Geography

Geography

See also: List of countries and outlying territories by total area
Topography map of Brazil.

Brazil occupies a large area along the eastern coast of South America and includes much of the continent's interior region,[193] sharing land borders with Uruguay to the south; Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest; Bolivia and Peru to the west; Colombia to the northwest; Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and the French overseas department of French Guiana to the north.[9] Brazil shares a border with every country in South America, except for Ecuador and Chile. The factors of size, relief, climate, and natural resources make Brazil geographically diverse.[193] Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world—after Russia, Canada, China and the United States—and third largest in the Americas; with a total area of 8,511,965 square kilometers (3,286,488 sq mi), including 55,455 square kilometers (21,411 sq mi) of water.[9] It spans three time zones; from UTC-4, in the western states; to UTC-3, in the eastern states, the official time of Brazil, and UTC-2, in the Atlantic islands.[194]

Brazilian topography is also diverse, including hills, mountains, plains, highlands, and scrublands. Much of Brazil lies between 200 metres (660 ft) and 800 metres (2,600 ft) in elevation.[195] The main upland area occupies most of the southern half of the country.[195] The northwestern parts of the plateau consist of broad, rolling terrain broken by low, rounded hills.[195] The southeastern section is more rugged, with a complex mass of ridges and mountain ranges reaching elevations of up to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).[195] These ranges include the Mantiqueira Mountains, the Espinhaço Mountains, and the Serra do Mar.[195] In north, the Guiana Highlands form a major drainage divide, separating rivers that flow south into the Amazon Basin from rivers that empty into the Orinoco River system, in Venezuela, to the north. The highest point in Brazil is the Pico da Neblina at 3,014 metres (9,890 ft), and the lowest point is the Atlantic Ocean.[9] Brazil has a dense and complex system of rivers, one of the world's most extensive, with eight major drainage basins, all of which drain into the Atlantic Ocean.[196] Major rivers include the Amazon, the largest river in terms of volume of water, and the second-longest in the world; the Paraná and its major tributary, the Iguaçu River, where the Iguazu Falls are located; the Negro, São Francisco, Xingu, Madeira and the Tapajós rivers.[196]
Climate
Main article: Climate of Brazil
Amazon Rainforest, the largest tropical forest in the world.

The climate of Brazil comprises a wide range of weather conditions across a large geographic scale and varied topography, but the largest part of the country is tropical.[9] Analysed according to the Köppen system, Brazil hosts five major climatic subtypes: equatorial, tropical, semiarid, highland tropical, and temperate; ranging from equatorial rainforests in the north and semiarid deserts in the northeast, to temperate coniferous forests in the south and tropical savannas in central Brazil.[197] Many regions have starkly different microclimates.[198][199]

Snow in São Joaquim, Santa Catarina (south) and the tropical climate in Paraiba (north).

An equatorial climate characterizes much of northern Brazil. There is no real dry season, but there are some variations in the period of the year when most rain falls.[197] Temperatures average 25 °C (77 °F),[199] with more significant temperature variations between night and day than between seasons.[198] Over central Brazil rainfall is more seasonal, characteristic of a savanna climate.[198] This region is as large and extensive as the Amazon basin but, lying farther south and being at a moderate altitude, it has a very different climate.[197] In the interior northeast, seasonal rainfall is even more extreme. The semiarid climate region generally receives less than 800 millimetres (31 in) of rain,[200] most of which falls in a period of three to five months[201] and occasionally even more insufficiently, creating long periods of drought.[198] From south of Bahia, near São Paulo, the distribution of rainfall changes, where some appreciable rainfall occurs in all months.[197] The south has temperate conditions, with average temperatures below 18 °C (64 °F) and cool winters;[199] frosts are quite common, with occasional snowfalls in the higher areas.[197][198]
Wildlife
Main articles: Wildlife of Brazil and Deforestation in Brazil
The Macaw is a typical animal of Brazil. The country has one of the world's most diverse populations of birds and amphibians.

Brazil's large territory comprises different ecosystems, such as the Amazon Rainforest, recognized as having the greatest biological diversity in the world;[202] the Atlantic Forest and the Cerrado, which together sustain some of the world's greatest biodiversity.[203] In the south, the Araucaria pine forest grows under temperate conditions.[203] The rich wildlife of Brazil reflects the variety of natural habitats. Much of it, however, remains largely unknown, and new species are found on nearly a daily basis.[204]

Scientists estimate that the total number of plant and animal species in Brazil could approach four million.[203] Larger mammals include pumas, jaguars, ocelots, rare bush dogs, and foxes. Peccaries, tapirs, anteaters, sloths, opossums, and armadillos are abundant. Deer are plentiful in the south, and monkeys of many species abound in the northern rain forests.[203][205] Concern for the environment in Brazil has grown in response to global interest in environmental issues.[206]

