Brazil

For other uses, see the country.

Federative Republic of Brazil República Federativa do Brasil
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Ordem e Progresso  (Portuguese) "Order and Progress"
Anthem: Brazilian National Anthem
Capital	Brasília
Largest city	São Paulo
Official languages	Portuguese
Demonym(s)	Brazilian
Government	Presidential Federal republic
• President	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
• Vice President	José Alencar Gomes da Silva
Independence  from Portugal
• Declared	September 7 1822
• Recognised	August 29 1825
• Republic	November 15 1889
• Water (%)	0.65
Population
• 2006 estimate	188,078,261 (5th)
• 2000 census	169,799,170
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
• Total	$1.594 trillion (9th)
• Per capita	$9,108 (68th)
GDP (nominal)	2006 estimate
• Total	$1.067 trillion (10th)
• Per capita	$5,717 (64th)
Gini (2003)	58 high inequality
HDI (2004)	0.792 high (69th)
Currency	Real (BRL)
Time zone	UTC−2 to −5 (officially −3) (BRT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−2 to −5 (BRST)
Calling code	55
ISO 3166 code	BR
Internet TLD	.br

Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Template:Lang-pt or [República Federativa do Brasil] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), ), is the largest and most populous country in Latin America, and the fifth largest in the world in both area and population. Its territory covers 8,514,877 km² between central South America and the Atlantic Ocean and it is the easternmost country of the Americas. It borders Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and the département of French Guiana to the north, Uruguay to the south, Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest, Bolivia and Peru to the west, and Colombia to the northwest. The only South American countries not bordered by Brazil are Ecuador and Chile. The Brazilian coastline covers 7,367 km to the east. Numerous archipelagos are part of the Brazilian territory, such as Penedos de São Pedro e São Paulo, Fernando de Noronha, Trindade e Martim Vaz and Atol das Rocas.

Tropical climate is predominant. In the south of the country, subtropical climate prevails. Brazil is traversed by the Equator and Tropic of Capricorn lines. It is home to varied fauna and flora and extensive natural resources.

Brazil was colonized by Portugal since 1500, and has been a sovereign nation since 1822. The republican system has been adopted since 1889, however its parliament dates back to 1824, when its first constitution was ratified. Its current Constitution defines Brazil as a Federal Republic . The Federation is formed by the indissoluble association of the States, the Federal District, and the Municipalities . There are currently 26 States and 5,564 Municipalities .

The Brazilian population tends to concentrate along the coastline in large urban centers. While Brazil has one of the largest populations in the world, population density is low and the inner continental land has large demographical empty spaces. It is a multiracial country composed of European, Amerindian, African and Asian elements, more often combined in the same individual than separated into different communities. The official language is Portuguese , and it is the only Portuguese-speaking country in all the Americas. Catholicism is the predominant religion, though Protestant communities have experienced significant growth in the last decades. Brazil has the largest Roman Catholic population in the world.

History

Main article: History of Brazil

Colonial Brazil

Main articles: Colonial Brazil and Indigenous peoples of Brazil

The territory of Brazil has been inhabited for at least 8,000 years by indigenous populations. It is generally accepted that Brazil was first discovered by Europeans on April 22, 1500, by Pedro Álvares Cabral, though this is contested by some.

Map of Brazil issued by the Portuguese explorers in 1519.

Until 1530 Portugal had little interest in Brazil, mainly due to the high profits gained through commerce with Indochina. This lack of interest led to several "invasions" by different countries, such as France in Rio de Janeiro and the Netherlands in Recife, so the Portuguese Crown devised a system to effectively occupy Brazil, without paying the costs. Through the Hereditary Captaincies system, Brazil was divided into strips of land that were donated to Portuguese noblemen, who were in turn responsible for the occupation of the land and answered to the king. Later, the Portuguese realized the system was a failure (only two lots were successfully occupied) and took direct control of the failed captaincies.

After the initial attempts to find gold and silver failed, the Portuguese colonists adopted an economy based on the production of agricultural goods that were to be exported to Europe. Tobacco, cotton, cachaça and some other agricultural goods were produced, but sugar became by far the most important Brazilian colonial product until the early 18th century. The first sugarcane farms were established in the mid-16th century and were the key for success of the captaincies of São Vicente and Pernambuco, leading sugarcane plantations to quickly spread to other coastal areas in colonial Brazil. The period of sugar-based economy (1530-c.1700) is known as the "Sugarcane Cycle" in Brazilian history. Even though Brazilian sugar was reputed as being of high quality, the industry faced a crisis during the 17th and 18th centuries when the Dutch and the French started producing sugar in the Antilles, located much closer to Europe, causing the sugar prices to fall.

During the 18th century, private explorers who called themselves the Bandeirantes found gold and diamond mines in the state of Minas Gerais. The exploration of these mines ended up financing the Portuguese Royal Court's debts for a long time. However, the predatory way in which such riches were explored by the Portuguese Crown harmed colonial Brazil with excessive taxes (at some point, taxes amounted up to one fifth of all the gold and diamonds mined in the country, or 20 percent of total production, namely the quinto). Some popular movements supporting independence came about against the abusive taxes established by the metropolis, such as the Tiradentes incident in 1789, but they were often dismissed with violence by Portugal. Gold production declined towards the end of the 18th century, starting a period of relative stagnation of the Brazilian hinterland.

The Empire of Brazil

Main articles: Brazilian Declaration of Independence and Empire of Brazil

In 1808, the Portuguese court, fleeing from Napoleon’s troops which had invaded the territory of Portugal, moved aboard a large fleet, escorted by British men-of-war, with all the government apparatus to its then-colony, Brazil, establishing themselves in the city of Rio de Janeiro. From there the Portuguese king ruled his huge empire for 13 years, and there he would have remained for the rest of his life if it were not for the turmoil aroused in Portugal due, among other reasons, to his long stay in Brazil after the end of Napoleon's reign.

After João VI returned to Portugal in 1821, his heir-apparent Pedro became regent of the Kingdom of Brazil. Following a series of political events and disputes, Brazil conquered its independence from Portugal on September 7 1822. On 12 October 1822, Dom Pedro was acclaimed as the first Emperor of Brazil. He was crowned on December 1 1822. Brazil was one of only two countries among the ‘new worlds’ that housed an effective legal monarchical state (the other was Mexico), for a period of almost 90 years.

Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil, 1873.

Organizing the new government quickly brought the differences between the Emperor and his leading subjects to the fore. In 1824, Pedro closed the Constituent Assembly that he had convened because he believed that body was endangering liberty. Pedro then produced a constitution modelled on that of Portugal (1822) and France (1814). It specified indirect elections and created the usual three branches of government but also added a fourth, the "moderating power", to be held by the Emperor. Pedro's government was considered economically and administratively inefficient. Political pressures eventually made the Emperor step down in April 7, 1831. He returned to Portugal leaving behind his five-year-old son Pedro. Brazil was then to be governed by regents from 1831 to 1840 until Pedro was old enough to assume his royal duties. The regency period was turbulent and marked by numerous local revolts.

In 23 July 1840 Pedro II was crowned Emperor. His government was highlighted by a substantial rise in coffee exports, the War of the Triple Alliance and the end of slave trade from Africa in 1850, although slavery in Brazilian territory would only be abolished in 1888. When slavery was finally abolished, a large influx of European immigrants took place. By the 1870s, the Emperor's grasp on domestic politics had started deteriorating in face of crisis with the Roman Catholic Church, the Army and the slaveholders. The Republican movement slowly gained strength. In the end, the empire fell because the dominant classes no longer needed it to protect their interests. Indeed, imperial centralization ran counter to their desire for local autonomy. By 1889 Pedro II had stepped down and the Republican system had been adopted.

The Republic

The Old Republic

Main article: History of Brazil (1889–1930)

Pedro II was deposed on 15 November, 1889 by a Republican military coup led by general Deodoro da Fonseca, who became the country’s first de facto president through military ascension. The country’s name became the Republic of the United States of Brazil (which in 1967 was changed to Federative Republic of Brazil). From 1889 to 1930, the government was a constitutional democracy, with the presidency alternating between the dominant states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. However, several requirements had to be fulfilled for people to be eligible to vote. Thus, democracy was actually restricted to a small portion of the population.

Populism and development

Main articles: History of Brazil (1930–1945) and History of Brazil (1945–1964)

A military junta took control in 1930. Getúlio Vargas took power soon after that, and would remain as dictatorial ruler (with a brief democratic period), until 1945. He returned to the Presidency in 1951 until his suicide in 1954. After 1930, the successive governments continued industrial and agriculture growth and development of the vast interior of Brazil.

Provisional President Getúlio Dorneles Vargas ruled as dictator (1930–1934), congressionally elected president (1934–1937), and again dictator (1937–1945), with the backing of his revolutionary coalition. He also served as a senator (1946–1951) and the popularly elected president (1951–1954). Vargas was a member of the gaucho landed oligarchy and had risen through the system of patronage and clientelism, but he had a fresh vision of how Brazilian politics could be shaped to support national development. He understood that with the breakdown of direct relations between workers and owners in the expanding factories of Brazil, workers could become the basis for a new form of political power—populism. Using such insights, he would gradually establish such mastery over the Brazilian political world that he would stay in power for fifteen years. Vargas was responsible for the entry of Brazil into the Second World War on the side of the Allies.

Juscelino Kubitschek's presidency (1956-1961) was marked by the campaign platform of "fifty years of progress in five". Kubitschek sought to achieve this progress with the aid of foreign investment, which in turn would be given generous incentives, such as profit remittances, low taxes, privileges for the importation of machinery, and donations of land. Kubitschek was responsible for the construction of Brasília, Brazil's ultra-modern capital.

Military Dictatorship

Main article: History of Brazil (1964–1985)

The military maintained power in Brazil from 1964 until March 1985 because of political struggles within the regime and Brazilian elite. Although most historians state that the coup was merely a consequence of the regime's behavior in the final years, others argue that the coup had been planned since 1954. Just as the Brazilian regime changes of 1889, 1930, and 1945 unleashed competing political forces and caused divisions within the military, so too did the regime change of 1964.

Redemocratization to Present

Main article: History of Brazil (1985–present)

Tancredo Neves was elected president in an indirect election in 1985 as the nation returned to civilian rule. He died before being sworn in, and the elected vice president, José Sarney, was sworn in as president in his place. Fernando Collor de Mello was the first elected president by popular vote after the military regime in December 1989. In September 1992 Collor was impeached for corruption. Acting vice-president Itamar Franco was sworn in as president. In elections held on October 3, 1994, Fernando Henrique Cardoso was elected president. Reelected in 1998, he guided Brazil through a wave of financial crises. In 2000, Cardoso ordered the declassifying of some military files concerning Operation Condor, a network of South American military dictatorships that kidnapped and assassinated political opponents.

Brazil’s most severe problem today is arguably its highly unequal distribution of wealth and income, one of the most extreme in the world. By the 1990s, more than one out of four Brazilians continued to survive on less than one dollar a day. These socio-economic contradictions helped elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2002.

Government

The Brazilian Federation is based on the indissoluble association of three autonomous political entities: the States, the Municipalities and the Federal District. A fourth entity is originated in the aforementioned association: the Union. There is no hierarchy among the political entities. The Federation is set on five fundamental principles: sovereignty, citizenship, dignity of the people, social value of labor, freedom of enterprise, and political pluralism.

The classic tripartite division of power, encompassing the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches under the checks and balances system, is formally established by the Constitution. The Executive and Legislative are organized independently in all four political entities, whilst the Judiciary is organized only in the Federal and State levels.

Brazil's current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Practically all governmental and administrative functions are exercised by authorities and agencies affiliated with the Executive. The form of government is Republican and democratic, and the system of government is Presidential. The President is Head of State and Head of Government of the Union and is elected for a four-year term, with the possibility of re-election for a second successive term. Currently the President of Brazil is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He was elected in October 27, 2002, and re-elected in October 29, 2006. The President appoints the Ministers of State and is assisted by them. Governors head the government in States and the Federal District, whilst Mayors are responsible for the government of Municipalities. Governors and Mayors are assisted by Secretaries.

