Brazil
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Redirect Template:Pp-semi-indef Template:Use American English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox country Brazil,Template:Efn officially the Federative Republic of Brazil,Template:Efn is the largest and easternmost country in South America. It is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the seventh-largest by population, with over 212 million people. The country is a federation composed of 26 states and a Federal District, which hosts the capital, Brasília. Its most populous city is São Paulo, followed by Rio de Janeiro. Brazil has the most Portuguese speakers in the world and is the only country in the Americas where Portuguese is an official language.<ref name="Philander2012">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="CrocittiVallance2011">Template:Cite book</ref>
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of Template:Convert.<ref name="CIA Geo" /> Covering roughly half of South America's land area, it borders all other countries and territories on the continent except Ecuador and Chile.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Brazil encompasses a wide range of tropical and subtropical landscapes, as well as wetlands, savannas, plateaus, and low mountains. It contains most of the Amazon basin, including the world’s largest river system and most extensive virgin tropical forest. Brazil has diverse wildlife, a variety of ecological systems, and extensive natural resources spanning numerous protected habitats.<ref name="CIA Geo">Template:Cite CIA World Factbook</ref> The country ranks first among 17 megadiverse countries, with its natural heritage being the subject of significant global interest, as environmental degradation (through processes such as deforestation) directly affect global issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss.
Brazil was inhabited by various indigenous peoples prior to the landing of Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500. It was claimed and settled by Portugal, which imported enslaved Africans to work on plantations. Brazil remained a colony until 1815, when it was elevated to the rank of a united kingdom with Portugal after the transfer of the Portuguese court to Rio de Janeiro. Prince Pedro of Braganza declared the country's independence in 1822, establishing the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Brazil's first constitution in 1824 established a bicameral legislature, now called the National Congress, and enshrined principles such as freedom of religion and the press, but retained slavery, which was gradually abolished throughout the 19th century until its final abolition in 1888. Brazil became a presidential republic following a military coup d'état in 1889. An armed revolution in 1930 put an end to the First Republic and brought Getúlio Vargas to power. While initially committing to democratic governance, Vargas assumed dictatorial powers following a self-coup in 1937, marking the beginning of the Estado Novo. Democracy was restored after Vargas' ousting in 1945. An authoritarian military dictatorship emerged in 1964 and ruled until 1985, after which civilian governance resumed. Brazil's current constitution, enacted in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic.<ref name="Constituição">Template:Cite web Template:Cite web</ref>
Brazil is a regional and middle power<ref name="SchaeferPoffenbarger2014">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Burges2016">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Gina">Template:Cite journal</ref> and rising global power.<ref name="FRIDE">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Collecott">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="DominguezKim2013">Template:Cite book</ref> It is an emerging,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="wb-upper-middle">Template:Cite web</ref> upper-middle income economy and newly industrialized country,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with one of the 10 largest economies in the world in both nominal and PPP terms,<ref name="IMFWEO.BR" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the largest economy in Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere, and the largest share of wealth in South America. With a complex and highly diversified economy, Brazil is one of the world's major or primary exporters of various agricultural goods, mineral resources, and manufactured products.<ref name="Neilson102" /> Due to its rich culture and history, the country ranks thirteenth in the world by number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Brazil is a founding member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, G4, Mercosur, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries; it is also an observer state of the Arab League and a major non-NATO ally of the United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Etymology
[edit]Template:Main The word Brazil probably comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast.<ref name="Fausto1999">Template:Cite book</ref> In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology "red like an ember", formed from brasa ('ember') and the suffix -il (from -iculum or -ilium).<ref name="Vincent2003">Template:Cite book</ref> It has alternatively been suggested that this is a folk etymology for a word for the plant related to an Arabic or Asian word for a red plant.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As brazilwood produces a deep red dye, it was highly valued by the European textile industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil.<ref name="Tucker2007">Template:Cite book</ref> Throughout the 16th century, massive amounts of brazilwood were harvested by indigenous peoples (mostly Tupi) along the Brazilian coast, who sold the timber to European traders (mostly Portuguese, but also French) in return for assorted European consumer goods.<ref name="Lee2011">Template:Cite book</ref>
The official Portuguese name of the land, in original Portuguese records, was the "Land of the Holy Cross" (Terra da Santa Cruz),<ref name="Corporation1880">Template:Cite magazine</ref> but European sailors and merchants commonly called it the "Land of Brazil" (Terra do Brasil) because of the brazilwood trade.<ref name="Léry1990">Template:Cite book</ref> The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name. Some early sailors called it the "Land of Parrots".<ref name="Sokolow2003">Template:Cite book</ref>
In the Guaraní language, an official language of Paraguay, Brazil is called "Pindorama", meaning 'land of the palm trees'.<ref name="Herrera-Sobek2012">Template:Cite book</ref>
History
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Pre-Cabraline era
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Some of the earliest human remains found in the Americas, Luzia Woman, were found in the area of Pedro Leopoldo, Minas Gerais and provide evidence of human habitation going back at least 11,000 years.<ref name="LevineCrocitti1999">Template:Cite book</ref> The earliest pottery ever found in the Western Hemisphere was excavated in the Amazon basin of Brazil and radiocarbon dated to over 8,000 years ago (6000 BC). The pottery was found near Santarém and provides evidence that the region supported a complex prehistoric culture.<ref name="Eighth Millennium Pottery from a Prehistoric Shell Midden in the Brazilian Amazon">Template:Cite journal</ref> The Marajoara culture flourished on Marajó in the Amazon delta from AD 400 to 1400, developing sophisticated pottery, social stratification, large populations, mound building, and complex social formations such as chiefdoms.<ref name="Mann">Template:Cite book</ref>
Around the time of the Portuguese arrival, the territory of current day Brazil had an estimated indigenous population of 7 million people,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> mostly semi-nomadic, who subsisted on hunting, fishing, gathering, and migrant agriculture. The population comprised several large indigenous ethnic groups (e.g., the Tupis, Guaranis, Gês, and Arawaks). The Tupi people were subdivided into the Tupiniquins and Tupinambás.Template:Sfnp
Before the arrival of the Europeans, the boundaries between these groups and their subgroups were marked by wars that arose from differences in culture, language and moral beliefs.<ref name="Fausto">Template:Cite book</ref> These wars also involved large-scale military actions on land and water, with cannibalistic rituals on prisoners of war.<ref>Gomes, Mercio P. The Indians and Brazil University Press of Florida 2000 Template:ISBN pp. 28–29</ref>Template:Sfnp While heredity had some weight, leadership was a status more won over time than assigned in succession ceremonies and conventions.<ref name="Fausto" /> Slavery among the indigenous groups had a different meaning than it had for Europeans, since it originated from a diverse socioeconomic organization, in which asymmetries were translated into kinship relations.Template:Sfnp
Portuguese colonization
[edit]Template:Main Template:See also Template:Multiple image Following the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, the land now called Brazil was claimed for the Portuguese Empire on 22 April 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral.<ref name="Boxer, p. 98">Boxer, p. 98.</ref> The Portuguese encountered indigenous peoples divided into several ethnic societies, most of whom spoke languages of the Tupi–Guarani family and fought among themselves.<ref name="Boxer, p. 100">Boxer, p. 100.</ref> Though the first settlement was founded in 1532, colonization effectively began in 1534, when King John III of Portugal divided the territory into the fifteen private and autonomous captaincies.<ref>Boxer, pp. 100–101.</ref><ref name="Skidmore, p. 27">Skidmore, p. 27.</ref>