Its natural heritage is extremely threatened by cattle ranching and agriculture, logging, mining, resettlement, oil and gas extraction, over-fishing, expansion of urban centres, wildlife trade, fire, climate change, dams and infrastructure, water contamination, and invasive species.[202] In many areas of the country, the natural environment is threatened by development.[207] Construction of highways has opened up previously remote areas for agriculture and settlement; dams have flooded valleys and inundated wildlife habitats; and mines have scarred and polluted the landscape.[206][208]
Economy
Main articles: Economy of Brazil and Economic history of Brazil
Economy of Brazil
Cidade de São Paulo.jpg
Currency Brazilian real (BRL, R$)
Fiscal year Calendar year
Trade organisations Unasul, WTO, Mercosur, G-20 and others
Statistics
GDP US$ 1.994 trillion (2008)
GDP growth 5.7% (2008)
GDP per capita US$ 12,105 (2008)
GDP by sector agriculture: 5.5% industry: 28.7% services: 65,8% (2007)[209]
Inflation (CPI) 4.46% (2008)[210]
Population
below poverty line 15.5% (2009)
Gini index 49.3 (2009)[211]
Labour force 134.6 million (2009 est.)
Unemployment 7.6% (2008)[212]
Main industries airplanes, steel; iron ore, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizers; consumer products, including footwear, toys, and electronics; food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, rail cars and locomotives, ships, and aircraft; electronics; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles, satellites, real state, brewing, tourism
External
Exports US$ 197.9 billion (2008)
Export goods transport equipment, iron ore, soybeans, footwear, coffee, autos, automotive parts, machinery, airplanes
Main export partners United States 15.8%, Argentina 9.9%, China 7.9%, Netherlands 5.4%, Germany 4.7% (2008*)
Imports US$ 173.2 billion (2008)[213]
Import goods machinery, electrical and transport equipment, chemical products, oil, automotive parts, electronics
Main import partners United States 11.9%, China 10.6%, Argentina 9,0%, Germany 7,5%, Nigeria 4.5%, Japan 4.0% (2008)
Public finances
Public debt US$ 103.2 billion; 6.4% of GDP (2008 est.)
Credit rating BBB- [214]
Foreign reserves US$ 287.5 billion (2009 est.)
Main data source: CIA World Fact Book
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with leaders of other nations in the BRIC economic group.

Brazil is the largest national economy in Latin America, the world's tenth largest economy at market exchange rates[3][215] and the ninth largest in purchasing power parity (PPP),[3][216] according to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank; with large and developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing and service sectors, as well as a large labor pool.[15] Brazilian exports are booming, creating a new generation of tycoons.[217] Major export products include aircraft, coffee, automobiles, soybean, iron ore, orange juice, steel, ethanol, textiles, footwear, corned beef and electrical equipment.[218] The country has been expanding its presence in international financial and commodities markets, and is regarded as one of the group of four emerging economies called BRIC.[219] The biggest investment boom in history is under way; in 2007, Brazil launched a four-year plan to spend $300 billion to modernize its road network, power plants and ports.[220]

Brazil had pegged its currency, the real, to the U.S. dollar in 1994. However, after the East Asian financial crisis, the Russian default in 1998[221] and the series of adverse financial events that followed it, the Brazilian central bank temporarily changed its monetary policy to a managed-float scheme while undergoing a currency crisis, until definitively changing the exchange regime to free-float in January 1999.[222] Brazil received an International Monetary Fund rescue package in mid-2002 in the amount of $30.4 billion,[223] a record sum at that time. The IMF loan was paid off early by Brazil's central bank in 2005 (the due date was scheduled for 2006).[224] One of the issues the Brazilian central bank is currently dealing with is the excess of speculative short-term capital inflows to the country in the past few months, which might explain in part the recent downfall of the U.S. dollar against the real in the period.[225] Nonetheless, foreign direct investment (FDI), related to long-term, less speculative investment in production, is estimated to be $193.8 billion for 2007.[226] Inflation monitoring and control currently plays a major role in Brazil's Central Bank activity in setting out short-term interest rates as a monetary policy measure.[227]
Components and energy
Main articles: Agriculture in Brazil, Industry in Brazil, and Energy policy of Brazil
Itaipu Dam, the world's second largest hydroelectric plant by energy generation.

Brazil's economy is diverse,[228] encompassing agriculture, industry, and a multitude of services.[217][229][230][231] The recent economic strength has been due in part to a global boom in commodities prices with exports from beef to soybeans soaring.[230][231] Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry, logging and fishing accounted for 5.1% of the gross domestic product in 2007.[232] A performance that puts agribusiness in a position of distinction in terms of Brazil's trade balance, in spite of trade barriers and subsidizing policies adopted by the developed countries.[233][234] The industry; from automobiles, steel and petrochemicals to computers, aircraft, and consumer durables; accounted for 30.8% of the gross domestic product.[232] Industry is highly concentrated geographically, with the leading concentrations in metropolitan São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Campinas, Porto Alegre, and Belo Horizonte. Technologically advanced industries are also highly concentrated in these locations.[235]

Brazil is the world's tenth largest energy consumer. Its energy comes from renewable sources, particularly hydroelectricity and ethanol; and nonrenewable sources, mainly oil and natural gas.[236] A global power in agriculture and natural resources, Brazil witnessed tremendous economic growth over the past three decades.[237] Brazil is expected to become a major oil producer and exporter, having recently made huge oil discoveries.[238][239][dead link][240][241] The governmental agencies responsible for the energy policy are the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the National Council for Energy Policy, the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels, and the National Agency of Electricity.[242][243]
Science and technology
Main article: Brazilian science and technology
An Embraer E-95 international airliner. Airplanes are one of the sophisticated products exported by Brazil.

Brazilian science effectively began in the first decades of the 19th century, when the Portuguese Royal Family, headed by John VI, arrived in Rio de Janeiro, escaping from the Napoleon's army invasion of Portugal in 1807. Until then, Brazil was a Portuguese colony, without universities, and a lack of cultural and scientific organizations, in stark contrast to the former American colonies of the Spanish Empire, which although having a largely illiterate population like Brazil and Portugal, had, however, a number of universities since the 16th century.

Technological research in Brazil is largely carried out in public universities and research institutes. Nonetheless, more than 73% of funding for basic research still comes from government sources.[244] Some of Brazil's most notable technological hubs are the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, the Butantan Institute, the Air Force's Aerospace Technical Center, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation and the INPE. The Brazilian Space Agency has the most advanced space program in Latin America, with significant capabilities to launch vehicles, launch sites and satellite manufacturing.[245]
A VLS model satellite launch vehicle entirely designed and produced in Brazil.

On 14 October 1997, the Brazilian Space Agency signed an agreement with NASA to provide parts for the ISS.[246] Uranium is enriched at the Resende Nuclear Fuel Factory to fuel the country's energy demands. Plans are on the way to build the country's first nuclear submarine.[247] [248] Brazil is one of the three countries in Latin America[249] with an operational Synchrotron Laboratory, a research facility on physics, chemistry, material science and life sciences.