The National Congress in Brasília, the capital of Brazil.

Legislative houses in each political entity are the main source of laws in Brazil. The National Congress is the Union’s Legislative. It is a bicameral house formed by the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate. Deputies are elected every four years in a system of proportional representation, and represent the people. Senators are elected for eight-year terms, and represent the interests of the States. The ordinary law making process is described in detail by the Federal Constitution. The Executive participates by analyzing and eventually vetoing laws before they are formally enacted. Vetoes can be overturned by the Legislative. On certain matters, the Executive and Judiciary authorities may have exclusive prerogatives for legislative initiative. In the States and Municipalities the Legislative is organized in unicameral houses named, respectively, Legislative Assemblies and Municipal Chambers. Legislative houses may pass legal judgment in exceptional cases, and have administrative functions related to their personnel.

The Supreme Federal Tribunal interior during trial.

Judiciary authorities exercise jurisdictional duties almost exclusively. They can also enact laws related to internal court proceedings. Also, the Judiciary has administrative functions regarding its personnel. The Union’s Judiciary relates to the Federal Justice system. States have their own Justice system, and so does the Federal District. Municipalities rely upon the State or Federal Justice depending on the lawsuit nature. Both the Federal and State Justice systems are interconnected when appeals reach Higher courts. By historical tradition Brazilian Justice is also divided according to the specialized courts, so there are also labor, military and election courts.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Brazil

Democracy was re-established in Brazil when the current Federal Constitution was promulgated. The President, Governors and Mayors are elected by direct vote in the Executive. Likewise, the Legislative members are also elected by direct vote. No judicial authorities are elected. Judges are appointed after passing rigorous entry exams.

Voting is compulsory for those aged 18 or older. For people older than 70 and aged between 16 and 18 voting is optional. Voting is also optional for illiterate people. Candidates must have Brazilian nationality, be affiliated with a political party, and fulfill minimum age requirements as well as basic administrative conditions. No formal education is required, as long as the candidate is alphabetized. Four political parties stand out among several small ones: PT, PSDB, PMDB and PFL.

Current Problems

Brazil faces an uphill task in organizing its public administrative structure. Reforms have been undertaken in each administration, with mixed results. Public institutions are widely regarded as inefficient. Unprepared and underpaid state personnel, bureaucracy, underinvestment in infrastructure, high levels of illiteracy, informality in employment relations, and rampant corruption are some of the major problems still requiring attention from authorities and reformists. Recent corruption scandals have further marred the reputation of public authorities in all branches of government, especially the Legislative.

Nonetheless, over the past 15 years Brazil has been improving in some macroeconomic and social aspects, such as the taming of a soaring hyperinflation (up to 80 percent a month in the late 1980s), the overcoming of the crisis that have hit financial markets all over the world in the late 1990s following the Asian financial crisis, and the full repayment of IMF's financial rescue packages in 2005, a decision that was shortly after followed by Argentina. Several reforms have helped raise per capita growth and the general quality of life in Brazil since the mid-1990s.

Law

Main article: Law of Brazil

File:Elleng3.jpg

Justice Ellen Gracie Northfleet, President of the Supreme Federal Tribunal.

The Superior Tribunal of Justice.

Brazilian Law is based on Roman-Germanic traditions. Thus, civil law concepts prevail over common law practices. Most of Brazilian law is codified, although non-codified statutes also represent a substantial part of the system, playing a complementary role. Court decisions set out interpretation guidelines; however, they are not binding towards other specific cases but in very few exceptional situations. Doctrinal works and comments of legal academic pundits have strong influence in law creation and in legal cases.

The Federal Constitution, promulgated on October 5, 1988, is the fundamental law of Brazil and it rules the system. All other legislation and court decisions must conform to its rules . As of April 2007, it has been through 53 Amendments. States also adopt their own Constitutions, but they must also not contradict the Federal Constitution . Municipalities and the Federal District do not have their own Constitutions; instead, they adopt "organic laws" ([leis orgânicas] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) .

Legislative entities are the main source of statutes, although in certain matters judiciary and executive bodies may also enact legal norms. The Federation enacts federal laws by means of the two houses of the National Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The States, Municipalities and Federal District enact, respectively, state, municipal and district laws through local legislative houses. There is no hierarchy among federal, state, municipal and district laws. To avoid possible contradictions, the Federal Constitution determines which law fields each entity may legislate upon. Therefore, a certain law may be deemed unconstitutional if it invades a subject or territory reserved for laws of another legislative house.

Jurisdiction is administered by the judiciary entities, although in rare cases, the Federal Constitution allows the Federal Senate to pass on legal judgments The Judiciary is organized in the Federal and State levels, though not in Municipalities. There are also specialized military, labor, and elections courts. The highest court is the Supreme Federal Tribunal.

The main criticism this system met over the last decades relates to the slow pace at which final decisions are passed. Lawsuits on appeal may take several years to resolve, and in some cases more than a decade to see definitive judgment.

States

Atlantic
Ocean

Pacific
Ocean

North

Northeast

Central-West

Southeast

South

Acre

Amazonas

Pará

Roraima

Amapá

Rondônia

Tocantins

Maranhão

Bahia

Piauí

Ceará

Rio Grande
do Norte

Paraíba

Pernambuco

Alagoas

Sergipe

Mato Grosso

Mato Grosso
do Sul

Federal
District

Goiás

Minas Gerais

São Paulo

Rio de Janeiro

Espírito Santo

Paraná

Santa Catarina

Rio Grande
do Sul

Argentina

Bolivia

Chile

Colombia

French Guiana

Guyana

Paraguay

Peru

Suriname

Uruguay

Venezuela

Main article: States of Brazil

Brazil is a federation consisting of twenty-six states ([estados] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) and one federal district ([Distrito Federal] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), making a total of twenty-seven "federate units".

The Brazilian states enjoy a significant autonomy of government, law making, public security and taxation. The government of a state is headed by a Governor ([governador] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), elected by popular vote, and also comprises its own legislative body ([assembléia legislativa] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). Each state is divided into municipalities ([municípios] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) with their own legislative council ([câmara de vereadores] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) and a mayor ([prefeito] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), which are autonomous and hierarchically independent from both federal and state government. A municipality may include other towns ([distritos] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) besides the municipal seat; those, however, have no separate government.