However, the decentralized and unorganized tendencies of the captaincies proved problematic, and in 1549 the Portuguese king restructured them into the Governorate General of Brazil in the city of Salvador, which became the capital of a single and centralized Portuguese colony in South America.<ref name="Skidmore, p. 27" /><ref>Boxer, p. 101.</ref> In the first two centuries of colonization, Indigenous and European groups lived in constant war, establishing opportunistic alliances in order to gain advantages against each other.<ref>Meuwese, Mark "Brothers in Arms, Partners in Trade: Dutch-Indigenous Alliances in the Atlantic World, 1595–1674" Koninklijke Brill NV 2012 Template:ISBN Chapter III</ref><ref>Metcalf, Alida C. "Go-betweens And the Colonization of Brazil: 1500–1600" University of Texas Press 2005, pp. 70, 79, 202 View on Google Books Template:Webarchive</ref>Template:Sfnp<ref>Minahan, James B. "Ethnic Groups of the Americas" ABC-CLIO 2013 Template:ISBN p. 300, View on Google Books Template:Webarchive</ref>
By the mid-16th century, cane sugar had become Brazil's most important export,<ref name="Boxer, p. 100" /><ref>Skidmore, p. 36.</ref> while slaves purchased in Sub-Saharan Africa in the slave market of Western Africa<ref>Richard Middleton and Anne Lombard "Colonial America: A History to 1763" Wiley-Blackwell Publishing 1st edition 1992 Template:ISBN Chapter 2, Section 4 (final, last page and half of previous one) View on Google Books Template:Webarchive</ref> (not only those from Portuguese allies of their colonies in Angola and Mozambique), had become its largest import,<ref>Boxer, p. 110</ref><ref>Skidmore, p. 34.</ref> to cope with sugarcane plantations, due to increasing international demand for Brazilian sugar.<ref name="Boxer, p. 102">Boxer, p. 102.</ref><ref>Skidmore, pp. 32–33.</ref> Brazil received more than 2.8 million slaves from Africa between the years 1500 and 1800.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
By the end of the 17th century, sugarcane exports began to decline<ref>Boxer, p. 164.</ref> and the discovery of gold by bandeirantes in the 1690s would become the new backbone of the colony's economy, fostering a gold rush<ref>Boxer, pp. 168, 170.</ref> which attracted thousands of new settlers to Brazil from Portugal and all Portuguese colonies around the world.<ref>Boxer, p. 169.</ref> This increased level of immigration in turn caused some conflicts between newcomers and old settlers.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Portuguese expeditions known as bandeiras gradually expanded Brazil's original colonial frontiers in South America to its approximately current borders.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Corrado, Jacopo "The Creole Elite and the Rise of Angolan Protonationalism" Cambria Press 2008 Template:ISBN pp. 95 (Brazil) and 145, note 5 View on Google Books Template:Webarchive</ref> In this era, other European powers tried to colonize parts of Brazil, in incursions that the Portuguese had to fight, notably the French in Rio during the 1560s, in Maranhão during the 1610s, and the Dutch in Bahia and Pernambuco, during the Dutch–Portuguese War, after the end of Iberian Union.<ref>Bethell, Leslie "Colonial Brazil" Cambridge University Press 1987 pp. 19, 74, 86, 169–70</ref>
The Portuguese colonial administration in Brazil had two objectives that would ensure colonial order and the monopoly of Portugal's wealthiest and largest colony: to keep under control and eradicate all forms of slave rebellion and resistance, such as the Quilombo of Palmares,<ref>Schwartz, Stuart B. "Slaves, Peasants, and Rebels" Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois 1992 Template:ISBN Chapter 4 View on Google Books Template:Webarchive</ref> and to repress all movements for autonomy or independence, such as the Minas Gerais Conspiracy.<ref>MacLachlan, Colin M. "A History of Modern Brazil: The Past Against the Future"; Scholarly Resources Inc. 2003 p. 3 View on Google Books Template:Webarchive</ref>
Elevation to kingdom
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In late 1807, Spanish and Napoleonic forces threatened the security of continental Portugal, causing Prince Regent John, in the name of Queen Maria I, to move the royal court from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro.<ref name="Boxer, p. 213">Boxer, p. 213</ref> There they established some of Brazil's first financial institutions, such as its local stock exchanges<ref>Marta Barcellos & Simone Azevedo; Histórias do Mercado de Capitais no Brasil ("Financial Markets' Histories in Brazil") (Portuguese) Campus Elsevier 2011 Template:ISBN Introduction (by Ney Carvalho), Intro. p. xiv</ref> and its National Bank, additionally ending the Portuguese monopoly on Brazilian trade and opening Brazil's ports to other nations. In 1809, in retaliation for being forced into exile, the Prince Regent ordered the conquest of French Guiana.<ref>Bueno, p. 145.</ref>
With the end of the Peninsular War in 1814, the courts of Europe demanded that Queen Maria I and Prince Regent John return to Portugal, deeming it unfit for the head of an ancient European monarchy to reside in a colony. In 1815, to justify continuing to live in Brazil, where the royal court had thrived for six years, the Crown established the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, thus creating a pluricontinental transatlantic monarchic state.<ref name="Mosher2008">Template:Cite book</ref> However, the leadership in Portugal, resentful of the new status of its larger colony, continued to demand the return of the court to Lisbon (see Liberal Revolution of 1820). In 1821, acceding to the demands of revolutionaries who had taken the city of Porto,<ref name="Adelman2006">Template:Cite book</ref> John VI departed for Lisbon. There he swore an oath to the new constitution, leaving his son, Prince Pedro de Alcântara, as Regent of the Kingdom of Brazil.<ref>Lustosa, pp. 109–110</ref>
Independent empire
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Tensions between Portuguese and Brazilians increased and the Portuguese Cortes, guided by the new political regime imposed by the Liberal Revolution, tried to re-establish Brazil as a colony.<ref>Lustosa, pp. 117–19</ref> The Brazilians refused to yield, and Prince Pedro decided to stand with them, declaring the country's independence from Portugal on 7 September 1822.<ref>Lustosa, pp. 150–153</ref> A month later, Prince Pedro was declared the first Emperor of Brazil, with the royal title of Dom Pedro I, resulting in the founding of the Empire of Brazil.<ref>Vianna, p. 418</ref>
The Brazilian War of Independence, which had already begun along this process, spread through the northern, northeastern regions and in the Cisplatina province.<ref>Diégues 2004, pp. 168, 164, 178</ref> The last Portuguese soldiers surrendered on 8 March 1824;<ref>Diégues 2004, pp. 179–80</ref> Portugal officially recognized Brazilian independence on 29 August 1825.<ref>Lustosa, p. 208</ref>
On 7 April 1831, worn down by years of administrative turmoil and political dissent with both liberal and conservative sides of politics, including an attempt of republican secessionTemplate:Sfnp and unreconciled to the way that absolutists in Portugal had given in the succession of King John VI, Pedro I departed for Portugal to reclaim his daughter's crown after abdicating the Brazilian throne in favor of his five-year-old son and heir (Dom Pedro II).<ref>Lyra (v. 1), p. 17</ref>
As the new Emperor could not exert his constitutional powers until he came of age, a regency was set up by the National Assembly.<ref>Carvalho 2007, p. 21</ref> In the absence of a charismatic figure who could represent a moderate face of power, during this period a series of localized rebellions took place, such as the Cabanagem in Grão-Pará, the Malê Revolt in Salvador, the Balaiada (Maranhão), the Sabinada (Bahia), and the Ragamuffin War, which began in Rio Grande do Sul and was supported by Giuseppe Garibaldi. These emerged from the provinces' dissatisfaction with the central power, coupled with old and latent social tensions peculiar to a vast, slaveholding and newly independent nation state.Template:Sfnp This period of internal political and social upheaval, which included the Praieira revolt in Pernambuco, was overcome only at the end of the 1840s, years after the end of the regency, which occurred with the premature coronation of Pedro II in 1841.Template:Sfnp
During the last phase of the monarchy, internal political debate centered on the issue of slavery. The Atlantic slave trade was abandoned in 1850,<ref>Bethell, Leslie "The Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade: Britain, Brazil and the Slave Trade" Cambridge University Press 1970, "Cambridge Latin American Studides", Chapters 9 to 12. View on Google Books Template:Webarchive</ref> as a result of the British Aberdeen Act and the Eusébio de Queirós Law, but only in May 1888, after a long process of internal mobilization and debate for an ethical and legal dismantling of slavery in the country, was the institution formally abolished with the approval of the Golden Law.<ref>Scott, Rebecca and others, The Abolition of Slavery and the Aftermath of Emancipation in Brazil, Duke University Press 1988 Template:ISBN Seymour Drescher, Chap. 2: "Brazilian Abolition in Comparative Perspective"</ref>
The foreign-affairs policies of the monarchy dealt with issues with the countries of the Southern Cone with whom Brazil had borders. Long after the Cisplatine War that resulted in the independence of Uruguay,<ref>Levine, Robert M. "The history of Brazil" Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. 1999, p. 62, View on Google Books Template:Webarchive</ref> Brazil won three international wars during the 58-year reign of Pedro II: the Platine War, the Uruguayan War and the devastating Paraguayan War, the largest war effort in Brazilian history.<ref>Lyra (v.1), pp. 164, 225, 272</ref>Template:Sfnp
