BRAZILAndrea Pérez

Marc Imbernon

Portuguese colonization

The land now called Brazil was claimed by Portugal in April 1500, on the arrival of the Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral. The Portuguese encountered stone age natives divided into several tribes, most of whom spoke languages of the Tupi–Guarani family, and fought among themselves. Though the first settlement was founded in 1532, colonization was effectively begun in 1534, when King Dom João III of Portugal divided the territory into twelve hereditary captaincies.This arrangement proved problematic, and in 1549 the king assigned a Governor-General to administer the entire colony. The Portuguese assimilated some of the native tribes while others were enslaved or exterminated in long wars or by European diseases to which they had no immunity. By the mid-16th century, sugar had become Brazil's most important export and the Portuguese imported African slaves to cope with the increasing international demand.

History

Through wars against the French, the Portuguese slowly expanded their territory to the southeast, taking Rio de Janeiro in 1567, and to the northwest, taking São Luís in 1615. They sent military expeditions to the Amazon rainforest and conquered British and Dutch strongholds, founding villages and forts from 1669. In 1680 they reached the far south and founded Sacramento on the bank of the Rio de la Plata, in the Eastern Bank region.

At the end of the 17th century, sugar exports started to decline but beginning in the 1690s, the discovery of gold by explorers in the region that would later be called Minas Gerais in current Mato Grosso and Goiás, saved the colony from imminent collapse. From all over Brazil, as well as from Portugal, thousands of immigrants went to the mines. The Spanish tried to prevent Portuguese expansion into the territory that belonged to them according to the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, and succeeded in conquering the Eastern Bank in 1777. However, this was in vain as the Treaty of San Ildefonso, signed in the same year, confirmed Portuguese sovereignty over all lands proceeding from its territorial expansion, thus creating most of the current Brazilian borders.

In 1808, the Portuguese royal family and the majority of the Portuguese nobility, fleeing the troops of the French Emperor Napoleon I that were invading Portugal and most of Central Europe, established themselves in the city of Rio de Janeiro, which thus became the seat of the entire Portuguese Empire. In 1815 Dom João VI, then regent on behalf of his incapacitated mother, elevated Brazil from colony to sovereign Kingdom united with Portugal. In 1809 the Portuguese invaded French Guiana and in 1816 the Eastern Bank, subsequently renamed Cisplatina.

Independence and empire

Pedro I abdicated on 7 April 1831 and went to Europe to reclaim his daughter's crown which had been usurped by his brother, leaving behind his five-year-old son and heir, who became Dom Pedro II. As the new emperor could not exert his constitutional powers until he reached maturity, a regency was created. Disputes between political factions led to rebellions and an unstable, almost anarchical, regency. The rebellious factions, however, were not in revolt against the monarchy, even though some declared the secession of the provinces as independent republics, but only so long as Pedro II was a minor. Because of this, he was prematurely declared of age and "Brazil was to enjoy nearly half a century of internal peace and rapid material progress.“

Despite the loss of Cisplatina in 1828 when it became an independent nation known as Uruguay, Brazil won three international wars during the 58-year reign of Pedro II and witnessed the consolidation of representative democracy, mainly because of successive elections and unrestricted freedom of the press. Most importantly, slavery was extinguished after a slow but steady process that began with the end of the international traffic in slaves in 1850 and ended with the complete abolition of slavery in 1888.

Early republic

República Velha, Estado Novo, and Brazilian Second Republic The "early republican government was little more than a military dictatorship, with army dominating affairs both at Rio de Janeiro and in the states. Freedom of the press disappeared and elections were controlled by those in power". In 1894, following severe military and economic crises, the republican civilians rose to power.

In foreign policy, the success in resolving border disputes with neighboring countries in the early years of the republican period, was followed by a failed attempt to exert a prominent role in the League of Nations, after its involvement in World War I. In World War II Brazil remained neutral until August 1942, when the country entered on the allied side, after suffering retaliations undertaken by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, due to the country having severed diplomatic relations with the them in the wake of the Pan-American Conference.

Little by little, a cycle of general instability sparked by these crises undermined the regime to such an extent, that by 1930 in the wake of the murder of his running mate, it was possible for the defeated opposition presidential candidate Getúlio Vargas supported by most of the military, led a successful revolt. Vargas was supposed to assume power temporarily, but instead closed the Congress, extinguished the Constitution, ruled with emergency powers and replaced the states' governors with his supporters. Between 1932 and 1938, 3 major attempts to remove Vargas from power occurred. The second one being the 1935 communist revolt which served as an excuse for the preclusion of elections, put into effect by a coup d'état in 1937, which made the Vargas regime a full dictatorship, noted for its brutality and censorship of the press.

