DESTINATION COMING SOON TO RADAR TOURS!

The Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil) is the largest and most populous country in South America, and fifth largest in the world. Spanning a vast area between central South America and the Atlantic Ocean, it is the easternmost country of the Americas and it borders Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French department of French Guiana?every South American nation except for Ecuador and Chile. Named after brazilwood (pau-brasil), a tree highly valued by early colonists, Brazil is home to both extensive agricultural lands and rain forests. Exploiting vast natural resources and a large labor pool, it is South America's leading economic power and a regional leader. As a former colony of Portugal, Portuguese is its official language.

Culture

Brazil is a multiracial country, and its culture reflects the wide variety of ethnic groups found in the country: Amerindians, Portuguese, Africans, Italians, Germans, Spaniards, Japanese, Arabs, etc. As result of intense mixing of peoples, a rich mix of different cultures has been synthesized.

Music

Strong influences on the music of Brazil come from all parts of the world but there's a regional music very popular with influence from Africa, Europe, the natives of the Amazon rainforest and of other parts of the country. Samba is undoubtedly the most internationally famous form of Brazilian music, though bossa nova and other genres have also received international attention.

By the beginning of the 20th century, samba had begun to evolve out of choro in Rio de Janeiro's neighborhood, inhabited mostly by poor blacks descended from slaves. Samba's popularity grew through the 20th century, especially internationally, as awareness of samba de enredo (a type of samba played during Carnival) has grown.

The Afro-Brazilian sport of capoeira is never played without its own music, which is usually considered to be a call-and-response type of folk music. The main instruments of capoeira music include the berimbau, the pandeiro and the atabaque. Capoeira songs may be improvised on the spot, or they may be popular songs written by older mestres (teachers), and often include accounts of the history of capoeira, or the doings of great mestres.

Language

Portuguese is the official language, and is spoken by the entire population. Brazil is the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas, giving it a national culture distinct from its Spanish-speaking neighbors.

Portuguese is the only official language of Brazil, and there are few regional variances. It is virtually the only language used in schools, newspapers, radio and TV, and for all business and administrative purposes.

The language spoken in Brazil is slightly different from that spoken in Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries, with some phonological and orthographic differences, although mutual comprehension is not affected.

English is part of the official high school curriculum, but just a minority achieve any usable degree of fluency. Spanish is understood in various degrees by most Portuguese speakers, due to the similarities of the languages. Spanish is slightly common in the border of Brazil with Spanish-speaking countries and the mixture of Spanish and Portuguese is jocosely known as Portunhol or Portuñol. On July 8, 2005, it was decided that an important communication tool for its Mercosur relations and that Spanish should be adopted as a second language. It will be taught in secondary school which will benefit 10 to 12 million students whenever the new bill comes in effect.

Many minority languages are spoken daily throughout the vast national territory of Brazil. Half of these languages are spoken by indigenous peoples, mostly in Northern Brazil. The main indigenous languages are: Tupi, Guarani (also in Paraguay), Kaingang, Nadëb, Carajá, Caribe, Tucano, Arára, Terêna, Borôro, Apalaí, Canela and many others.

Still others are spoken by communities of descendants of immigrants, who are for the most part bilingual, in rural areas of Southern Brazil. These communities speak dialects of Italian, German, Polish or Japanese languages. The most dominant spoken Brazilian German dialect is Riograndenser Hunsrückisch, a Brazilian variation of the Hunsrückisch dialect of German. Talian is the main spoken Italian dialect in Brazil, and is based on the Venetian Language, which has its origin in Northern Italy.

German is spoken as a first language by 1,500,000 people, Italian is spoken by 500,000 Japanese by 400,000 and Korean language by 37,000. However, these non-Portuguese speaking immigrants communities in Brazil are in full decline, especially among teenagers, who learn primarily Portuguese.

Carnival

The Brazilian Carnival (spelled Carnaval in Portuguese) is an annual celebration held forty days before Easter (marking the start of Lent), in Brazil. It has some differences from its counterparts in Europe, as well there being variations across the large Brazilian territory. The Brazilian Carnival is known in Brazil simply as carnaval.