Although there was no desire among the majority of Brazilians to change the country's form of government,Template:Sfn on 15 November 1889, in disagreement with the majority of the Imperial Army officers, as well as with rural and financial elites (for different reasons), the monarchy was overthrown by a military coup.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A few days later, the national flag was replaced with a new design that included the national motto "Ordem e Progresso", influenced by positivism. 15 November is now Republic Day, a national holiday.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Early republic
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The early republican government was a military dictatorship, with the army dominating affairs both in Rio de Janeiro and in the states. Freedom of the press disappeared and elections were controlled by those in power.Template:Sfnp Not until 1894, following an economic crisis and a military one, did civilians take power, remaining there until October 1930.Template:Sfnp<ref>Triner, Gail D. "Banking and Economic Development: Brazil, 1889–1930" Palgrave 2000, pp. 69–74 Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Needell, Jeffrey D. "A Tropical Belle Epoque: Elite Culture and Society in Turn-of-the-Century Rio de Janeiro" Cambridge University Press 2010, pp. 10, 12</ref>
In relation to its foreign policy, the country in this first republican period maintained a relative balance characterized by a success in resolving border disputes with neighboring countries,<ref>David R. Mares; "Violent peace: militarized interstate bargaining in Latin America" Columbia University Press 2001 Chapter 5 p. 125</ref> only broken by the Acre War (1899–1902) and its involvement in World War I (1914–1918),<ref>Bradford Burns 1993, p. 305</ref><ref>M.Sharp, I. Westwell & J.Westwood; "History of World War I, Volume 1" Marshall Cavendish Corporation 2002, p. 97</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> followed by a failed attempt to exert a prominent role in the League of Nations;<ref>Charles Howard Ellis; "The origin, structure & working of the League of Nations" The LawBook Exchange Ltd 2003 pp. 105, 145</ref> Internally, from the crisis of Encilhamento<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> and the Navy Revolts,<ref>Template:Citation</ref> a prolonged cycle of financial, political and social instability began until the 1920s, keeping the country besieged by various rebellions, both civilian<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> and military.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Little by little, a cycle of general instability sparked by these crises undermined the regime to such an extent that in the wake of the murder of his running mate, the defeated opposition presidential candidate Getúlio Vargas, supported by most of the military, successfully led the Revolution of 1930.<ref>Levine; Robert M. & Crocitti; John J. The Brazil Reader: History, Culture, Politics, Duke University Press 1999, IV – The Vargas Era</ref><ref>Keen, Benjamin / Haynes, Kate A History of Latin America; Volume 2, Waldsworth Cengage Learning 2004, pp. 356–57</ref> Vargas and the military were supposed to assume power temporarily, but instead closed down Congress, extinguished the Constitution, ruled with emergency powers and replaced the states' governors with his own supporters.<ref>McCann; Frank D. Soldiers of the Patria: A History of the Brazilian Army, 1889–1937, Stanford University Press 2004, p. 303 Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Ibidem Williams 2001</ref>
In the 1930s, three attempts to remove Vargas and his supporters from power failed. The first was the Constitutionalist Revolution in 1932, led by São Paulo's oligarchy. The second was a Communist uprising in November 1935, and the last one a putsch attempt by local fascists in May 1938.<ref>E. Bradford Burns; A History of Brazil Columbia University Press 1993 p. 352 Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Dulles, John W.F. Anarchists and Communists in Brazil, 1900–1935 University of Texas Press 2012 Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Frank M. Colby, Allen L. Churchill, Herbert T. Wade & Frank H. Vizetelly; The New international year book Dodd, Mead & Co. 1989, p. 102 "The Fascist Revolt"</ref> The 1935 uprising created a security crisis in which Congress transferred more power to the executive branch. The 1937 coup d'état resulted in the cancellation of the 1938 election and formalized Vargas as dictator, beginning the Estado Novo era. During this period, government brutality and censorship of the press increased.<ref>Bourne, Richard Getulio Vargas of Brazil, 1883–1954 C. Knight 1974, p. 77</ref>
During World War II, Brazil remained neutral until August 1942, when the country suffered retaliation by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in a strategic dispute over the South Atlantic, and, therefore, entered the war on the allied side.<ref>Scheina, Robert L. Latin America's Wars Vol.II: The Age of the Professional Soldier, 1900–2001. Potomac Books, 2003 Template:ISBN Part 9; Ch. 17 – World War II, Brazil, and Mexico, 1942–45</ref><ref>Thomas M. Leonard & John F. Bratzel; Latin America during World War II Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc. 2007 p. 150</ref><ref>Mónica Hirst & Andrew Hurrell; The United States and Brazil: A Long Road of Unmet Expectations, Taylor & Francis Books 2005 Template:ISBN pp. 4–5</ref> In addition to its participation in the battle of the Atlantic, Brazil also sent an expeditionary force to fight in the Italian campaign.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
With the Allied victory in 1945 and the end of the fascist regimes in Europe, Vargas's position became unsustainable, and he was swiftly overthrown in another military coup, with democracy "reinstated" by the same army that had ended it 15 years earlier.<ref>McCann 2004, p. 441</ref> Vargas committed suicide in August 1954 amid a political crisis, after having returned to power by election in 1950.<ref>Roett; Riordan Brazil: Politics in a Patrimonial Society, GreenWood Publishing Group 1999, pp. 106–08 Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Keen & Haynes 2004, pp. 361–62</ref>
Contemporary era
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Several brief interim governments followed Vargas's suicide.<ref>Skidmore, p. 201</ref> Juscelino Kubitschek became president in 1956 and assumed a conciliatory posture towards the political opposition that allowed him to govern without major crises.<ref>Skidmore, pp. 202–203</ref> The economy and industrial sector grew remarkably,<ref>Skidmore, p. 204</ref> but his greatest achievement was the construction of the new capital city of Brasília, inaugurated in 1960.<ref>Skidmore, pp. 204–205</ref> Kubitschek's successor, Jânio Quadros, resigned in 1961 less than a year after taking office.<ref>Skidmore, pp. 209–210</ref> His vice-president, João Goulart, assumed the presidency, but aroused strong political opposition<ref>Skidmore, p. 210</ref> and was deposed in April 1964 by a coup that resulted in a military dictatorship.<ref>Fausto (2005), p. 397</ref>
The new regime was intended to be transitory<ref>Gaspari, A Ditadura Envergonhada, pp. 141–42.</ref> but gradually closed in on itself and became a full dictatorship with the promulgation of the Fifth Institutional Act in 1968.<ref name="Gaspari p.35">Gaspari, A Ditadura Envergonhada, p. 35.</ref> Oppression was not limited to those who resorted to guerrilla tactics to fight the regime, but also reached institutional opponents, artists, journalists and other members of civil society,Template:Sfnp<ref>Richard Young, Odile Cisneros "Historical Dictionary of Latin American Literature and Theater" Scare Crow Press 2011, p. 224, 2nd § View on Google Books Template:Webarchive</ref> inside and outside the country through the infamous "Operation Condor".<ref>Laurence Burgorgue-Larsen & Amaya Úbeda de Torres "The Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Case Law and Commentary" Oxford University Press 2011 Template:ISBN p. 299 View on Google Books Template:Webarchive</ref>Template:Sfnp Like other brutal authoritarian regimes, due to an economic boom, known as the "economic miracle", the regime reached a peak in popularity in the early 1970s.Template:Sfnp
Slowly, however, the wear and tear of years of dictatorial power had not slowed the repression, even after the defeat of the leftist guerrillas.<ref>Bradford Burns 1993, p. 457</ref> The inability to deal with the economic crises of the period and popular pressure made an opening policy inevitable, which from the regime side was led by Generals Ernesto Geisel and Golbery do Couto e Silva.Template:Sfnp With the enactment of the Amnesty Law in 1979, Brazil began a slow return to democracy, which was completed during the 1980s.Template:Sfnp
Civilians returned to power in 1985 when José Sarney assumed the presidency. He became unpopular during his tenure through failure to control the economic crisis and hyperinflation he inherited from the military regime.<ref>Fausto (2005), pp. 464–65.</ref> Sarney's unsuccessful government led to the election in 1989 of the almost-unknown Fernando Collor, who was subsequently impeached by the National Congress in 1992.<ref>Fausto (2005), pp. 465, 475.</ref> Collor was succeeded by his vice-president, Itamar Franco, who appointed Fernando Henrique Cardoso Minister of Finance. In 1994, Cardoso produced a highly successful Plano Real,<ref>Skidmore, p. 311.</ref> that, after decades of failed economic plans made by previous governments attempting to curb hyperinflation, finally stabilized the Brazilian economy.Template:Sfnp<ref>Fausto (2005), p. 482.</ref> Cardoso won the 1994 election, and again in 1998.<ref>Fausto (2005), p. 474.</ref>