Brazil has today a well developed organization of science and technology.

Basic research is largely carried out in public universities and research centers and institutes, and some in private institutions, particularly in non-profit non-governmental organizations. Thanks to governmental regulations and incentives, however, since the 1990s is has been growing in the private universities and companies, as well. Accordingly, more than 90% of funding for basic research comes from governmental sources.

Applied research, technology and engineering is also largely carried out in the university and research centers system, contrary-wise to other countries such as the United States, South Korea, Germany, Japan, etc. Companies such as Motorola, Samsung, Nokia and IBM have established large R&D&I centers in Brazil, starting with IBM, which had established an IBM Research Center in Brazil since the 1970s. One of the incentive factors for this, besides the relatively lower cost and high sophistication and skills of Brazilian technical manpower, has been the so-called Informatics Law, which exempts from certain taxes up to 5% of the gross revenue of high technology manufacturing companies in the fields of telecommunications, computers, digital electronics, etc. The Law has attracted annually more than 15 billion dollars of investment in Brazilian R&D&I. Multinational companies have also discovered that some products and technologies designed and developed by Brazilians have a nice competitivity and are appreciated by other countries, such as automobiles, aircraft, software, fiber optics, electronics, games, personal computers and so on.
Demographics
Main articles: Demographics of Brazil and Immigration to Brazil
The Brazilian people has a diversified ethnic origin. First roll from left to right: White (Portuguese, German, Italian and Arab, respectively) and Asian Brazilians. Second roll from left to right: African, Pardo (Cafuzo, Mulatto and Caboclo, respectively) and Native Brazilians.

The Brazilian people is made up of many racial and ethnic groups.[250] The last National Research for Sample of Domiciles (PNAD) census revealed the following: 49.4% of the population self-declared White, about 93 million; 42.3% self-declared Pardo (brown), about 80 million; 7.4% self-declared Black, about 13 million; 0.5% self-declared Asian, about 1 million; and 0.4% self-declared Amerindian, about 519,000.[251] Also, in 2007, the National Indian Foundation reported the presence of 67 different tribes yet living without contact with civilization, up from 40 in 2005. With this figure, now Brazil has the largest number of uncontacted peoples in the world, even more than the island of New Guinea.[252]

In over three centuries of Portuguese colonization, Brazil received more than 700,000 Portuguese settlers and 4 million African slaves.[253] The country has both the largest white population in the Tropics[254] and population of African descent outside of Africa.[255] Most Brazilians can trace their ancestry to the country's indigenous peoples, Portuguese settlers, and African slaves.[256] Since 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, miscegenation between these three groups took place. The Mestizo population (or Pardo as it is officialy called) is a broader multiracial category that includes Caboclos (descendants of Whites and Indians), Mulattoes (of Whites and Blacks) and Cafuzos (of Blacks and Indians).[257][dubious – discuss] The Caboclos forms the majority of the population in the Northern[258],[dubious – discuss] Northeastern[259][dubious – discuss] and Central-Western[260][dubious – discuss] regions. Bahia[261] and Maranhão[262] are the exception, as there is a large Mulatto population in both states.[dubious – discuss]
Race/Ethnicity (2007)
White 49.4%
Pardo (brown) 42.3%
Black 7.4%
Yellow (Asian) 0.5%
Native Brazilian 0.4%

Beginning in the 19th century, Brazil opened its borders to immigration: people from over 60 countries migrated to Brazil. About 5 million European and Asian immigrants arrived between 1870 and 1953, most of them from Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Germany. In the early 20th century, people from Japan and the Middle-East also arrived.[250] The immigrants and their descendants had an important impact in the ethnic make-up of the Brazilian population, and many diasporas are present in the country. Brazil has the largest population of Lebanese in the world, it has even more Lebanese people than Lebanon, estimates range from 7-10 million.[263] Brazil has the largest population of Italians outside Italy, with over 25 million Italian Brazilians,[264] the largest population of Japanese outside Japan, with 1.6 million Japanese Brazilians,[265] as well as the second largest population of Germans outside of Germany (after only the United States), with 12 million German Brazilians.[266] A characteristic of Brazil is the race mixing. Genetically, most Brazilians have some degree of European, African, and Amerindian ancestry.[267] The entire population has highly varied racial types and backgrounds, but without clear ethnic sub-divisions.[268]

The largest metropolitan areas in Brazil are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte, with 19.7, 11.4, and 5.4 million inhabitants respectively.[269] Almost all the capitals are the largest city in their corresponding state, except for Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, and Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina. There are also non-capital metropolitan areas in the states of São Paulo (Campinas, Santos and the Paraíba Valley), Minas Gerais (Steel Valley), Rio Grande do Sul (Sinos Valley), and Santa Catarina (Itajaí Valley).[270]
Largest cities of Brazil

São Paulo
São Paulo
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Goiânia
Goiânia
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte
Rank Municipality Federative unit Population
view • talk • edit

Recife
Recife
Brasília
Brasília
Salvador
Salvador
Campinas
Campinas
Curitiba
Curitiba
1 São Paulo São Paulo 10,990,249
2 Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro 6,161,047
3 Salvador Bahia 2,948,733
4 Brasília Federal District 2,557,158
5 Fortaleza Ceará 2,473,614
6 Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais 2,434,642
7 Curitiba Paraná 1,828,092
8 Manaus Amazonas 1,709,010
9 Recife Pernambuco 1,549,980
10 Porto Alegre Rio Grande do Sul 1,430,220
11 Belém Pará 1,424,124
12 Guarulhos São Paulo 1,279,202
13 Goiânia Goiás 1,265,394
14 Campinas São Paulo 1,056,644
15 São Luís Maranhão 986,826
16 São Gonçalo Rio de Janeiro 982,832
17 Maceió Alagoas 924,143
18 Duque de Caxias Rio de Janeiro 864,392
19 Nova Iguaçu Rio de Janeiro 855,500
20 São Bernardo do Campo São Paulo 801,580
Source: Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (2008 Population Estimates)
Language
Main articles: Languages of Brazil, Portuguese language, and Brazilian Portuguese
Museum of the Portuguese Language in São Paulo, the first language museum in the world.