With the allied victory in 1945 and the end of the Nazi-fascist regimes in Europe, Vargas's position became unsustainable and he was swiftly overthrown in another military coup, with Democracy being "reinstated" by the same army that had discontinued it 15 years before. Vargas committed suicide in August 1954 amid a political crisis, after having returned to power by election in 1950.

Contemporary era

Several brief interim governments succeeded after Vargas's suicide. Juscelino Kubitschek became president in 1956 and assumed a conciliatory posture towards the political opposition that allowed him to govern without major crises. The economy and industrial sector grew remarkably, but his greatest achievement was the construction of the new capital city of Brasília, inaugurated in 1960. His successor was Jânio Quadros, who resigned in 1961 less than a year after taking office. His vice-president, João Goulart, assumed the presidency, but aroused strong political opposition and was deposed in April 1964 by a coup that resulted in a military regime.The new regime was intended to be transitory but it gradually closed in on itself and became a full dictatorship with the promulgation of the Fifth Institutional Act in 1968. The repression of the dictatorship's opponents, including urban guerrillas, was harsh, but not as brutal as in other Latin American countries. Because of the extraordinary economic growth, known as an "economic miracle", the regime reached its highest level of popularity in the years of repression.

General Ernesto Geisel became president in 1974 and began his project of re-democratization through a process that he said would be "slow, gradual and safe." Geisel ended the military indiscipline that had plagued the country since 1889, as well as the torture of political prisoners, censorship of the press, and finally, the dictatorship itself, after he extinguished the Fifth Institutional Act. However, the military regime continued, under his chosen successor General João Figueiredo, to complete the transition to full democracy.

The civilians fully returned to power in 1985 when José Sarney assumed the presidency but, by the end of his term, he had become extremely unpopular because of the uncontrollable economic crisis and unusually high inflation. Sarney's unsuccessful government allowed the election in 1989 of the almost unknown Fernando Collor, who was subsequently impeached by the National Congress in 1992. Collor was succeeded by his Vice-President Itamar Franco, who appointed Fernando Henrique Cardoso as Minister of Finance. Cardoso produced a highly successful Plano Real. that granted stability to the Brazilian economy and he was elected as president in 1994 and again in 1998. The peaceful transition of power to Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, who was elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006, proved that Brazil had finally succeeded in achieving its long-sought political stability. Lula was succeeded in 2011 by the current president, Dilma Rousseff, the country's first woman president and as such one of the most powerful women in the world.

Brazil occupies a large area along the eastern coast of South America and includes much of the continent's interior, sharing land borders with Uruguay to the south; Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest; Bolivia and Peru to the west; Colombia to the northwest; and Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and the French overseas department of French Guiana to the north. It shares a border with every country in South America except for Ecuador and Chile.Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, and third largest in the Americas, with a total area of 8,514,876.599 km2.

Climate

The climate of Brazil comprises a wide range of weather conditions across a large area and varied topography, but most of the country is tropical. According to the Köppen system, Brazil hosts five major climatic subtypes: equatorial, tropical, semiarid, highland tropical, temperate, and subtropical. The different climatic conditions produce environments 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. Many regions have starkly different microclimates.

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. Temperatures average 25 °C, with more significant temperature variation between night and day than between seasons.

The core culture of Brazil is derived from Portuguese culture, because of its strong colonial ties with the Portuguese empire. Among other influences, the Portuguese introduced the Portuguese language, Roman Catholicism and colonial architectural styles. The culture was, however, also strongly influenced by African, indigenous and non-Portuguese European cultures and traditions.Some aspects of Brazilian culture were influenced by the contributions of Italian, German and other European as well Japanese and Arab immigrants who arrived in large numbers in the South and Southeast of Brazil. The indigenous Amerindians influenced Brazil's language and cuisine; and the Africans influenced language, cuisine, music, dance and religion.Brazilian art has developed since the 16th century into different styles that range from Baroque to Romanticism, Modernism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism and Abstractionism.

Culture

Music

The music of Brazil was formed mainly from the fusion of European and African elements. Until the nineteenth century Portugal was the gateway to most of the influences that built Brazilian music, although many of these elements were not of Portuguese origin, but generally European. The first was José Maurício Nunes Garcia, author of sacred pieces with influence of Viennese classicism. The major contribution of the African element was the rhythmic diversity and some dances and instruments that had a bigger role in the development of popular music and folk, flourishing especially in the twentieth century.

Cuisine

Brazil has a variety of candies such as brigadeiros , cocada , beijinhos and romeu e julieta . Peanut is used to make paçoca, rapadura and pé-de-moleque. Local common fruits like açaí, cupuaçu, mango, papaya, cocoa, cashew, guava, orange, passionfruit, pineapple, and hog plum are turned in juices and used to make chocolates, popsicles and ice cream.Brazilian cuisine varies greatly by region, reflecting the country's mix of native and immigrant populations. This has created a national cuisine marked by the preservation of regional differences. Examples are Feijoada, considered the country's national dish and regional foods such as vatapá, moqueca, polenta and acarajé.