The judiciary is organized at the state and federal levels within districts called [foros] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help). The [foros] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) in the state judiciary are called [comarcas] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help). Each [comarca] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) may include one or several municipalities. In the federal judiciary the [foros] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) are called [seções judiciárias] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help). One [seção judiciária] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) corresponds to the area of one State or the Federal District, according to article 110 of the Federal Constitution. [Seções judiciárias] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) may be divided in smaller units, called [subseções judiciárias] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help).

See also:

• Regions of Brazil
• List of major cities in Brazil
• List of cities in Brazil

Geography

General map of Brazil

Main article: Geography of Brazil

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 the Brazilian population and its agricultural base. Along the Atlantic coast are also found several mountain ranges, reaching roughly 2,900 meters (9,500 ft) high.

The highest peak is the 3,014 meter (9,735 ft) Pico da Neblina (Misty Peak) in Guiana's highlands. Major rivers include the Amazon, the largest river in the world in flowing water volume, and the second-longest in the world; the Paraná and its major tributary, the Iguaçu River, where the Iguaçu Falls are located; the Negro, São Francisco, Xingu, Madeira and the Tapajós rivers.

Located mainly within the tropics, Brazil's climate has little seasonal variation. In southernmost Brazil, however, there is subtropical temperate weather, occasionally experiencing frost and snow in the higher regions. Precipitation is abundant in the humid Amazon Basin, but more arid landscapes are found as well, particularly in the northeast.

A number of islands in the Atlantic Ocean are part of Brazil:

• Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago
• Rocas Atoll
• Fernando de Noronha
• Trindade and Martim Vaz

Geographically, mainland Brazil is commonly divided into five regions: North, Northeast, Central-West, Southeast and South.

File:Floripa2006.png

Florianópolis, in Southern Brazil.

Recife, in Northeast Brazil.

• The North constitutes 45.27% of the surface of Brazil and it is the region with the lowest number of inhabitants. With the exception of Manaus, which hosts a tax-free industrial zone, and Belém, with the biggest metropolitan area of the region, it is a fairly unindustrialized and undeveloped region. It accommodates most of the largest rainforest of the world and many indigenous tribes.

• The Northeast has one third of Brazil's population. The region is culturally diverse, with roots from the Portuguese colonial period, Afro-Brazilian culture and some Brazilian Indian influence. It is also the poorest region of Brazil, and has long periods of dry climate. It is well-known for its beautiful coast. The most important cities are Recife, Salvador and Fortaleza.

• The Central-West has a low demographic density compared to the other regions, mostly because of the Pantanal, the world’s largest marshlands area, and a small part of the Amazon rainforest, in the northwest. However, much of the region is covered by Cerrado, the largest savanna in the world. It is also the most important area for agriculture in the country. The most important cities of this region are: Brasília (the capital), Goiânia, Campo Grande and Cuiabá.

• The Southeast is the richest and most densely populated region. It has more inhabitants than any other South American country, and hosts one of the largest megalopolis of the world, whereof the main cities are the country's two biggest ones; São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The region is very diverse, including the major business centre of São Paulo, the historical cities of Minas Gerais and its capital Belo Horizonte, the third-largest metropolitan area in Brazil, the world famous beaches of Rio de Janeiro, and the acclaimed coast of Espírito Santo.

• The South is the wealthiest region by GDP per capita and has the best standard of living in the country. It is also the coldest region of Brazil, with occasional occurrences of frosts and snow in some of the higher altitude regions. The region has been heavily settled by European immigrants, mainly of Italian, German, Portuguese and Slavic ancestry, and shows clear influences from these cultures. The most important cities of this region are: Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Blumenau, Novo Hamburgo, Londrina, Caxias do Sul, Pelotas, Passo Fundo and Joinville.

Climate

File:Brazil min temperature.PNG

Temperature map for May 2007 in Brazil.

Although 90% of the country is within the tropical zone, the climate of Brazil varies considerably from the mostly tropical North (the equator traverses the mouth of the Amazon) to temperate zones below the Tropic of Capricorn (23°27' S latitude), which crosses the country at the latitude of the city of São Paulo. Brazil has five climatic regions: equatorial, tropical, semiarid, highland tropical, and subtropical.

Temperatures along the equator are high, averaging above 25 °C, but not reaching the summer extremes of up to 40 °C in the temperate zones. There is little seasonal variation near the equator, although at times it can get cool enough for wearing a jacket, especially in the rain. At the country's other extreme, there are frosts south of the Tropic of Capricorn during the winter (June-August), and in some years there is snow in the mountainous areas, such as Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. Temperatures in the cities of São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, and Brasília are moderate (usually between 15 °C and 30 °C), despite their relatively low latitude, because of their elevation of approximately 1,000 meters. Rio de Janeiro, Recife, and Salvador on the coast have warm climates, with average temperatures ranging from 23 °C to 27 °C, but enjoy constant trade winds. The southern cities of Porto Alegre and Curitiba have a subtropical climate similar to that in parts of the United States and Europe, and temperatures can fall under zero degrees Celsius in winter.

Precipitation levels vary widely. Most of Brazil has moderate rainfall of between 1,000 and 1,500 millimeters a year, with most of the rain falling in the summer (between December and April) south of the Equator. The Amazon region is notoriously humid, with rainfall generally more than 2,000 millimeters per year and reaching as high as 3,000 millimeters in parts of the western Amazon and near Belém. It is less widely known that, despite high annual precipitation, the Amazon rain forest has a three- to five-month dry season, the timing of which varies according to location north or south of the equator.

Records Temperatures Data

Maximum Temperature: 114.26 °F(45,7 °C) Paratinga-Bahia

Low Temperature: 01,1 °F(-17,2 °C) Morro da Igreja-Santa Catarina

Economy

Itaipu Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric plant

File:Bovespa2007.PNG

Bovespa, the São Paulo Stock Exchange.

