city, southeastern Santa Catarina estado (state), southern Brazil, on the coastal plain, at 154 feet (47 metres) above sea level. Criciúma was made the seat of a municipality in 1925. Much of the city's income is derived from the mining and export of metallurgical coal. Criciúma is also the centre of Brazil's flourishing ceramic and floor tile industry. The city is connected by road to Florianópolis, the state capital, some 100 miles (160 km) north, and to Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul state. Criciúma has an airfield, and a railroad runs north to the nearby seaport of Laguna. Pop. (2005 est.) 166,600.