Despite the Catholic inspiration, Brazilian Carnival is celebrated more as a profane feast than a religious event. Its origins are European, by a kind of carnival called Introito (Latin for entrance). The entrudo, as it was known in Brazil, could have been characterized mainly as a joke: to throw water (and later, other things) at other people, to "purify the body". The entrudo was prohibited, without success, in the middle of the 19th Century, as it was considered violent by the upper classes (it is said that many people died from infections and other diseases, since even rotten fruits were sometimes thrown).

In the late 19th Century, the cordões (literally laces in Portuguese) were introduced in Rio de Janeiro, which consisted of groups of people who would walk on the streets playing music and dancing. The cordões were ancestors of the modern samba schools.

The blocos (blocks), another name for the cordões, are some of the current representations of the popular Brazilian Carnival. They are formed by people who dress in costumes according to certain themes, or to celebrate the carnival in specific ways. The schools of samba are truly organizations that work all year in order to prepare themselves for the samba schools parade.

The best-known Brazilian Carnival celebration takes place in Rio de Janeiro, with its samba schools, blocos and bandas occupying entire neighborhoods.

In Salvador and other cities of the Northeastern Region, there is another form of the Brazilian Carnival: the Trio Elétrico. A trio elétrico is an adapted truck, with giant speakers and a platform where musicians play songs of local genres such as Axé music and Maracatu (in Recife). Salvador Carnival is already onde of the most famous in all world, receveing a total of 2 million people, including turists and their own people.

During the Carnival, a fat man is elected to represent the role of Rei Momo, the "king" of Carnival, whose rule is one of fun instead of that of everyday authorities. The tradition of the king probably originates with the tradition of the king and queen of maracatu which in turn has its origins in the days of slavery in the northeast where some slaves who were leaders were given a greater level of responsibility.

History

Brazil is thought to have been inhabited for at least 10,000 years by semi-nomadic populations when the first Portuguese explorers, led by Pedro Álvares Cabral, disembarked in 1500. Over the next three centuries, it was resettled by the Portuguese and exploited mainly for brazilwood (Pau-Brasil) at first, and later for sugarcane (Cana-de-Açúcar) agriculture and gold mining. The colony's source of manpower was initially on enslaved Amerindians, and after 1550, mainly African slaves. In 1808, Queen Maria I of Portugal and her son and regent, the future João VI of Portugal, fleeing from Napoleon, relocated to Brazil with the royal family, nobles and government.

Though they returned to Portugal in 1821, the interlude led to the opening of commercial ports to the United Kingdom ? at the time isolated from most European ports by Napoleon ? and to the elevation of Brazil to the status of a united kingdom with Portugal's Crown. Then prince regent Dom Pedro I (later Pedro IV of Portugal) declared independence on 7 September 1822, establishing the independent Empire of Brazil. As the crown remained in the hands of the house of Bragança, this was more the severance of the Portuguese empire in two, than an independence movement as seen elsewhere in the Americas.

The Brazilian Empire was theoretically a democracy in the British style, although in practice, the emperor-premier-parliament balance of power more closely resembled the autocratic Austrian Empire. Slavery was abolished in 1888, through the "Golden Law", created by Princess Isabel, and intensive European immigration created the basis for industrialization. Pedro I was succeeded by his son, Pedro II ? who in old age was caught by a political dispute between the Army and the Cabinet, a crisis arising from the Paraguay War. In order to avoid a civil war between Army and Navy, Pedro II renounced the throne on 15 November 1889, when a federal republic was established by Field Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Brazil attracted over 5 million European and Japanese immigrants. That period also saw Brazil industrialize, further colonize, and develop its interior. Brazilian democracy was replaced by dictatorships three times ? 1930-1934 and 1937-1945 under Getúlio Vargas, and 1964-1985, under a succession of generals appointed by the military. Today, Brazil is internationally considered a democracy since 1985, specifically a presidential democracy, which was kept after a plebiscite in 1993 where voters had to choose between a presidential or parliamentary systems, whilst also choosing if Brazil should reinstate its constitutional monarchy.

Geography

Brazil is characterized by the extensive low-lying Amazon Rainforest in the north and a more open terrain of hills and low mountains to the south ? home to most of Brazil's population and its agricultural base. Along the Atlantic seacoast are also found several mountain ranges, reaching roughly 2,900 meters (9,500 ft) high. The highest peak is the Pico da Neblina at 2,994 meters (9,823 ft), in Guiana's highlands. Major rivers include the Amazon, the largest river in the world by volume, and the second-longest in the world; the Paraná and its major tributary, the Iguaçu River, where the impressive Iguaçu falls are located; the Rio Negro, São Francisco, Xingu, Madeira and the Tapajós rivers.