Main article: Economy of Brazil

See also: Economic history of Brazil

Possessing large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors, as well as a large labour 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 international financial and commodities markets, and is regarded as one of the group of four emerging economies called BRIC. Major export products include aircraft, coffee, automobiles, soybean, iron ore, orange juice, steel, ethanol fuel, textiles, footwear, corned beef and electrical equipment.

According to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Brazil has the ninth largest economy in the world by purchasing power parity (PPP) and tenth largest at market exchange rates. Brazil has a diversified middle income economy with wide variations in development levels. Most large industry is agglomerated in the Southern and South East states. The Northeast is the poorest region of Brazil, but it has attracted new investments in infrastructure for the tourism sector and intensive agricultural schemes.

Brazil's diverse industries range from automobiles, steel and petrochemicals to computers, aircraft, and consumer goods and amount to one-third of the GDP. With the increased economic stability provided by the Plano Real economic package, both Brazilian and multinational corporations have invested heavily in new equipment and technology, a large proportion of which has been purchased from American enterprises.

Brazil had pegged its currency, the real, to the U.S. dollar since 1994. However, after the East Asian financial crisis, the Russian default in 1998 and the series of adverse financial events that followed it, the Brazilian central bank has temporarily changed its monetary policy to a managed-float scheme, until definitively changing the exchange regime to free-float in January 1999.

Brazil has a diverse and sophisticated services industry as well. During the early 1990s, the banking sector amounted to as much as 16% of GDP. Although undergoing a major overhaul, Brazilian financial services industry provides local businesses with a wide range of products and is attracting numerous new market players, including U.S. financial institutions and overseas firms issuing and trading Brazilian Depositary Receipts (BDRs). The São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro stock exchanges are undergoing a merger.

One of the issues the Brazilian central bank ("Bacen") 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 over the past months. Nonetheless, foreign direct investment (FDI), related to long-term, less speculative investment in production, is estimated to be USD 193.8bn for 2007.

As a core country of both G20 industrial nations and G20 developing nations, Brazil has been expanding its influence in global economic negotiations, such as the currently debated Doha Round. Although Brazil's economy is progressive and regionally important, the problems of widespread state bureaucracy, corruption, poverty and illiteracy are still major barriers to furthering its development.

Environment

The Toco Toucan is a typical animal of the Brazilian rain forests.

The flowers of pequi (Caryocar brasiliense): It is a popular Brazilian fruit native to Cerrado vegetation.

Main article: Environment of Brazil

Brazil's immense area is subdivided into different ecosystems, which together sustain some of the world's greatest biodiversity. Due to the relatively explosive economic and demographic rise of the country in the last century, Brazil's ability to protect its environmental habitats has increasingly come under threat. Extensive logging in the nation's forests, particularly the Amazon, both official and unofficial, destroys areas the size of a small country each year, and potentially a diverse variety of interesting plants and animals.

With abundant fauna and flora, Brazil is home to many thousands of species, most of them still undiscovered. By 2020, it is estimated that at least 50% of the species resident in Brazil will become extinct.

As several of these specimens possess special characteristics, or are built in an interesting way, some of their capabilities may be copied for use in technology (see bionics). The revenues derived from such plans may still hold the key to preserve the country's animal and plant species.

There is general consensus, that Brazil has the highest number of both terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates of any country in the world. This high diversity of fauna can be explained by the sheer size of Brazil and also the great variation in ecosystems. The numbers published about Brazil's fauna diversity can vary from source to source, as taxonomists sometimes disagree about species classifications and information can be incomplete or out of date. Also new species continue to be discovered and, sadly, some species go extinct in the wild. Brazil has the highest primate diversity of any country in the world with 77 species and fresh water fish (over 3000 species), it claims the second-highest number of amphibian species, the third highest number of bird species and is ranked fifth in reptile species. Many of the species that are at risk live in threatened habitats such as the Atlantic Forest.

See also:

• Protected areas
• Mammals
• Birds
• Reptiles
• Amazon Rainforest vegetation
• Atlantic Forest vegetation
• Caatinga vegetation
• Cerrado vegetation
• Pantanal vegetation
• Endangered flora

Demographics

File:Brasília 2007.jpg

Brasília, the federal capital.

File:00040 copy.jpg

São Paulo is the largest Brazilian city and the financial capital of the country. It is one of the largest metropolises in the world.

File:Curitiba - 2.jpg

View of Curitiba, capital of Paraná state.

View of Ipanema, in Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil.

Main article: Demographics of Brazil

Brazil's population is very diverse, comprising many races and ethnic groups. In general, Brazilians trace their origins from four sources of migration:

1. Amerindians, Brazil's indigenous population, came from human groups that migrated from Siberia across the Bering Strait around 9000 BC.
2. Portuguese colonists and settlers, arriving from 1500 onward.
3. Diverse groups of immigrants from Europe, Asia and the Middle East arriving in Brazil during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
4. African slaves brought to the country from 1530 until the end of the slave trade in 1850.

It is believed that the Americas were settled by three migratory waves from Northern Asia. The Brazilian Indians are thought to be descended from the first wave of migrants, who arrived in the region around 9000 BC. The main Native Brazilian groups were the Tupi-Guarani, the Jê, the Arawaks and the Caraibas (Caribs). The Tupi-Guarani nation, originally from the Parana river basin and also the main of Native-Paraguayan nations, had spread all along the Brazilian coastline from South to North and got to be known by the Portuguese as "Os Índios da Língua Geral" ("The Indians of the General Language"); the Jê nation occupied the most of the interior of the country from Maranhão to Santa Catarina. The Arawaks and the Caribs, the last ones to get in contact with the Portuguese, lived in the North and Northwest of Brazil.

The European immigration to Brazil started in the sixteenth century, the vast majority of them coming from Portugal. In the first two centuries of colonization, 100,000 Portuguese arrived in Brazil (around 500 colonists per year). In the eighteenth century, 600,000 Portuguese arrived (6,000 per year). The first region to be settled by the Portuguese was Northeastern Brazil, followed by the Southeastern region. The interior began to be settled during the eighteenth century. The Portuguese were the only ethnic group to settle across Brazil.

The original Amerindian population of Brazil (between three and five million) has in large part been exterminated or assimilated into the Portuguese population. The Mamelucos (or Caboclos, a mixed race between Whites and Amerindians) have always been present in many parts of Brazil.

