=Prudentopolis[4]) is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Paraná, in Southern Brazil. As of 2022, it had a population of 49,393 people.[5] It is the center of the Ukrainian community in Brazil. The Ukrainian city Ternopil is the sister city to Prudentópolis.
Moreover, the town is surrounded by 100 waterfalls, which also attracts many tourists.[6]
In 1882, the project of the construction of roads in central Paraná attracted the first families to the region. Firmo Mendes de Queiroz, descended from bandeirantes, settled there, living on agriculture. He built a chapel, giving birth to a place called "Vilinha" (Little Village) by its inhabitants. In 1894, the government decided to colonize the region of São João do Capanema. Cândido Ferreira de Abreu, the owner of this colony, decided to change its name to Prudentópolis, in honor to Brazilian president Prudente de Morais. In 1895, to settle this region, 1,500 Ukrainian families, about 8,000 people, came to Prudentópolis. This immigration continued until the 1920s.[7]
Most of the immigrants were from the Ternopil Oblast of Ukraine, and today the Ukrainian city Ternopil is sister city of Prudentópolis.[8]
Nowadays, Prudentópolis is home to the largest population of Ukrainian descent in Brazil (75% of the municipality's inhabitants). Other ethnic groups that make up its population are Italians, Poles and Germans.
The Ukrainian culture is still preserved by its inhabitants: the Ukrainian language is taught in local schools and used a liturgical language and there are typically Ukrainian constructions, is also the official language alongside Portuguese language.[9] [10] [11]
The Ukrainian Catholic particular church, which used the Byzantine Rite in Ukrainian language, has there the Catedral Ucraniana Nossa Senhora da Imaculada Conceição, cathedral episcopal see of an eparchy (diocese), the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Imaculada Conceição in Prudentópolis. It is (the sole) suffragan of the Metropolitan Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of São João Batista em Curitiba, who heads the only proper Eastern rite ecclesiastical province in Brazil.