Situated on the equator, Brazil's climate is predominantly tropical, with little seasonal variation. Although the subtropical south is more temperate, it occasionally experiences frost and snow. Precipitation is abundant in the humid Amazon Basin, but more arid landscapes are found as well, particularly in the northeast.

Economy

Possessing large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors, as well as a large labor pool, Brazil's GDP (PPP) outweighs that of any other Latin American country, being the core economy of Mercosul. The country has been expanding its presence in world markets. Major export products include airplanes, coffee, vehicles, soybean, iron ore, orange juice, steel, textiles, footwear and electrical equipment.

According to the CIA World Factbook Brazil had the eleventh largest economy in the world at purchasing power parity in 2004. Brazil has a diversified middle income economy with wide variations in levels of development. Most large industry is concentrated in the south and south east. The Northeast is traditionally the poorest part of Brazil, but it is beginning to attract new investment.

Brazil has the most advanced industrial sector in Latin America. Accounting for one-third of GDP, Brazil's diverse industries range from automobiles, steel and petrochemicals to computers, aircraft, and consumer durables. With the increased economic stability provided by the Plano Real, Brazilian and multinational businesses have invested heavily in new equipment and technology, a large proportion of which has been purchased from U.S. firms. Brazil has a diverse and sophisticated services industry as well. During the early 1990s, the banking sector accounted for as much as 16% of GDP. Although undergoing a major overhaul, Brazil's financial services industry provides local businesses with a wide range of products and is attracting numerous new entrants, including U.S. financial firms. The São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro stock exchanges are undergoing a consolidation and the reinsurance sector is about to be privatized.

Demographics

The dominant ancestry among Brazilians is the Portuguese through the descendants of the early Portuguese colonists (from the 16th century onwards) and later Portuguese immigrants (19th and 20th centuries). The settlement of Portuguese started in Brazil after 1532, when the active process of colonization began since the founding of São Vicente. Until independence in 1822, the Portuguese were the only European nation that successfully settled in Brazil, and most of Brazil's culture is based on that of Portugal.

Other European countries had some presence during the Colonial period. The Dutch and the French tried to colonize Brazil during the 17th century, but their presence lasted only a few decades.

The original Amerindian population of Brazil (between 3-5 million) has in large part been exterminated or assimilated into the Portuguese population. Since the beginning of Brazil's colonization, intermarriage between the Portuguese and Native Brazilians has been common. Nowadays, there are 700,000 Native-Americans in Brazil, composing less than 1% of the national population.

Brazil has a large black population, descended from African slaves brought to the country from the 16th century until the 19th century. More than 3 million Africans were brought to Brazil until the end of slave trafficking in 1850. They were mainly from Angola, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, the Ivory Coast and São Tomé e Príncipe. The African population in Brazil has mixed substantially with the Portuguese, resulting in a large mixed-race population.

Beginning in the 19th century, the Brazilian government stimulated European immigration to substitute for the manpower of the former slaves. The first non-Portuguese immigrants to settle in Brazil were Germans, in 1824. In 1869 the first Polish immigrants settled in Brazil. However, strong European immigration to Brazil began only after 1875, when immigration from Italy, Portugal and Spain increased. According to the Memorial do Imigrante, between 1870 and 1953, Brazil attracted nearly 5.5 million immigrants, Italians (1,550,000), Portuguese (1,470,000), Spaniards (650,000), Germans (210,000), Japanese (190,000), Poles or Russian (120,000) and 650,000 of many other nationalities. Brazil is home to the largest Italian population outside of Italy, with 25 million Italians and Italian-descended Brazilians.

Starting in the early 20th century, Brazil also received a large number of Asians: Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese immigrants. The Japanese are the largest Asian minority in Brazil, and Japanese-Brazilians are the largest Japanese population outside of Japan (1.5 million). Significant immigration from the Middle-East (Lebanon and Syria) has also occurred.

Brazil's population is mostly concentrated along the coast, with a lower population density in the interior. The population of the southern states is mainly of European descent, while the majority of the inhabitants of the north and northeast are of mixed ancestry (Amerindians, Africans and Europeans).