Another important ethnic group, Africans, first arrived as slaves. At first many came from Guinea, although by the end of the eighteenth century many had been taken from Angola and Mozambique (or, in Bahia, from Nigeria). By the time of the end of the slave trade in 1850, around three to five million slaves had been brought to Brazil – 37% of all slave traffic between Africa and the Americas. At the time of slavery a multiracial people came out through rapes or affairs between white masters and black or Indian slaves. Nowadays, there are still immigration waves coming from the African continent, from countries such as Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe.

The largest influx of European immigrants to Brazil occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Between 1870 and 1930, more than 5 million immigrants entered Brazil. These immigrants were divided in two groups: a part of them was sent to Southern Brazil to work as small farmers. However, the biggest part of the immigrants was sent to Southeastern Brazil to work in the coffee plantations. The immigrants sent to Southern Brazil were mainly Germans (starting in 1824, mainly from Rhineland-Palatinate, Pomerania, Hamburg, Westphalia, etc) and Italians (starting in 1875, mainly from the Veneto and Lombardia). In the South, the immigrants established rural communities that, still today, have a strong cultural connection with their ancestral homelands. In Southeastern Brazil most of the immigrants were Italians (mainly from the Veneto, Campania, Calabria and Lombardia), Portuguese (mainly from Beira Alta, Minho and Alto Trás-os-Montes), Spaniards (mainly from Galicia and Andalusia).

Notably, the early part of the twentieth century saw a large influx of Japanese (mainly from Honshū, Hokkaidō and Okinawa) and Arabs (from Lebanon and Syria). These Arab immigrants were -and still are- wrongly called "Turks" by many Brazilians because their original countries were still under Turkish rule back in the times Arab immigration to Brazil began. The number of actual Turks who immigrated to Brazil was in fact very small.

According to the Memorial do Imigrante, Brazil attracted nearly 5.5 million immigrants between 1870 and 1953: approximately 1,550,000 Italians, 1,470,000 Portuguese, 650,000 Spaniards, 210,000 Germans, 190,000 Japanese, 120,000 Poles and 650,000 of many other nationalities.

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 multiracial ancestry (Amerindians, Africans and Europeans)

According to Brazil's Constitution of 1988, racism is an unbailable crime and must be met with imprisonment. This is taken very seriously.

Ethnicity

View of the historic town of Ouro Preto, in Minas Gerais, perhaps the most notable sample of Baroque architecture in South America.

The Museum of the Portuguese Language, localized in the Estação da Luz, São Paulo.

The Southern Brazil settled by German immigrants.

The 2000 IBGE census found Brazil to consist of:

• 53.7% white
• 38.5% multiracial
•   6.2% black
•   0.5% Asian
•   0.4% Amerindian
•   0.7% unspecified

Languages

Main article: Languages of Brazil

See also: Brazilian Portuguese

Portuguese is the only official language of Brazil. It is spoken by nearly the entire population and is virtually the only language used in schools, newspapers, radio, TV and for all business and administrative purposes. Moreover, Brazil is the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas, making the language an important part of Brazilian national identity.

Portuguese as spoken in Brazil has developed independently of the European mother tongue, and it has undergone fewer phonetic changes than the language spoken in Portugal, thus it is often said that the "language of Camões", who lived in the fifteenth century, sounded closer to modern Brazilian Portuguese, than to the language spoken in Portugal today, and that his work is poetically more perfect when read the Brazilian way.

Minority languages

Many Amerindian languages are spoken daily in indigenous communities, primarily in Northern Brazil. Although many of these communities have significant contact with Portuguese, today there are incentives for teaching and preserving native languages. According to SIL International, 133 native American languages are currently endangered. Some of the largest indigenous language groups include Arawak, Carib, Macro-Gê and Tupi. In 2006, the City of Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira in the region of Cabeça do Cachorro (Northwestern region of the State of Amazonas), has adopted some indigenous languages as some of its other official languages along with Portuguese.

Other languages are spoken by descendants of immigrants, who are usually bilingual, in small rural communities in Southern Brazil. The most important are the Brazilian German dialects, such as Riograndenser Hunsrückisch and the Pomeranian language, and also the Talian, based on the Italian Venetian language. In the city of São Paulo, Japanese, Chinese and Korean can be heard in the immigrant neighborhoods, such as Liberdade.

English is also part of the official high school curriculum in most of the Brazilian states. Spanish is understood to varying degrees by many Brazilians, especially on the borders with Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The same applies to French which is spoken and understood in the cities bordering the French Guyana.

Education and Health

Education

The Federal Constitution of 1988 and the 1996 General Law of Education in Brazil (LDB) attributed to the Federal Government, states, Federal District and municipalities the responsibility of managing the Brazilian educational system, considering three educational public systems as a basis for collaboration between these federal systems. Each of these public educational systems is responsible for its own maintenance, which manages 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.

As set out by the Brazilian Constitution, the main responsibility for basic education is attributed to the states and municipalities. Hence, a historical feature of Brazilian basic education is its extremely decentralized nature, which gives great organizational autonomy to sub-national governments (27 states and 5,546 municipalities) in organizing their educational systems. Early childhood education, from 0-6 years, is under exclusive responsibility of the municipalities. Responsibility for compulsory primary education from 1st to 8th grades is shared between states and municipalities. Kindergarten and pre-school education are the responsibility of local levels of government, whereas secondary schools are under the responsibility of the states. Maintenance of the system, including salaries, the definition of teacher career structures and supervision of early childhood, primary, and secondary levels (which make up basic education) is decentralized, and these levels are responsible for defining their respective curriculum content.

Higher education starts with undergraduate or sequential courses, which may offer different specialization choices such as academic or vocational paths. Depending on the choice, students may improve their educational background with Stricto Sensu or Lato Sensu postgraduate courses. Higher education has three main purposes: teaching, research and extension, each with their own specific contribution to make to a particular course. Diplomas and certificates are proof of having passed through higher education.

In 2005, the literacy rate was at 88 percent of the population, and the youth literacy rate (ages 15–19) was 93.2 percent.