Portuguese is the official language of Brazil.[11] It is spoken by almost all of the population and is virtually the only language used in newspapers, radio, television, and for all business and administrative purposes, with the exception of Nheengatu, an indigenous language of South America which was granted co-official status alongside Portuguese in the municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira.[271] Moreover, Brazil is the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas, making the language an important part of Brazilian national identity and giving it a national culture distinct from its Spanish-speaking neighbors.[272]

Brazilian Portuguese has had its own development, influenced by the Amerindian and African languages.[273] Due to this, the language is somewhat different from that spoken in Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries, mainly for phonological and orthographic differences. These differences are somewhat greater than those of American and British English.[273] As of 2008, the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Language Countries) got to an agreement in the reform of Portuguese as one international language, as opposed to two diverged dialects of the same language, in which participated all countries that have Portuguese as its official language. All CPLP countries were given a certain period of time to adjust to the necessary changes, between 2009 and 2014.[274]

Minority languages are spoken throughout the vast national territory. Some of these are spoken by indigenous peoples: 180 Amerindian languages are spoken in remote areas. Others are spoken by immigrants and their descendants.[273] There are important communities of speakers of German (mostly the Hunsrückisch, part of the High German languages) and Italian (mostly the Talian dialect, of Venetian origin) in the south of the country, both largely influenced by the Portuguese language.[272][273]
Religion
Main article: Religion in Brazil
Christ the Redeemer, selected as one of the "New Seven Wonders of the World" and symbol of Brazilian Christianity.

Religion is very diversified in Brazil, the constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right in practice.[13] The Roman Catholic Church is dominant, making Brazil the largest Catholic nation in the world.[275] The formal link between the state and the Roman Catholicism was severed in the late 19th century; however, the Catholic Church has continued to exert an influence on national affairs.[276]

The number of Protestants is rising. Until 1970, the majority of Brazilian Protestants were members of "traditional churches", mostly Lutherans, Presbyterians and Baptists. Since then, numbers of Pentecostal and Neopentecostal members have increased significantly.[276] Traditional African beliefs, brought by slaves, have blended with Catholicism to create Afro-Brazilian religions such as Macumba, Candomblé, and Umbanda.[275] Amerindians practice a wide variety of indigenous religions that vary from group to group.[276]

According to the 2000 Demographic Census: 73.89% of the population follow Roman Catholicism; 15.41% - Protestantism; 0.907% - other Christian denominations; 1.332% - Kardecist spiritism; 0.309% - traditional African religions; 0.126% - Buddhism; 0.051% - Judaism; 0.016% - Islam; 0.01% - Amerindian religions; 0.6% - other religions; 7.354% - Agnosticism, Atheism or without a religion.[11][277]
Education and health
Main articles: Education in Brazil and Health in Brazil
Federal University of Paraná, in Curitiba, is regarded as one of the oldest Brazilian university.

The Federal Constitution and the 1996 General Law of Education in Brazil (LDB) determine how the Federal Government, States, Federal District, and Municipalities will manage and organize their respective education systems.[13] Each of these public educational systems is responsible for their own maintenance, which manage funds as well as mechanisms and sources for financial resources. The new Constitution reserves 25% of state and municipal taxes and 18% of federal taxes for education.[278][279]

Private school programs are available to complement the public school system. In 2003, the literacy rate was 88% of the population, and the youth literacy rate (ages 15–19) was 93.2%.[278] Illiteracy is highest in the Northeast, around 27%, which has a high proportion of rural poor.[280] Although in the same year, Brazil's education had low levels of efficiency by 15-year-old students, particularly in the public school network.[281] Higher education starts with undergraduate or sequential courses, which may offer different specialist choices such as academic or vocational paths. Depending on choice, students may improve their educational background with Stricto Sensu or Lato Sensu postgraduate courses.[279][282]

The public health system is managed and provided by all levels of government, whilst private healthcare fulfils a complementary role.[13][283] There are several problems in the Brazilian health system. In 2006, these were infant mortality, child mortality, maternal mortality, mortality by non-transmissible illness and mortality caused by external causes: transportation, violence and suicide.[283][284] In 2006 nearly 50,000 people were murdered in Brazil.[285] More than 500,000 people have been killed by firearms in Brazil between 1979 and 2003, according to the UN report.[286]
Society
People and festivals
Main article: Brazilian people
Brazilian Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro, considered one of the greatest shows on Earth.

A wide variety of elements create a society with considerable ethnic complexity.[253] The core culture of Brazil derived from Portuguese culture, because of strong colonial ties with the Portuguese empire. Among other inheritances, the Portuguese introduced the Portuguese language, the Catholic religion and the colonial architectural styles.[287] This culture, however, was strongly influenced by African, Indigenous cultures and traditions, and other non-Portuguese European people.[253] Some aspects of Brazilian culture are contributions of Italian, German and other European immigrants; came in large numbers and their influences are felt closer to the South and Southeast of Brazil.[250] Amerindian peoples influenced Brazil's language and cuisine; and the Africans, brought to Brazil as slaves, influenced language, cuisine, music, dance and religion.[250][288] Darcy Ribeiro, in his O Povo Brasileiro, wrote that "Brazil emerges thus as a bud mutant, rescheduled from its own characteristics, but tied to the genetic Portuguese matrix, which unsuspected potential to grow and to be full were only realized here."[289]
Brazil has a social positive reputation around the globe. (Gisele Bündchen, model)