The peaceful transition of power from Cardoso to his main opposition leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006), was seen as proof that Brazil had achieved a long-sought political stability.<ref>Fausto (2005), p. 502.</ref><ref>Zirin, 2014. Chapter 3</ref> However, sparked by indignation and frustrations accumulated over decades from corruption, police brutality, inefficiencies of the political establishment and public service, numerous peaceful protests erupted in Brazil in the middle of the first term of Dilma Rousseff, who had succeeded Lula after winning election in 2010 and again in 2014 by narrow margins.<ref>"Global protest grows as citizens lose faith in politics and the State" Template:Webarchive article on "the Guardian"</ref><ref>Zirin, 2014. Chapter 7 & Conclusion.</ref>
Rousseff was impeached by the Brazilian Congress in 2016, halfway into her second term,<ref name="auto1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and replaced by her Vice-president Michel Temer, who assumed full presidential powers after Rousseff's impeachment was accepted on 31 August. Large street protests for and against her took place during the impeachment process.<ref>Article Template:Webarchive in Financial Times (18 April 2016) about the political ambiance in Brazil on the day vote for the Deputies chamber decision about open an impeachment procedure against President Dilma. 2nd to 4th paragraph.</ref> The charges against her were fueled by political and economic crises along with evidence of involvement with politicians from all the primary political parties. In 2017, the Supreme Court requested the investigation of 71 Brazilian lawmakers and nine ministers of President Michel Temer's cabinet who were allegedly linked to the Petrobras corruption scandal.<ref>"Brazil supreme court judge orders probe into nine ministers – paper" Template:Webarchive. Reuters. 11 April 2017.</ref> President Temer himself was also accused of corruption.<ref>"President Michel Temer of Brazil Is Charged With Corruption" Template:Webarchive. The New York Times. 26 June 2017.</ref> According to a 2018 poll, 62% of the population said that corruption was Brazil's biggest problem.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In the fiercely disputed 2018 elections, the controversial conservative candidate Jair Bolsonaro of the Social Liberal Party (PSL) was elected president, winning in the second round against Fernando Haddad, of the Workers Party (PT), with the support of 55.13% of the valid votes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the early 2020s, Brazil became one of the hardest hit countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, receiving the second-highest death toll worldwide after the United States.<ref name="BBCGuerin">Template:Cite news</ref> In May 2021, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated that he would run for a third term in the 2022 Brazilian general election against Bolsonaro.<ref name=Valor2021-05-20a>Template:Cite web</ref> In October 2022, Lula was in first place in the first round, with 48.43% of the support from the electorate, and received 50.90% of the votes in the second round.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 8 January 2023, a week after Lula's inauguration, a mob of Bolsonaro's supporters attacked Brazil's federal government buildings in the capital, Brasília, after several weeks of unrest.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="CNN">Template:Cite web</ref>
Geography
[edit]Template:Main Template:Multiple image Brazil occupies a large area along the eastern coast of South America and includes much of the continent's interior,<ref name="Encarta 6">Template:Cite encyclopedia Template:Dubious</ref> 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, Guyana, Suriname and France (French overseas region of French Guiana) to the north. It shares a border with every South American country except Ecuador and Chile.<ref name="CIA Geo" />
The Brazilian territory also encompasses a number of oceanic archipelagos, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago, and the islands of Trindade and Martim Vaz.<ref name="CIA Geo" /> Its size, relief, climate, and natural resources make Brazil geographically diverse.<ref name="Encarta 6" /> Including its Atlantic islands, Brazil lies between latitudes 6°N and 34°S, and longitudes 28° and 74°W.<ref name="CIA Geo" />
Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, and third largest in the Americas, with a total area of Template:Convert,<ref name="Official Area">Official Area (In Portuguese) Template:Webarchive IBGE: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Retrieved 8 January 2010.</ref> including Template:Convert of water. North to South, Brazil is also the longest country in the world, spanning 4,395 km (2,731 mi) from north to south,<ref name="CIA Geo" /> and the only country in the world that has the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn running through it.<ref name="CIA Geo" /> It spans four time zones; from UTC−5 comprising the state of Acre and the westernmost portion of Amazonas, to UTC−4 in the western states, to UTC−3 in the eastern states (the national time) and UTC−2 in the Atlantic islands.<ref name="timezones">Template:Cite web</ref>
Climate
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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.<ref name="CIA Geo" /> According to the Köppen system, Brazil hosts six major climatic subtypes: desert, equatorial, tropical, semiarid, oceanic 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.<ref name="BBC Weather">Template:Cite web</ref>
In Brazil, forest cover is around 59% of the total land area, equivalent to 496,619,600 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, down from 588,898,000 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 485,396,000 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 11,223,600 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest, 44% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 30% of the forest area was found within protected areas. For 2015, 56.% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership and 44% private ownership.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Many regions have starkly different microclimates.<ref name="Encarta 9">Template:Cite encyclopedia Template:Dubious</ref><ref name="BT">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="BBC Weather" /> Temperatures average Template:Convert,<ref name="BT" /> with more significant temperature variation between night and day than between seasons.<ref name="Encarta 9" /> Over central Brazil, rainfall is more seasonal, characteristic of a savanna climate.<ref name="Encarta 9" /> This region is as extensive as the Amazon basin but has a very different climate as it lies farther south at a higher altitude.<ref name="BBC Weather" /> In the interior northeast, seasonal rainfall is even more extreme.<ref name="Rain" /> South of Bahia, near the coasts, and more southerly most of the state of São Paulo, the distribution of rainfall changes, with rain falling throughout the year.<ref name="BBC Weather" /> The south enjoys subtropical conditions, with cool winters and average annual temperatures not exceeding Template:Convert;<ref name="BT" /> winter frosts and snowfall are not rare in the highest areas.<ref name="BBC Weather" /><ref name="Encarta 9" />
The semiarid climatic region generally receives less than Template:Convert of rain,<ref name="Rain">Template:Cite web</ref> most of which generally falls in a period of three to five months of the year<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and occasionally less than this, creating long periods of drought.<ref name="Encarta 9" /> Brazil's 1877–78 Grande Seca (Great Drought), the worst in Brazil's history,<ref>"Drought, Smallpox, and Emergence of Leishmania braziliensis in Northeastern Brazil" Template:Webarchive. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).</ref> caused approximately half a million deaths.<ref>"Ó Gráda, C.: Famine: A Short History" Template:Webarchive. Princeton University Press.</ref> A similarly devastating drought occurred in 1915.<ref>"Inland fishery enhancements" Template:Webarchive. FAO.</ref> In 2024, for the first time, "a drought has covered all the way from the North to the country’s Southeast". It is the strongest drought in Brazil since the beginning of measurement in the 1950s, covering almost 60% of the country's territory. The drought is linked to deforestation and climate change.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Climate change in Brazil is causing higher temperatures and longer-lasting heatwaves, changing precipitation patterns, more intense wildfires and heightened fire risk.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Brazil's hydropower, agriculture and urban water supplies will be affected.<ref name=":13">Template:Cite web</ref> Brazil's rainforests, and the Amazon, are particularly at risk to climate change. At worst, large areas of the Amazon River basin could turn into savannah, with severe consequences for global climate and local livelihoods.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Extreme weather events like droughts and flash floods are causing annual losses of around R$13 billion (US$2.6 billion), equivalent to 0.1% of the country's 2022 GDP. Climate impacts could exacerbate poverty.<ref name=":13"/>
Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions per person are higher than the global average, and Brazil is among the top 10 highest emitting countries. Greenhouse gas emissions by Brazil are over 4% of the annual world total.<ref name=":3">Template:Citation</ref> In 2024 Brazil revised its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), setting a goal to cut greenhouse emissions by 59% to 67% compared to 2005 levels by 2035.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It has an indicative target of reaching carbon neutrality by 2060 if the country receives 10 billion dollars per year.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Topography and hydrography