Health

According to Brazilian Government, the most serious health problems are (figures from 2002) :

• Childhood mortality: about 2.51% of childhood mortality, reaching 3.77% in the northeast region.
• Motherhood mortality: about 73.1 deaths per 100,000 born children in 2002.
• Mortality by non-transmissible illness: 151.7 deaths per 100,000 habitants caused by heart and circulatory diseases, along with 72.7 deaths per 100,000 habitants caused by cancer.
• Mortality caused by external causes (transportation, violence and suicide): 71.7 deaths per 100,000 habitants (14.9% of all deaths in the country), reaching 82.3 deaths in the southeast region.

Social issues

Entrenched between some of the richer areas of Rio de Janeiro, the Vidigal favela is testimony to high economic inequality within Brazil.

According to Fundação Getulio Vargas, in June 2006 the rate of poverty based into lacework was of 18.57% of the population - a 19.8% reduction during the previous four years. The rate of poverty is in part attributed to the country's economic inequality. Brazil ranks among the world's highest nations in the Gini coefficient index of inequality assessment.

Poverty in Brazil is most visually represented by the various favelas, slums in the country's metropolitan areas and remote upcountry regions that suffer with economic underdevelopment and below-par standards of living. There are also great differences in wealth and welfare between regions. While the Northeast region has the worst economic indicators nationwide due to low comprehensiveness and quality of public services, seasonal drought in rural areas, and widespread corruption, many cities in the South and Southeast enjoy First World socioeconomic standards. In 2005, Brazil had more than 15 million (10.2%) people that were considered to be illiterate.

A recent attempt to mitigate these problems is the "Fome Zero" hunger-eradication program implemented by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Part of this is "Bolsa Família", a major anti-poverty program that gives money directly to impoverished families.

Violence is also a part of life in Brazil, due to many social issues such as the blatant inequality between haves and have nots, which generates crime and petty thefts. Muggings, robberies and kidnappings are quite common in many cities, being even considered normal by many Brazilians.

Culture

The Niterói Contemporary Art Museum.

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The Ipiranga Museum.

Main article: Culture of Brazil

The core culture of Brazil is rooted in the culture of Portugal. The Portuguese colonists and immigrants brought the Roman Catholic faith, the Portuguese language and many traditions and customs that still influence the modern-day Brazilian culture.

As a multiracial country, its culture also absorbed other influences. The Amerindian peoples influenced Brazil's language and cuisine and the Africans, brought as slaves, largely influenced Brazil's music, dance, cuisine, religion and language. The Yoruba traditions, from nowadays Southwest Nigeria had made its way strongly into Afro-Brazilian religion and into Brazilian religiousness as a whole. Ancient Yoruba Orishas (gods) like Shango and Oxum are largely worshipped in Brazil, while samba and capoeira (musical rhythm and martial art, respectively) were originally contributions from the Bantu peoples from Angola.

Italian, German and other European immigrants came in large numbers and their influences are felt closer to the Southeast and South of Brazil.

Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

See also:

• Brazilian Carnival
• Brazilian skyscrapers
• Cuisine of Brazil
• List of Brazilians
• Literature of Brazil
• Music of Brazil
• Cinema of Brazil
• Sports in Brazil
• Religion in Brazil
• Holidays in Brazil

Religion

Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro

Main article: Religion in Brazil

According to the IBGE census:

• 74% are Roman Catholics (about 139 million).
• 15.4% are Protestants (about 28 million).
•   7.4% consider themselves agnostics, atheists or without a religion (about 12 million).
•   1.3% are followers of Spiritism (about 2.2 million).
•   0.3% are followers of African traditional religions such as Candomblé and Umbanda.
•   1.7% are members of other religions. Some of these are Jehovah's Witnesses (1,100,000), Latter-day Saints (600,000), Buddhism (215,000), Judaism (150,000), and Islam (27,000).
• Some practice a mixture of different religions, such as Catholicism, Candomblé, and indigenous American religions.

Brazil has the largest Roman Catholic population in the world.

Followers of Protestantism are rising in number. Until 1970, the majority of Brazilian Protestants were the ones of "traditional churches", mostly Lutherans, Presbyterians and Baptists. Since then, numbers of Pentecostal and Neopentecostal adherents have increased significantly.

Islam in Brazil was first practiced by African slaves. Today, the Muslim population in Brazil is made up of mostly Arab immigrants. A recent trend has been the increase in conversions to Islam among non-Arab citizens.

The largest population of Buddhists in Latin America lives in Brazil. This is mostly because Brazil has the largest Japanese population outside Japan.

Brazil appears as a devout country to outsiders yet in an IBOPE poll, about 8% of Brazilians declared themselves to be non-religious (with 2% declaring themselves atheists) and 58% of Catholics considered themselves "not very practicing" or "not at all practicing".

Sports

Main article: Sports in Brazil

Pelé, the most important soccer player of Brazil

The most popular sport by far in Brazil is football, and the country is renowned for the quality of its players, including Pelé, Garrincha, Jairzinho, Rivelino, Carlos Alberto, Roberto Dinamite, Edmundo, Zico, Sócrates, Romário, Ronaldo, Cafu, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho, Kaká, Juninho, Adriano, Diego, Robinho and Mancini. The Brazilian national football team (Seleção), has been victorious in the World Cup tournament a record five times, in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. They are widely regarded as the most talented national team, despite not winning the 2006 World Cup. Eight Brazilian clubs have won Copa Libertadores, the biggest South American clubs tournament. Those considered Brazil's 12 top football/soccer clubs (or "The Great Ones" as they are called in the country) are Clube Atlético Mineiro, Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas, Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, Clube de Regatas Flamengo, Fluminense Football Club, Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense, Sport Club Internacional, Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras, Santos Futebol Clube, São Paulo Futebol Clube and Clube de Regatas Vasco da Gama. They all currently play in the first division of Campeonato Brasileiro.

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Maracanã Stadium

Brazil has also achieved success in other international sports, mainly volleyball, basketball, tennis, gymnastics, judo.