Brazilian people spends much of his time in meetings with other people.[290] "Papo" (chit-chat) and the offering of teas and coffees in the cities are commons.[290] Many of these meetings happen in traditional festivals: Brazil's cultural tradition extends to its music styles which include samba, bossa nova, forró, frevo, pagode and many others.[291] The festival of Carnival (Portuguese: Carnaval), with its spectacular street parades and vibrant music, has become one of the most potent images of Brazil;[292] an annual celebration held forty days before Easter and marks the beginning of Lent. Carnival is celebrated throughout Brazil, with distinct regional characteristics, but the most spectacular celebrations outside Rio de Janeiro take place in Salvador, Recife, and Olinda, although the nature of the events varies.[292] For its magical and historical sense to have originated with the pagans and Greeks, often the Brazilian carnival is called "Tamed Dionysus."[293] Other regional festivals include the Boi Bumbá and Festa Junina (June Festivals).[291][292]

The Brazilian people is known as socially happy.[290] Sérgio Buarque de Hollanda, one of the most important historian of the country, wrote that the Brazilians had a friendly character and this was one of its greatest virtues (which he developed the theory of "cordial man").[294][295] Gilberto Freyre praised the adaptability of the Portuguese in Brazil, while Buarque denounced the laxity with which they left the country for three centuries.[295] Brazil is also known for its sports stars and their top models. Models like Gisele Bundchen and Alessandra Ambrosio and the Brazil women's national football team make that Brazil has good international reputation.[296] These Brazilian reputation also have an impact worldwide. In Nation branding 2008, people in 20 different states were asked to assess the country's reputation in terms of culture, politics, exports, its people and its attractiveness to tourists, immigrants and investments. Brazil was placed in tenth position in the category Culture & Heritage among 15 countries; in category Tourism Brand, the country was in thirteenth place, and in the general category, was siding in the twenty-first, among 50 countries and above countries such as Russia, Iceland, Argentina and Mexico.[297]
Leisure in Brazil

Characterized by political populism and the national development project, the period from 1946 until 1964 in Brazil, witness, among other important changes, the rise of the automobile industry, the construction of roads throughout the country, the inauguration of the capital Brasilia, the adoption labor policies and the creation of a basic industry such as mining, oil extraction and steel.[298] Threatened by foreign cultural invasion, the field of culture tries to make the issues in Brazil.[299] Through the construction of "companies-clubs", economic development and industrial drives changes that allow greater access to arts and entertainment.[298] The "companies-clubs" creates the sports development, the creation of theaters and musicals.[300] During this period, the urban class grows, and therefore stands out as sports clubs, trips by car on the road network expands, holiday retreat in the fields or homes on the coast.[300] During the military dictatorship (1964-1985), urban growth, censorship, police repression and the practice of street changes the previous frame.[301] The popularization of TV helped to disintegrate the artistic events that sought to achieve the popular sectors and the military coup of 64 ensured the continuation of capitalist development in Brazil on a increasingly larger, increasing the concentration of income, choosing a conservative modernization from a coalition of classes that "playing ground the hypothesis of an antagonism between the Brazilian bourgeoisie on the one hand, and the international bourgeoisie and agrarian oligarchy of another."[302]

In the 70s, there is an increase in the number of families typical of the middle class who could buy televisions and cars, go to the movies, enjoy weekends in the field or beach and gradually replace the street trading by going to the mall.[303] With the military regime are inhibited the popular terms, the traditional festivals of some regions, the friendship with neighbors, play street children and leisure typical of the country.[304] The military know that the popular demonstrations and entertainment served as propaganda against the government and therefore initiated an extensive investment in sport, promoting and encouraging participation in Olympic and world football championships, building stadiums, fields and flooded public parks;[304] this practice, according to some Brazilian scholars, served to show the evolution of the nation before the totalitarian regime.[305] In the 90s and following, globalization offers shops, entertainment, leisure and tourism to the detriment of the secondary sector (industry)[306] and the Brazilians are giving greater importance to language learning and technology.[307]
Brazilian women
Main article: Women in Brazil

For a long time, the historiography considered the history of Brazil as a result almost exclusively from the actions of men, but this is changing. Brazilian scholars, influenced by Jacques Le Goff, Fernand Braudel and Georges Duby, among others, went to work with the notion that "History" can also be studied through the biography of ordinary people.[308] In this context, the role of the Brazilian woman has acquired a new dimension, showing rich, poor, slaves, free, literate or illiterate, women were present in all the important moments of Brazil.[308] Through this reconstruction of historiography, scholars emphasize the importance of women who fought in the War of Paraguay; who were from the street demanding the abolition of slavery; black women who for centuries have taken care of the kitchen, the houses and plantations of the whites; that of midwives helped in the birth of several children; the Indigeous women, as Kaigang Vanuire that helped end the constant conflicts between the people of his tribe] and the whites at the beginning of the twentieth century, that invaded Indigeous territory to build the Northwest Railroad.[308][309]
Culture
Main article: Culture of Brazil
Cuisine
This article may be too long to read and navigate comfortably. Please consider splitting content into sub-articles and using this article for a summary of the key points of the subject. (November 2009)
Main articles: Brazilian cuisine and List of Brazilian dishes
The national dish of Brazil, feijoada, contains black beans cooked with pork and many other elements.

Brazilian cuisine varies greatly by region. This diversity reflects the country's mix of native and immigrants. This has created a national cooking style marked by the preservation of regional differences.[292] Since the colonial period,[310] the Feijoada, directly linked to the presence of blacks in Brazilian land,[311] has been the country's national dish.[312][313] Luís da Câmara Cascudo wrote that, having been revised and adapted in each region of the country, it is no longer just a dish but has become a complete food.[314] Rice and beans, also present in the feijoada, and that are considered basic at Brazilians table, is highly regarded as healthy because it contains almost all amino acids, fiber and starches needed for our body.[315]
A Beijinho with its traditional clove, candy very popular in birthday parties in Brazil.