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Brazilian topography is also diverse and includes hills, mountains, plains, highlands, and scrublands. Much of the terrain lies between Template:Convert and Template:Convert in elevation.<ref name="Encarta 7">Template:Cite encyclopedia Template:Dubious</ref> The main upland area occupies most of the southern half of the country.<ref name="Encarta 7" /> The northwestern parts of the plateau consist of broad, rolling terrain broken by low, rounded hills.<ref name="Encarta 7" />
The southeastern section is more rugged, with a complex mass of ridges and mountain ranges reaching elevations of up to Template:Convert.<ref name="Encarta 7" /> These ranges include the Mantiqueira and Espinhaço mountains and the Serra do Mar.<ref name="Encarta 7" /> In the 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 Template:Convert, and the lowest is the Atlantic Ocean.<ref name="CIA Geo" />
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.<ref name="Encarta 8">Template:Cite encyclopedia Template:Dubious</ref> Major rivers include the Amazon (the world's second-longest river and the largest in terms of volume of water), the Paraná and its major tributary the Iguaçu (which includes the Iguazu Falls), the Negro, São Francisco, Xingu, Madeira and Tapajós rivers.<ref name="Encarta 8" />
Biodiversity and conservation
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The wildlife of Brazil comprises all naturally occurring animals, plants, and fungi in the South American country. Home to 60% of the Amazon rainforest, which accounts for approximately one-tenth of all species in the world,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Brazil is considered to have the greatest biodiversity of any country on the planet, containing over 70% of all animal and plant species catalogued.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Brazil has the most known species of plants (55,000), freshwater fish (3,000) and mammals (over 689).<ref name="DannyP_2007_shoestring">Template:Cite book</ref> It also ranks third on the list of countries with the most bird species (1,832) and second with the most reptile species (744).<ref name="DannyP_2007_shoestring" /> The number of fungal species is unknown but is large.<ref name="Silva, M 1995">Da Silva, M. and D.W. Minter. 1995. Fungi from Brazil recorded by Batista and Co-workers. Mycological Papers 169. CABI, Wallingford, UK. 585 pp.</ref> Brazil is second only to Indonesia as the country with the most endemic species.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Brazil's large territory comprises different ecosystems, such as the Amazon rainforest, recognized as having the greatest biological diversity in the world,<ref name="WWF">Template:Cite web</ref> with the Atlantic Forest and the Cerrado sustaining the greatest biodiversity.<ref name="Encarta 10">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> In the south, the Araucaria moist forests grow under temperate conditions.<ref name="Encarta 10" /> The rich wildlife of Brazil reflects the variety of natural habitats. Scientists estimate that the total number of plant and animal species in Brazil could approach four million, mostly invertebrates.<ref name="Encarta 10" /> Larger mammals include carnivores pumas, jaguars, ocelots, rare bush dogs, and foxes, and herbivores peccaries, tapirs, anteaters, sloths, opossums and armadillos. Deer are plentiful in the south, and many species of New World monkeys are found in the northern rain forests.<ref name="Encarta 10" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
More than one-fifth of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has been completely destroyed, and more than 70 mammals are endangered.<ref name="DannyP_2007_shoestring" /> The threat of extinction comes from several sources, including deforestation and poaching. Extinction is even more problematic in the Atlantic Forest, where nearly 93% of the forest has been cleared.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Of the 202 endangered animals in Brazil, 171 are in the Atlantic Forest.<ref name="mre.gov">Template:Cite web</ref> The Amazon rainforest has been under direct threat of deforestation since the 1970s because of rapid economic and demographic expansion. Extensive legal and illegal logging destroy forests the size of a small country per year, and with it a diverse series of species through habitat destruction and habitat fragmentation.<ref name="usda">USDA Forest Service website, Forest Service International Programs: Brazil Template:Webarchive, retrieved February 2007.</ref> Since 1970, over Template:Convert of the Amazon rainforest have been cleared by logging.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2017, preserved native vegetation occupied 61% of the Brazilian territory. Agriculture occupied only 8% of the national territory and pastures 19.7%.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For comparison, in 2019, although 43% of the entire European continent has forests, only 3% of the total forest area in Europe is of native forest.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Brazil has a strong interest in conservation, as its agriculture sector directly depends on its forests.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Government and politics
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The form of government is a democratic federative republic, with a presidential system.<ref name="Constituição" /> The president is both head of state and head of government of the Union and is elected for a four-year term,<ref name="Constituição" /> with the possibility of re-election for a second successive term. The current president is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite news</ref> The President appoints the Ministers of State, who assist in government.<ref name="Constituição" />
Legislative houses in each political entity are the main source of law in Brazil. The National Congress is the Federation's bicameral legislature, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate. Judiciary authorities exercise jurisdictional duties almost exclusively. In 2021, the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index categorized Brazil as a "flawed democracy", ranking 46th in the report,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Freedom House classified it as a free country at Freedom in the World report.<ref name="FITW-TG-2021">Template:Cite web</ref>
The political-administrative organization of the Federative Republic of Brazil comprises the Union, the states, the Federal District, and the municipalities.<ref name="Constituição" /> The Union, the states, the Federal District, and the municipalities, are the "spheres of government". The federation is set on five fundamental principles: sovereignty, citizenship, dignity of human beings, the social values of labor and freedom of enterprise, and political pluralism.<ref name="Constituição" />
The classic tripartite branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial under a checks and balances system) are formally established by the Constitution.<ref name="Constituição" /> The executive and legislative are organized independently in all three spheres of government, while the judiciary is organized only at the federal and state and Federal District spheres. All members of the executive and legislative branches are directly elected.<ref name="embassy">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
For most of its democratic history, Brazil has had a multi-party system, with proportional representation. Voting is compulsory for the literate between 18 and 70 years old and optional for illiterates and those between 16 and 18 or beyond 70.<ref name="Constituição" /> The country has around 30 registered political parties. Twenty political parties are represented in Congress. It is common for politicians to switch parties, and thus the proportion of congressional seats held by particular parties changes regularly.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Law
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Brazilian law is based on the civil law legal system<ref>"The Brazilian Legal System" Template:Webarchive, Organization of American States. Retrieved 17 May 2007.</ref> and civil law concepts prevail over common law practice. Most of Brazilian law is codified, although non-codified statutes also represent a substantial part, playing a complementary role. Court decisions set out interpretive guidelines; however, they are seldom binding on other specific cases. Doctrinal works and the works of academic jurists have strong influence in law creation and in law cases. Judges and other judicial officials are appointed after passing entry exams.<ref name="embassy" />
The legal system is based on the Federal Constitution, promulgated on 5 October 1988, and the fundamental law of Brazil. All other legislation and court decisions must conform to its rules.<ref>José Afonso da Silva, Curso de Direito Constitucional Positivo (Malheiros, 2004; Template:ISBN), p. 46.</ref> Template:As of, there have been 124 amendments.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The highest court is the Supreme Federal Court. States have their own constitutions, which must not contradict the Federal Constitution.<ref>Silva, Curso de Direito Constitucional Positivo, p. 592.</ref> Municipalities and the Federal District have "organic laws" (Template:Lang), which act in a similar way to constitutions.<ref name="DeffentiBarral2011">Template:Cite book</ref> Legislative entities are the main source of statutes, although in certain matters judiciary and executive bodies may enact legal norms.<ref name="Constituição" /> Jurisdiction is administered by the judiciary entities, although in rare situations the Federal Constitution allows the Federal Senate to pass on legal judgments.<ref name="Constituição" /> There are also specialized military, labor and electoral courts.<ref name="Constituição" />
Military