In auto racing, Brazil has won the Formula 1 world championship eight times, with Emerson Fittipaldi (1972 and 1974), Nelson Piquet (1981, 1983 and 1987) and Ayrton Senna (1988, 1990 and 1991). The circuit located near Interlagos, Autódromo José Carlos Pace (named after another famous Brazilian racer) hosts the annual Brazilian Grand Prix, which has been in the Formula 1 calendar since 1973. In the 2007 Formula 1 season, Brazil is represented by Ferrari driver Felipe Massa and Honda's Rubens Barrichello. Massa has currently 4 race wins and Barrichello has 9. In the Indy 500, Brazil was victorious five times: Fittipaldi won in 1989 and 1993, Helio Castroneves in 2001 and 2002 and Gil de Ferran in 2003. In the World Sportscar Championship, Raul Boesel was champion in 1987. He also got close to winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1991, when he was second. In Moto GP, Brazil has the most experienced driver of all time, Alex Barros, with 259 starts (as of the 2007 French race) and 7 wins.

Recently, Brazil's volleyball team has achieved victory in almost every championship played.

Sports created in Brazil:

• Beach soccer, created in the beaches of Rio de Janeiro.
• Footvolley, a mix of football and volleyball, also played in sand.
• Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a variation of the Japanese Jiu-Jitsu.
• Vale tudo, a fight sport.
• Capoeira, a martial art of African heritage.
• Futsal, or Futebol de Salão, the official version of indoor soccer.

Science and technology

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VLS satellite launcher in Alcântara Space Center.

Main article: Science and technology in Brazil

Brazil has today a well developed plan of science and technology. Basic research is largely carried out in public universities and research centers and institutes, and partly in private institutions, especially in non-profit non-governmental organizations. Thanks to governmental regulations and incentives, investment in research and development has been growing in private universities and companies as well since the 1990s. Nonetheless, more than 90% of funding for basic research still comes from governmental sources.

Some of Brazil's most important technological hubs are located in São José dos Campos, Campinas, São Carlos, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Recife and São Paulo.

Brazilian information technology is comparable in quality to other countries that play a major role in the international market, much like India and China, but because Brazil possesses a larger internal market, the exports of software are still very limited. Catering for the internal market, Brazilian IT is particularly efficient in providing solutions to financial services, defense, CRM, eGovernment, and healthcare. The Brazilian government as an institution has plans to switch its operating systems, replacing the current proprietary software scheme for the free software scheme.

Major Brazilian scientific research institutions with worldwide recognition include the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, the Butantan Institute, the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica and the Brazilian Enterprise of Agropecuary Research.

The Brazilian Space Agency (Agência Espacial Brasileira) is the civilian authority in Brazil that is in charge of the country's burgeoning space program. It operates a rocket launch site at Alcântara, Maranhão.

International Rankings

Organization	Survey	Ranking
Heritage Foundation/The Wall Street Journal	Index of Economic Freedom, 2007	70 out of 157
The Economist	Worldwide Quality of Life Index, 2005	39 out of 111
The Economist	Democracy Index, 2007	42 out of 167
Reporters Without Borders	Worldwide Press Freedom Index, 2006	75 out of 168
Transparency International	Corruption Perceptions Index, 2006	70 out of 163
United Nations Development Programme	Human Development Index	69 out of 177

References

Further Reading

1. "Background Note: Brazil". US Department of State.
2. "The World Factbook: Brazil". Central Intelligence Agency.
3. Wagley, Charles (1963). An Introduction to Brazil. New York, New York: Columbia University Press.
4. The World Almanac and Book of Facts: Brazil. New York, NY: World Almanac Books. 2006.
5. Costa, João Cruz (1964). A History of Ideas in Brazil. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
6. Fausto, Boris (1999). A Concise History of Brazil. Cambridge: CUP.
7. Furtado, Celso. The Economic Growth of Brazil: A Survey from Colonial to Modern Times. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
8. Leal, Victor Nunes (1977). Coronelismo: The Municipality and Representative Government in Brazil. Cambridge: CUP.
9. Prado Júnior, Caio (1967). The Colonial Background of Modern Brazil. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
10. Schneider, Ronald (1995). Brazil: Culture and Politics in a New Economic Powerhouse. Boulder Westview.
11. Bethell, Leslie (1991). Colonial Brazil. Cambridge: CUP.
12. Alves, Maria Helena Moreira (1985). State and Opposition in Military Brazil. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
13. Amann, Edmund (1990). The Illusion of Stability: The Brazilian Economy under Cardoso. World Development (pp. 1805-1819).
14. Martinez-Lara, Javier (1995). Building Democracy in Brazil: The Politics of Constitutional Change. Macmillan.
15. Costa, João Cruz (1964). A History of Ideas in Brazil. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
16. Skidmore, Thomas E. (1974). Black Into White: Race and Nationality in Brazilian Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

External links

Government and administration

• Template:Pt icon Brasil.gov.br — Brazilian Federal Government web portal
• Template:Pt icon Presidência da República — The President of Brazil official website
• Template:Pt icon Câmara dos Deputados — House of Representatives website
• Template:Pt icon Senado Federal — Senate website

Information and statistics

• Template:En icon Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Brazil
• Template:En icon IBGE - Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica
• Template:Pt icon IPEA - Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada
• Template:En icon Library of Congress — A Country Study: Brazil
• Template:En icon Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Brazil"
• Template:En icon Template:Pt icon Brazilian National Library
• Template:En icon "Brazil". The World Factbook (2024 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency.

Economy and business

• Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce, Inc.
• "Brazil’s Presidential Election: Background on Economic Issues" from the Center for Economic and Policy Research

News and opinion

• The Council on Hemispheric Affairs An independent source of news and opinion on Latin America.
• Latin Lawyer A guide to Latin America's leading business law firms.
• Brazil, a biodiversity hotspot

Tourism

• Visit Brazil official website
• About Brazil Photography, History, Geography, Culture, Facts
• Accommodation in Brazil — Guide courtesy of the Brazilian embassy in London, UK
• Islands in Brazil A site about islands and beaches of Brazil
• Satellite images of Brazil's main cities

• Template:Wikitravel

Communities

• Template:En icon Template:Pt icon Brazilian Community Council of Australia (BraCCA)
• Template:En icon Template:Pt icon Florida Brasil (Brazilian Community in Florida)