Brazil has a variety of candies that are traditionally used for birthdays, like brigadeiros ("brigadiers") and beijinhos ("kissies"). Other foods typically consumed in Brazilian parties are Coxinhas, Churrasco, Sfihas, Empanadas, Pinion (in Festa Junina). Specially in the state of Minas Gerais, are produced and consumed the famous cheese bun. The typical northern food is pato no tucupi tacacá, caruru, vatapá and maniçoba; the Northeast is known for moqueca (having seafood and palm oil), and acarajé (the salted muffin made with white beans, onion and fried in oil palm (dendê) which is filled with dried shrimp, red pepper), manioc, diz, hominy, dumpling and Quibebe. In the Southeast, it is common to eat Minas cheese, pizza, tutu, sushi, stew, polenta, and masses as macaroni, lasagna, gnocchi. In the South, these foods are also popular, but the churrasco is the typical meal of Rio Grande do Sul. Cachaça is the Brazil's native liquor, distilled from sugar cane, and it is the main ingredient in the national drink, the Caipirinha. Brazil is the world leader in production of green coffee (café);[316] because the Brazilian fertile soil, the country could produce and expand its market maker and often establish its economy with coffee since the Brazilian slavery,[317] whick created a whole culture around this national drink,[318][319] which became known as the "fever of coffee"[320] — and satirized in the novelty song "The Coffee Song" sung by Frank Sinatra and with lyrics by Bob Hilliard, interpreted as an analysis of the coffee industry,[321][322][323] and of the Brazilian economy and culture.[324][325][326][327]
Arts
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Main articles: Brazilian art and Academic art in Brazil
Arrufos (Temporary resentments), by Almeida Júnior, symbol of Brazilian realism.

The oldest known examples of Brazilian art are cave paintings in Serra da Capivara National Park in the state of Piauí, dating back to c. 13,000 BC.[328] In Minas Gerais and Goiás have been found more recent examples showing geometric patterns and animal forms.[329] One of the most sophisticated kinds of Pre-Columbian artifact found in Brazil is the sophisticated Marajoara pottery (c. 800–1400 AD), from cultures flourishing on Marajó Island and around the region of Santarém, and statuettes and cult objects, such as the small carved-stone amulets called muiraquitãs, also belong to these cultures.[330] Many of the Jesuits worked in Brazil under the influence of the Baroque, the dominant style in Brazil until the early 19th century.[331][332] The Baroque in Brazil flourished in Bahia and Pernambuco and Minas Gerais, generating valuable artists like Manuel da Costa Ataíde and especially the sculptor-architect Aleijadinho.[332]
Ismael Nery, Nude woman crouching , modernist work undated.

In 1816, the Missão Artística Francesa on Brazil created the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts and imposed a new concept of artistic education and was the basis for a revolution in Brazilian painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic arts, and crafts.[333] A few decades later, under the personal patronage of Emperor Dom Pedro II, who was engaged in an ambitious national project of modernization, the Academy reached its golden age, fostering the emergence of the first generation of Romantic painters, whence Victor Meirelles and Pedro Américo, that, among others, produced lasting visual symbols of national identity. It must be said that in Brazil Romanticism in painting took a peculiar shape, not showing the overwhelming dramaticism, fantasy, violence, or interest in death and the bizarre commonly seen in the European version, and because of its academic and palatial nature all excesses were eschewed.[334][335][336]

The beginning of the 20th century saw a struggle between old schools and modernist trends. Important modern artists Anita Malfatti and Tarsila do Amaral were both early pioneers in Brazilian art.[337] Both participated of The Week of Modern Art festival, held in São Paulo in 1922, that renewed the artistic and cultural environment of the city[338] and also presented artists such as Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, Vicente do Rego Monteiro, and Victor Brecheret.[339] Based on Brazilian folklore, many artists have committed themselves to mix it with the proposals of the European Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism. From Surrealism, arises Ismael Nery, concerned with metaphysical subjects where their pictures appear on imaginary scenarios and averse to any recognizable reference.[340] In the next generation, the modernist ideas of the Week of Modern Art have affected a moderate modernism that could enjoy the freedom of the strict academic agenda, with more features conventional method, best exemplified by the artist Candido Portinari, which was the official artist of the government in mid-century.[341] In our times, names such as Oscar Araripe, Beatriz Milhazes and Romero Britto are well acclaimed.
Literature and poetry
Main article: Brazilian literature
Machado de Assis, poet and novelist whose work extends for almost all literary genre, is widely regarded as the greatest Brazilian writer.[342]

Literature in Brazil dates back to the 16th century, to the writings of the first Portuguese explorers in Brazil, such as Pêro Vaz de Caminha, filled with descriptions of fauna, flora and natives that amazed Europeans that arrived in Brazil.[343] When Brazil became a colony of Portugal, there was the "Jesuit Literature", whose main name was father António Vieira, a Portuguese Jesuit who became one of the most celebrated Baroque writers of the Portuguese language. A few more explicitly literary examples survive from this period, José Basílio da Gama's epic poem celebrating the conquest of the Missions by the Portuguese, and the work of Gregório de Matos Guerra, who produced a sizable amount of satirical, religious, and secular poetry. Neoclassicism was widespread in Brazil during the mid-18th century, following the Italian style.