[edit]Template:Main Template:Multiple image The armed forces of Brazil are the largest in Latin America by active personnel and the largest in terms of military equipment.<ref>Uma Nova Agenda Militar Template:Webarchive Revista Época. Retrieved on 19 February 2009.</ref> The country was considered the 9th largest military power on the planet in 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It consists of the Brazilian Army (including the Army Aviation Command), the Brazilian Navy (including the Marine Corps and Naval Aviation) and the Brazilian Air Force. Brazil's conscription policy gives it one of the world's largest military forces, estimated at more than 1.6 million reservists annually.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> The Air Force is the largest in Latin America and has about 700 crewed aircraft in service and effective about 67,000 personnel.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Numbering close to 236,000 active personnel,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Brazilian Army has the largest number of armored vehicles in South America, including armored transports and tanks.<ref name="militarypower1">Template:Cite web</ref> The states' Military Police and the Military Firefighters Corps are described as an ancillary forces of the Army by the constitution, but are under the control of each state's governor.<ref name="Constituição" />
Brazil's navy once operated some of the most powerful warships in the world with the two Template:Sclass dreadnoughts, sparking a naval arms race between Argentina, Brazil, and Chile.<ref>Scheina (1987), p. 81.</ref> Today, it is a green water force and has a group of specialized elite in retaking ships and naval facilities, GRUMEC, unit specially trained to protect Brazilian oil platforms along its coast.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:As of, it is the only navy in Latin America that operates a helicopter carrier, NAM Atlântico and one of twelve navies in the world to operate or have one under construction.<ref name="Poder Naval">Template:Cite news</ref>
Foreign policy
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Brazil's international relations are based on Article 4 of the Federal Constitution, which establishes non-intervention, self-determination, international cooperation and the peaceful settlement of conflicts as the guiding principles of Brazil's relationship with other countries and multilateral organizations.<ref>Article 4 of the Federal Constitution of Brazil Template:Webarchive V-Brazil. Retrieved on 20 September 2011.</ref> According to the Constitution, the President has ultimate authority over foreign policy, while the Congress is tasked with reviewing and considering all diplomatic nominations and international treaties, as well as legislation relating to Brazilian foreign policy.<ref>Article 84 of the Federal Constitution of Brazil Template:Webarchive V-Brazil. Retrieved on 20 September 2011.</ref>
Brazil's foreign policy is a by-product of the country's position as a regional power in Latin America, a leader among developing countries, and an emerging world power.<ref>U.S. Congressional Report on Brazil United States Congress. Retrieved on 23 June 2009.</ref> Brazilian foreign policy has generally been based on the principles of multilateralism, peaceful dispute settlement, and non-intervention in the affairs of other countries.<ref>Georges D. Landau, "The Decision-making Process in Foreign Policy: The Case of Brazil", Center for Strategic and International Studies: Washington DC: March 2003</ref> Brazil is a founding member state of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth, an international organization and political association of Lusophone nations.
An increasingly well-developed tool of Brazil's foreign policy is providing aid as a donor to other developing countries.<ref name="ODI1">Cabral and Weinstock 2010. Brazil: an emerging aid player (Template:Webarchive). London: Overseas Development Institute</ref> Brazil does not just use its growing economic strength to provide financial aid, but it also provides high levels of expertise and most importantly of all, a quiet non-confrontational diplomacy to improve governance levels.<ref name="ODI1" /> Total aid is estimated to be around $1 billion per year, which includes.<ref name="ODI1" /> In addition, Brazil already managed a peacekeeping mission in Haiti ($350 million) and makes in-kind contributions to the World Food Programme ($300 million).<ref name="ODI1" /> The scale of this aid places it on par with China and India.<ref name="ODI1" /> The Brazilian South-South aid has been described as a "global model in waiting".<ref>Cabral, Lidia 2010. Brazil's development cooperation with the South: a global model in waiting (Template:Webarchive). London: Overseas Development Institute</ref>
Law enforcement and crime
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In Brazil, the Constitution establishes six different police agencies for law enforcement: Federal Police Department, Federal Highway Police, Federal Railroad Police, Federal, District and State Penal Police (included by the Constitutional Amendment No. 104, of 2019), Military Police and Civil Police. Of these, the first three are affiliated with federal authorities, the last two are subordinate to state governments and the Penal Police can be subordinated to the federal or state/district government. All police forces are overseen by the executive branch of the federal or state government.<ref name="Constituição" /> The National Public Security Force also can act in public disorder situations arising anywhere in the country.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The country has high levels of violent crime, such as gun violence and homicides. In 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated the number of 32 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest rates of homicide of the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The number considered acceptable by the WHO is about 10 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2018, Brazil had a record 63,880 murders.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> However, there are differences between the crime rates in the Brazilian states. While in São Paulo the homicide rate registered in 2013 was 10.8 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, in Alagoas it was 64.7 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Brazil also has high levels of incarceration. It had the third largest prison population in the world of approximately 700,000 prisoners as of June 2014, which put it only behind the United States (2,228,424) and China (1,701,344).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The high number of prisoners eventually overloaded the Brazilian prison system, leading to a shortfall of about 200,000 accommodations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Human rights
[edit]Template:See also Template:ExcerptSame-sex couples in Brazil have held nationwide marriage rights since May 2013.<ref name="edition.cnn.com">Template:Cite web</ref>
Political subdivisions
[edit]Template:Main Template:Further Brazil is a federation composed of 26 states, one federal district, and the 5,571 municipalities.<ref name="Constituição" /> States have autonomous administrations, collect their own taxes and receive a share of taxes collected by the Federal government. They have a governor and a unicameral legislative body elected directly by their voters. They also have independent Courts of Law for common justice. Despite this, states have much less autonomy to create their own laws than in other federal states such as the United States. For example, criminal and civil laws can be voted by only the federal bicameral Congress and are uniform throughout the country.<ref name="Constituição" />
Municipalities, as the states, have autonomous administrations, collect their own taxes and receive a share of taxes collected by the federal and state government.<ref name="Constituição" /> Each has an elected mayor and legislative body, but no separate Court of Law. Indeed, a Court of Law organized by the state can encompass many municipalities in a single justice administrative division called comarca (county).<ref name="Constituição" />
Brazil's constitution also provides for the creation of federal territories, which are administrative divisions directly controlled by the federal government. However, there are currently no federal territories in the country, as the 1988 Constitution abolished the last three: Amapá and Roraima (which gained statehood status) and Fernando de Noronha, which became a state district of Pernambuco.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Economy
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Brazil is a developing country with an upper-middle income mixed market economy that is rich in natural resources.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It has the largest national economy in Latin America, the eighth largest economy in the world by nominal GDP, and the eighth largest by PPP. After rapid growth in preceding decades, Brazil entered an ongoing recession in 2014 amid a political corruption scandal and nationwide protests; in 2024, the economy began showing consistent significant growth.<ref>Brazil Economy Beats Forecasts Again as Consumers Spend Big</ref> Brazil has a labor force of roughly 100 million,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which is the world's fifth largest, albeit with a high unemployment rate of 14.4% Template:As of.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Its foreign exchange reserves are the tenth-highest in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The B3 in São Paulo is the largest stock exchange of Latin America by market capitalization. Roughly one-fifth of Brazilians live in poverty: about 1.9% of the total population lives at $2.15 a day,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while about 19% live at $6.85 a day.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Brazil's economy suffers from endemic corruption and high income inequality.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Brazilian real is the national currency.