But the everyday meal consist mostly of rice and beans with beef and salad. Its common to mix it with cassava flour. Fried potatoes, fried cassava, fried banana, fried meat and fried cheese are very often eaten in lunch and served in most typical restaurants.The national beverage is coffee and cachaça is Brazil's native liquor. Cachaça is distilled from sugar cane and is the main ingredient in the national cocktail, Caipirinha.

Sports

Volleyball, basketball, auto racing, and martial arts also attract large audiences. Brazil men's national volleyball team, for example, currently holds the titles of the World League, World Grand Champions Cup, World Championship and the World Cup.The most popular sport in Brazil is football. The Brazilian national football team is ranked among the best in the world according to the FIFA World Rankings, and has won the World Cuptournament a record five times.Others sports practiced in Brazil are 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,, futsal and footvolley emerged in Brazil as variations of football. In martial arts, Brazilians developed Capoeira, Vale tudo,and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.In auto racing, three Brazilian drivers have won the Formula One world championship eight times.Brazil has hosted several high-profile international sporting events, like the 1950 FIFA World Cup and has been chosen to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The São Paulo circuit,Autódromo José Carlos Pace, hosts the annual Grand Prix of Brazil.São Paulo organized the IV Pan American Games in 1963, and Rio de Janeiro hosted the XV Pan American Games in 2007. On 2 October 2009, Rio de Janeiro was selected to host the 2016 Olympic Games and 2016 Paralympic Games, the first to be held in South America and second in Latin America after Mexico City. Further, the country hosted the FIBA Basketball World Cups in 1954 and 1963. At the 1963 event, the Brazil national basketball team won one of its two world championship titles.

Components and energy

Brazil's economy is diverse, encompassing agriculture, industry, and many services.The recent economic strength has been due in part to a global boom in commodities prices with exports from beef to soybeans soaring. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry, logging and fishing accounted for 5.1% of the gross domestic product in 2007, a performance that puts agribusiness in a position of distinction in terms of Brazil's trade balance.

Science and technology

Technological research in Brazil is largely carried out in public universities and research institutes, and more than 73% of funding for basic research comes from government sources. 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 Corporationand the INPE. The Brazilian Space Agency has the most advanced space program in Latin America.

Infrastructure

Health

The Brazilian public health system, the National Health System , is managed and provided by all levels of government. The public health services are universal and available to all citizens of the country for free. However, 45.5 million Brazilians have contracted a private health plan.According to the Brazilian Government, the most serious health problems are:

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 inhabitants caused by heart and circulatory diseases, along with 72.7 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants caused by cancer.

Mortality caused by external causes (transportation, violence and suicide): 71.7 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants , reaching 82.3 deaths in the southeast region.

Education

The Federal Constitution and the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education determine that the Federal Government, States, Federal District and municipalities must manage and organize their respective education systems. Each of these public educational systems is responsible for its own maintenance, which manages funds as well as the mechanisms and funding sources. The new constitution reserves 25% of the state budget and 18% of federal taxes and municipal taxes for education.

According to the IBGE, in 2011, the literacy rate of the population was 90.4%, meaning that 13 million people are still illiterate in the country; functional illiteracy has reached 21.6% of the population. Illiteracy is highest in the Northeast, where 19.9% of the population is illiterate. Also according to the National Household Survey, the percentage of people atschool, in 2007, was 97% in the age group 6–14 years and 82.1% among people 15 to 17 years, while the average total time of study among those over 10 years was on average 6.9 years.

Higher education starts with undergraduate or sequential courses, which may offer different options of specialization in academic or professional careers. Depending on the choice, students can improve their educational background with courses of post-graduate studies or broad sense. To attend a higher education institution is required, by Law of Guidelines and Bases of Education, completing all levels of education suited to the needs of all students of teaching kindergarten, elementary and medium, provided the student does not hold any disability, whether physical, mental, visual or hearing.

Tourism

Rule of LawProperty Rights 50.0 -

Freedom From Corruption 38.0 +Limited Government

Government Spending 54.8 -Fiscal Freedom 70.3 +Regulatory Efficiency

Business Freedom 53.0 -Labor Freedom 57.2 -

Monetary Freedom 74.4 -Open Markets

Trade Freedom 69.7 -Investment Freedom 50.0 -

Financial Freedom 60.0 -

Economy

Popular things

FOOTBALL

CARNIVAL

Samba

Christ the Redeemer

The Amazon

as

Brazil Beaches

Pantanal Wildlife Century

Coffee