Brazil produced significant works in Romanticism — novelists like Joaquim Manuel de Macedo and José de Alencar wrote novels about love and pain. Alencar, in his long career, also treated Indigenous people as heroes in the Indigenist novels O Guarany, Iracema, Ubirajara.[344] The French Mal du siècle was also introduced in Brazil by the likes of Alvares de Azevedo, whose Lira dos Vinte Anos and Noite na Taverna are national symbols of the Ultra-romanticism. Gonçalves Dias, considered one of the national poets,[345] sang the Brazilian people and the Brazilian land on the famous Song of the Exile (1843), known to every Brazilian schoolchild.[345] Also dates from this period, although his work has hatched in Realism, Machado de Assis, whose works include Helena, Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, O alienista, Dom Casmurro, and who is widely regarded as the most important writer of Brazilian literature.[346][347] Assis is also highly respected around the world.[348][349]
My land has palm trees, Where the Thrush sings; The birds, that sing here, Do not sing as they do there.
—Gonçalves Dias.[350]

Monteiro Lobato, of the Pré-Modernism (literary moviment essentially Brazilian)[351], wrote mainly for children, often bringing Greek mythology and didacticism with Brazilian folklore, as we see in his short stories about Saci Pererê.[352] Some authors of this time, like Lima Barreto and Simões Lopes Neto and Olavo Bilac, already show a distinctly modern character; Augusto dos Anjos, whose works combine Symbolistic, Parnasian and even pre-modernist elements has a "paralytic language".[353] Mário de Andrade and Oswald de Andrade, from Modernism, combined nationalist tendencies with an interest in European modernism and created the Modern Art Week of 1922. João Cabral de Melo Neto and Carlos Drummond de Andrade are placed among the greatest Brazilian poets;[354] the first, post-modernist, concerned with the aesthetics and created a concise and elliptical and lean poetic, against sentimentality;[355] Drummond, in turn, was a supporter of "anti-poetic" where the language was born with the poem.[356] In Post-Modernism, João Guimarães Rosa wrote the novel Grande Sertão: Veredas, about Sertão[357], with a highly original style and almost a grammar of his own,[358] while Clarice Lispector wrote with an introspective and psychological probing of her characters.[359] Nowadays, Rubem Fonseca and Sérgio Sant'Anna, next to Nélida Piñon and Lygia Fagundes Telles, both members of Academia Brasileira de Letras, are important authors who write about contemporary issues sometimes with erotic or political tones. Ferreira Gullar and Manoel de Barros are two highly admired poets and the former has also been nominated for the Nobel Prize.[360]
Popular media
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Main articles: Cinema of Brazil, Television in Brazil, and Music of Brazil

The Cinema has a long tradition in Brazil, reaching back to the birth of the medium in the late 19th century, and gained a new level of international acclaim in recent years.[361] Bus 174 (2002), by José Padilha, about a bus hijacking, is the highest rated foreign film at Rotten Tomatoes.[362] O Pagador de Promessas (1962), directed by Anselmo Duarte, is one of the most acclaimed Brazilian film critics and the first (and only, to date) Brazilian film to won the Palme d'Or at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival.[363] Fernando Meirelles' City of God (2002), is the highest rated Brazilian film on the IMDb Top 250 list,[364] and Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (1964), from Cinema Novo and directed by Glauber Rocha, has been selected by Brazilian critics as the best film of all time several times, such as the 27th edition of Brazilian film magazine Contracampo.[365] The highest-grossing film in Brazilian cinema, taking 12 million viewers to cinemas, is Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976), directed by Bruno Barreto and basead on the novel of the same name by Jorge Amado.[366][367][368]
Sports
Main article: Sport in Brazil
Maracanã Stadium, at the Brazilian Championship, highest division of Brazilian football.

Football (Portuguese: futebol) is the most popular sport in Brazil.[292] Many famous Brazilian players such as Pele and Ronaldo are among the most well know players in the sport.The Brazilian national football team (Seleção) is currently ranked first in the world according to the FIFA World Rankings. They have been victorious in the World Cup tournament a record five times, in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002.[369] Basketball, volleyball, auto racing, and martial arts also attract large audiences. Though not as regularly followed or practiced as the previously mentioned sports, tennis, team handball, swimming, and gymnastics have found a growing number of enthusiasts over the last decades. Some sport variations have their origins in Brazil. Beach football,[370] futsal (official version of indoor football)[371] and footvolley emerged in the country as variations of football. In martial arts, Brazilians have developed Capoeira,[372] Vale tudo,[373] and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.[374] In auto racing, Brazilian drivers have won the Formula One world championship eight times: Emerson Fittipaldi in 1972 and 1974;[375] Nelson Piquet in 1981, 1983 and 1987;[376] and Ayrton Senna in 1988, 1990 and 1991.[377]

Brazil has undertaken the organization of large-scale sporting events: the country organized and hosted the 1950 FIFA World Cup[378] and is chosen to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup event.[379] The circuit located in São Paulo, Autódromo José Carlos Pace, hosts the annual Grand Prix of Brazil.[380] São Paulo organized the IV Pan American Games in 1963,[381] and Rio de Janeiro hosted the XV Pan American Games in 2007.[381] Brazil also tried for the fourth time to host the Summer Olympics with Rio de Janeiro candidature in 2016.[382] On the 2nd of October, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was selected to host the 2016 Olympic Games, which will be the first to be held in South America.[383]
See also
Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil portal
Main article: Outline of Brazil