Brazil's diversified economy includes agriculture, industry and a wide range of services.<ref name="BansalPhatak2009">Template:Cite book</ref> The large service sector accounts for about 72.7% of total GDP, followed by the industrial sector (20.7%), while the agriculture sector is by far the smallest, making up 6.6% of total GDP.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Brazil is one of the largest producers of various agricultural commodities,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and also has a large cooperative sector that provides 50% of the food in the country.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It has been the world's largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years<ref name="Neilson102">Template:Cite book</ref> and is the world's largest producer of sugarcane, soy, coffee and orange; is one of the top fve producers of maize, cotton, lemon, tobacco, pineapple, banana, beans, coconut, watermelon and papaya; and is one of the top 10 world producers of cocoa, cashew, mango, rice, tomato, sorghum, tangerine, avocado, persimmon, and guava, among others. Regarding livestock, it is one of the five largest producers of chicken meat, beef, pork and cow's milk in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the mining sector, Brazil is among the largest producers of iron ore, copper, gold,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> bauxite, manganese, tin, niobium,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and nickel. In terms of precious stones, Brazil is the world's largest producer of amethyst, topaz, agate and one of the main producers of tourmaline, emerald, aquamarine, garnet and opal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The country is a major exporter of soy, iron ore, pulp (cellulose), maize, beef, chicken meat, soybean meal, sugar, coffee, tobacco, cotton, orange juice, footwear, airplanes, cars, vehicle parts, gold, ethanol and semi-finished iron, among other products.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Brazil is the world's 24th-largest exporter and 26th-largest importer Template:As of.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> China is its largest trading partner, accounting for 32% of the total trade. Other large trading partners include the United States, Argentina, the Netherlands and Canada.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Its automotive industry is the eighth-largest in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the food industry, Brazil was the second-largest exporter of processed foods in the world in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The country was the second-largest producer of pulp in the world and the eighth-largest producer of paper in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the footwear industry, Brazil was the fourth-largest producer in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was also the ninth-largest producer of steel in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2018, the chemical industry of Brazil was the eighth-largest in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Although it was among the five largest world producers in 2013, Brazil's textile industry is very little integrated into world trade.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The tertiary sector (trade and services) represented 75.8% of the country's GDP in 2018, according to the IBGE. The service sector was responsible for 60% of GDP and trade for 13%. It covers commerce, transport, education, social and health services, research and development, sports activities, etc.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Micro and small businesses represent 30% of the country's GDP. In the commercial sector, for example, they represent 53% of the GDP within the activities of the sector.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Tourism
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Tourism in Brazil is a growing sector and key to the economies of several regions of the country. The country had 6.36 million visitors in 2015, ranking in terms of the international tourist arrivals as the main destination in South America and second in Latin America after Mexico.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Revenues from international tourists reached Template:USD billion in 2010, showing a recovery from the 2008–2009 economic crisis.<ref name="UNWTO2011">Template:Cite web</ref> Historical records of 5.4 million visitors and Template:USD billion in receipts were reached in 2011.<ref name="MT1_2011">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="MT2_2011">Template:Cite web</ref> In the list of world tourist destinations, in 2018, Brazil was the 48th most visited country, with 6.6 million tourists (and revenues of 5.9 billion dollars).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Natural areas are its most popular tourism product, a combination of ecotourism with leisure and recreation, mainly sun and beach, and adventure travel, as well as cultural tourism. Among the most popular destinations are the Amazon Rainforest, beaches and dunes in the Northeast Region, the Pantanal in the Center-West Region, beaches at Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina, cultural tourism in Minas Gerais and business trips to São Paulo.<ref name="Palhares2012">Template:Cite book</ref>
In terms of the 2015 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), which is a measurement of the factors that make it attractive to develop business in the travel and tourism industry of individual countries, Brazil ranked in the 28th place at the world's level, third in the Americas, after Canada and United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="TTCI2013">Template:Cite web See Table 4, pp. 18–19 and Country/Economy Profile: Brazil, pp. 116–17.</ref> Domestic tourism is a key market segment for the tourism industry in Brazil. In 2005, 51 million Brazilian nationals made ten times more trips than foreign tourists and spent five times more money than their international counterparts.<ref name="FIPE007">Template:Cite web</ref> The main destination states in 2023 were São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Rio Grande do Sul.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The main source of tourists for the entire country is São Paulo state.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In terms of tourism revenues, the top earners by state were São Paulo and Bahia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For 2005, the three main trip purposes were visiting friends and family (53.1%), sun and beach (40.8%), and cultural tourism (12.5%).<ref name="FIPE006">Template:Cite web</ref>
Science and technology
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Technological research in Brazil is largely carried out in public universities and research institutes, with the majority of funding for basic research coming from various government agencies.<ref name="DevelopmentStaff2006v">Template:Cite book</ref> Brazil's most esteemed technological hubs are the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, the Butantan Institute, the Air Force's Aerospace Technical Center, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation and the National Institute for Space Research.<ref name="Scientific2010f">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="HarveySmid2010">Template:Cite book</ref>
The Brazilian Space Agency has the most advanced space program in Latin America, with significant resources to launch vehicles, and manufacture of satellites.Template:Sfnp The country develops submarines and aircraft, as well as being involved in space research, having a Vehicle Launch Center Light and being the only country in the Southern Hemisphere to integrate a team building the well-known International Space Station (ISS).<ref name="NASA">NASA Signs International Space Station Agreement With Brazil Template:Webarchive NASA.</ref>
The country is also a pioneer in the search for oil in deep water, from where it extracts 73% of its reserves. Uranium is enriched at the Resende Nuclear Fuel Factory, mostly for research purposes (as Brazil obtains 88% of its electricity from hydroelectricity<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>) and the country's first nuclear submarine is expected to be launched in 2029.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Brazil is one of the three countries in Latin America<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with an operational Synchrotron Laboratory, a research facility on physics, chemistry, material science and life sciences, and Brazil is the only Latin American country to have a semiconductor company with its own fabrication plant, the CEITEC.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to the Global Information Technology Report 2009–2010 of the World Economic Forum, Brazil is the world's 61st largest developer of information technology.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Brazil was ranked 50th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024, up from 66th in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Among the most renowned Brazilian inventors are priests Bartolomeu de Gusmão, Landell de Moura and Francisco João de Azevedo, besides Alberto Santos-Dumont,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Evaristo Conrado Engelberg,<ref name="patentbritish">Template:Cite web</ref> Manuel Dias de Abreu,<ref>Abreu, Manuel de, pag. 17 – Grande Enciclopédia Universal – edição de 1980 – Ed.Amazonas</ref> Andreas Pavel<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Nélio José Nicolai.<ref>Exposição destaca centenário do CEFET-MG Sítio do Cefet-MG, acessado em 13 de novembro de 2010 Template:Webarchive</ref> Brazilian science is represented by the likes of César Lattes (Brazilian physicist Pathfinder of Pi Meson),<ref name="Lattes">Template:Cite web</ref> Mário Schenberg (considered the greatest theoretical physicist of Brazil),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> José Leite Lopes (the only Brazilian physicist holder of the UNESCO Science Prize),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Artur Avila (the first Latin American winner of the Fields Medal)<ref>Brasileiro ganha a Medalha Fields, considerada o "Nobel da Matemática" Template:Webarchive.</ref> and Fritz Müller (pioneer in factual support of the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin).<ref name="West, David A 2003">West, David A. 2003. Fritz Müller: a naturalist in Brazil. Blacksburg: Pocahontas Press</ref>
Energy