* Index of Brazil-related articles

Bibliography
References

* Almeida, M. A. B. de Lazer e reclusão: contribuições da teoria da ação comunicativa. 2003. Dissertação (Master in Physical Education) – Faculdade de Educação Física, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, 2003.______.; GUTIERREZ, G. L. Políticas públicas de lazer e qualidade de vida: acontribuição do conceito de cultura para pensar as políticas de lazer. (67-84).
* Almeida, M. A. B. de. O Lazer no Brasil: Do nacional-desenvolvimentismo à globalização. Unicamp, 2005.
* Armitage, John. História do Brasil. Belo Horizonte: Itatiaia, 1981. (Portuguese)
* Barman, Roderick J. Citizen Emperor: Pedro II and the Making of Brazil, 1825–1891. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999. (English)
* Boxer, Charles R.. O império marítimo português 1415-1825. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2002. (Portuguese)
* Bueno, Eduardo. Brasil: uma História. 1. ed. São Paulo: Ática, 2003. (Portuguese)
* Calmon, Pedro. História da Civilização Brasileira. Brasília: Senado Federal, 2002. (Portuguese)
* Carvalho, José Murilo de. A Monarquia brasileira. Rio de Janeiro: Ao Livro Técnico, 1993. (Portuguese)
* Carvalho, José Murilo de. D. Pedro II. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2007. (Portuguese)
* Diégues, Fernando. A revolução brasílica. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2004. (Portuguese)
* Dohlnikoff, Miriam. Pacto imperial: origens do federalismo no Brasil do século XIX. São Paulo: Globo, 2005. (Portuguese)
* Enciclopédia Barsa. Volume 3: Aparelho digestivo – Battle y Ordóñez. Rio de Janeiro: Encyclopaedia Britannica do Brasil, 1987. (Portuguese)
* Enciclopédia Barsa. Volume 4: Batráquio – Camarão, Filipe. Rio de Janeiro: Encyclopaedia Britannica do Brasil, 1987. (Portuguese)
* Enciclopédia Barsa. Volume 10: Judô – Merúrio. Rio de Janeiro: Encyclopaedia Britannica do Brasil, 1987. (Portuguese)

* Ermakoff, George. Rio de Janeiro - 1840-1900 - Uma crônica fotográfica. Rio de Janeiro: G. Ermakoff Casa Editorial, 2006. (Portuguese)
* Fausto, Boris and Devoto, Fernando J. Brasil e Argentina: Um ensaio de história comparada (1850-2002), 2. ed. São Paulo: Editoria 34, 2005. (Portuguese)
* Gaspari, Elio. A ditadura envergonhada. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2002. (Portuguese)
* Gaspari, Elio. A ditadura escancarada. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2002. (Portuguese)
* Janotti, Aldo. O Marquês de Paraná: inícios de uma carreira política num momento crítico da história da nacionalidade. Belo Horizonte: Itatiaia, 1990. (Portuguese)
* Holanda, Sérgio Buarque de. O Brasil Monárquico: o processo de emancipação, 4. ed. São Paulo: Difusão Européia do Livro, 1976. (Portuguese)
* Lyra, Heitor. História de Dom Pedro II (1825 – 1891): Ascenção (1825 – 1870). v.1. Belo Horizonte: Itatiaia, 1977. (Portuguese)
* Lyra, Heitor. História de Dom Pedro II (1825 – 1891): Declínio (1880 – 1891). v.3. Belo Horizonte: Itatiaia, 1977. (Portuguese)
* Lustosa, Isabel. D. Pedro I: um herói sem nenhum caráter. São Paulo: Companhia das letras, 2006. (Portuguese)
* Mantega, G. Marxismo na economia brasileira. In: MORAES, J. (Org.). Historia do marxismo no Brasil II: os influxos teóricos. Campinas: Ed. da Unicamp, 1995.
* Marcellino, N. C. Lazer e educação. Campinas: Papirus, 1987.
* Munro, Dana Gardner. The Latin American Republics; A History. New York: D. Appleton, 1942. (English)
* Padilha, V. A industria cultural e a industria do lazer. In: MULLLER, A.; COSTA,L. Lazer e desenvolvimento regional. Santa Cruz do Sul: EDUNISC, 2002.
* Piccolo, Helga. Revista de História da Biblioteca Nacional. Year 3. Issue 37. Rio de Janeiro: SABIN, 2008. (Portuguese)
* Salles, Ricardo. Nostalgia Imperial. Rio de Janeiro: Topbooks, 1996. (Portuguese)
* Sant´anna, D. O prazer justificado: história e lazer (São Paulo, 1969/1979). São Paulo: Marco Zero, 1994
* Schwarcz, Lilia Moritz. As barbas do Imperador: D. Pedro II, um monarca nos trópicos. 2. Ed. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1998. (Portuguese)
* Skidmore, Thomas E. Uma História do Brasil.4. ed. São Paulo: Paz e Terra, 2003. (Portuguese)
* Souza, Adriana Barreto de. Duque de Caxias: o homem por trás do monumento. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2008. (Portuguese)
* Vainfas, Ronaldo. Dicionário do Brasil Imperial. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2002. (Portuguese)
* Vianna, Hélio. História do Brasil: período colonial, monarquia e república, 15. ed. São Paulo: Melhoramentos, 1994. (Portuguese)

Further reading

* Alves, Maria Helena Moreira (1985). State and Opposition in Military Brazil. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
* Amann, Edmund (1990). The Illusion of Stability: The Brazilian Economy under Cardoso. World Development (pp. 1805–1819).
* "Background Note: Brazil". US Department of State. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35640.htm.
* Bellos, Alex (2003). Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life. London: Bloomsbury Publishing plc.
* Bethell, Leslie (1991). Colonial Brazil. Cambridge: CUP.
* Costa, João Cruz (1964). A History of Ideas in Brazil. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
* Fausto, Boris (1999). A Concise History of Brazil. Cambridge: CUP.
* Furtado, Celso. The Economic Growth of Brazil: A Survey from Colonial to Modern Times. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
* Leal, Victor Nunes (1977). Coronelismo: The Municipality and Representative Government in Brazil. Cambridge: CUP.
* Malathronas, John (2003). Brazil: Life, Blood, Soul. Chichester: Summersdale.
* Martinez-Lara, Javier (1995). Building Democracy in Brazil: The Politics of Constitutional Change. Macmillan.
* Prado Júnior, Caio (1967). The Colonial Background of Modern Brazil. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
* Schneider, Ronald (1995). Brazil: Culture and Politics in a New Economic Powerhouse. Boulder Westview.
* Skidmore, Thomas E. (1974). Black Into White: Race and Nationality in Brazilian Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
* Wagley, Charles (1963). An Introduction to Brazil. New York, New York: Columbia University Press.
* The World Almanac and Book of Facts: Brazil. New York, NY: World Almanac Books. 2006.

Footnotes