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Brazil is the world's ninth-largest energy consumer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Much of its energy comes from renewable sources, particularly hydroelectricity and ethanol; the Itaipu Dam is the world's largest hydroelectric plant by energy generation,<ref name="SchmidtOnyango2011">Template:Cite book</ref> and the country has other large plants such as Belo Monte and Tucuruí. The first car with an ethanol engine was produced in 1978 and the first airplane engine running on ethanol in 2005.<ref name="OECDDevelopment2001">Template:Cite book</ref>
At the end of 2021 Brazil was the 2nd country in the world in terms of installed hydroelectric power (109.4 GW) and biomass (15.8 GW), the 7th country in the world in terms of installed wind power (21.1 GW) and the 14th country in the world in terms of installed solar power (13.0 GW)—on track to also become one of the top 10 in the world in solar energy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At the end of 2021, Brazil was the 4th largest producer of wind energy in the world (72 TWh), behind only China, the United States and Germany, and the 11th largest producer of solar energy in the world (16.8 TWh).<ref>Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser, Solar Power Generation</ref>
The main characteristic of the Brazilian energy matrix is that it is much more renewable than that of the world. While in 2019, the world matrix was only 14% made up of renewable energy, Brazil's was at 45%. Petroleum and oil products made up 34.3% of the matrix; sugar cane derivatives, 18%; hydraulic energy, 12.4%; natural gas, 12.2%; firewood and charcoal, 8.8%; varied renewable energies, 7%; mineral coal, 5.3%; nuclear, 1.4%, and other non-renewable energies, 0.6%.<ref name="Matriz Energética e Elétrica">Template:Cite web</ref>
In the electric energy matrix, the difference between Brazil and the world is even greater: while the world only had 25% of renewable electric energy in 2019, Brazil had 83%. The Brazilian electric matrix was composed of: hydraulic energy, 64.9%; biomass, 8.4%; wind energy, 8.6%; solar energy, 1%; natural gas, 9.3%; oil products, 2%; nuclear, 2.5%; coal and derivatives, 3.3%.<ref name="Matriz Energética e Elétrica" /> Brazil has the largest electricity sector in Latin America. Its capacity at the end of 2021 was 181,532 MW.<ref name="Ministério de Minas e Energia">[1] National Agency of Energy</ref>
As for oil, the Brazilian government has embarked on a program over the decades to reduce dependence on imported oil, which previously accounted for more than 70% of the country's oil needs. Brazil became self-sufficient in oil in 2006–2007. In 2021, the country closed the year as the 7th oil producer in the world, with an average of close to three million barrels per day, becoming an exporter of the product.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Transportation
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Brazilian roads are the primary carriers of freight and passenger traffic. The road system totaled Template:Convert in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The total of paved roads increased from Template:Convert in 1967 to Template:Convert in 2018.Template:Cn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Brazil's railway system has been declining since 1945, when emphasis shifted to highway construction. The country's total railway track length was Template:Convert in 2015,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> as compared with Template:Convert in 1970, making it the ninth largest network in the world. Most of the railway system belonged to the Federal Railroad Network Corporation (RFFSA), which was privatized in 2007.<ref>"OPrincipais ferrovias". Ministerio dos Transportes Template:In lang Template:Webarchive</ref> The São Paulo Metro began operating on 14 September 1974 as the first underground transit system in Brazil.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
There are about 2,500 airports in Brazil, including landing fields: the second-largest number in the world, after the United States.<ref>"Ociosidade atinge 70% dos principais aeroportos". O Globo, 12 August 2007. Template:In lang</ref> São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport, near São Paulo, is the largest and busiest airport with nearly 43 million passengers annually, while handling the vast majority of commercial traffic for the country.<ref name="Palhares2012x">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
For freight transport, waterways are of importance. The industrial zones of Manaus can be reached only by means of the Solimões–Amazonas waterway (Template:Convert in length, with a minimum depth of Template:Convert). The country also has Template:Convert of waterways.<ref name="2012ciagini">Country Comparison to the World: Gini Index – Brazil Template:Webarchive The World Factbook. Retrieved on 3 April 2012.</ref> Coastal shipping links widely separated parts of the country. Bolivia and Paraguay have been given free ports at Santos. Of the 36 deep-water ports, Santos, Itajaí, Rio Grande, Paranaguá, Rio de Janeiro, Sepetiba, Vitória, Suape, Manaus and São Francisco do Sul are the most important.<ref>"Mercado Brasileiro Terminais de Contêineres", Santos Brasil. Template:In lang</ref> Bulk carriers have to wait up to 18 days before being serviced; container ships take 36.3 hours on average.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Demographics
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According to the latest official projection, Brazil's estimated population was 210,862,983 on July 1, 2022—an adjustment of 3.9% from the initial figure of 203 million reported by the 2022 census.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The population of Brazil, as recorded by the 2008 PNAD, was approximately 190 million<ref>2008 PNAD, IBGE. "População residente por situação, sexo e grupos de idade"</ref> (Template:Convert), with a ratio of men to women of 0.95:1<ref>2008 PNAD, IBGE. "População residente por situação, sexo e grupos de idade"</ref> and 83.75% of the population defined as urban.<ref>2008 PNAD, IBGE. "População residente por situação, sexo e grupos de idade".</ref> The population is heavily concentrated in the Southeast (79.8 million inhabitants) and Northeast (53.5 million inhabitants), while the two most extensive regions, the Center-West and the North, which together make up 64.12% of Brazilian territory, have a total of only 29.1 million inhabitants.
The first census in Brazil was carried out in 1872 and recorded a population of 9,930,478.<ref>"Brazil population reaches 190.8 million" Template:Webarchive. Brasil.gov.br.</ref> From 1880 to 1930, four million Europeans arrived.<ref>"Shaping Brazil: The Role of International Migration". Migration Policy Institute.</ref> Brazil's population increased significantly between 1940 and 1970, because of a decline in the mortality rate, even though the birth rate underwent a slight decline. In the 1940s the annual population growth rate was 2.4%, rising to 3.0% in the 1950s and remaining at 2.9% in the 1960s, as life expectancy rose from 44 to 54 years<ref>José Alberto Magno de Carvalho, "Crescimento populacional e estrutura demográfica no Brasil" Template:Webarchive Belo Horizonte: UFMG/Cedeplar, 2004 (PDF file), p. 5.</ref> and to 72.6 years in 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It has been steadily falling since the 1960s, from 3.04% per year between 1950 and 1960 to 1.05% in 2008 and is expected to fall to a negative value of –0.29% by 2050<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> thus completing the demographic transition.<ref>Magno de Carvalho, "Crescimento populacional e estrutura demográfica no Brasil"Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore, pp. 7–8.</ref>
In 2022, the illiteracy rate was roughly 7%,<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> a significant decline from 11.48% in 2008.<ref>PNAD 2008, IBGE. "Pessoas de 5 anos ou mais de idade por situação, sexo, alfabetização e grupos de idade e grupos de idade".</ref> By comparison, in 1940, more than half the population (54%) was illiterate.<ref name=":1" />
Race and ethnicity
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According to the 2022 Brazilian census, 45.3% of the population (92.1 million) described themselves as Pardo (meaning brown or multiracial), 43.5% (88.2 million) as White, 10.2% (20.7 million) as Black, 0.6% (1.2 million) as Indigenous and 0.4% (850,000) as East Asian (officially called yellow or amarela).<ref name="PNADIBGE">2008 PNAD, IBGE. [2].</ref>
Since the arrival of the Portuguese in 1500, considerable genetic mixing between Amerindians, Europeans, and Africans has taken place in all regions of the country:
- European ancestry being dominant according to all autosomal studies undertaken covering the population, accounting for between 60% and 65% of the average genetic makeup of the Brazilian population.<ref name="alvaro.com.br2">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="www1.folha.uol.com.br2">Brazilian DNA is nearly 80% European, indicates study.</ref><ref name="bdtd.bce.unb.br2">NMO Godinho O impacto das migrações na constituição genética de populações latino-americanas Template:Webarchive. PhD Thesis, Universidade de Brasília (2008).</ref><ref name="plosone.org2">Template:Cite journal</ref>
- African ancestry among the Brazilians is estimated at 20% to 25% of the average genetic makeup<ref name="bdtd.bce.unb.br2" /><ref name="wiley12">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="scielo.br2">Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Indigenous ancestry is significant and present in all regions of Brazil, accounting for around 15% to 20% of the average genetic ancestry of Brazilians.<ref name="wiley12"/><ref name="alvaro.com.br3">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="bdtd.bce.unb.br3">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="plosone.org3">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="hereditas.com.br2">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="pmid145958742">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
From the 19th century, Brazil opened its borders to immigration. About five million people from over 60 countries migrated to Brazil between 1808 and 1972, most of them of Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, German, English, Ukrainian, Polish, Jewish, African, Armenian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Arab origin.<ref>Template:Cite journal, Table 2, p. 74. Template:In lang</ref><ref>Zirin, 2014. Chapter 2, Section "The Beginning of the 'Mosaic' ".</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Brazil has the second-largest Jewish community in both Latin and South America after Argentina making up 0.06% of its population.<ref name="autogenerated2">Template:Cite web</ref> Outside of the Arab world, Brazil also has the largest population of Arab ancestry in the world, with 15–20 million people.<ref name="Ferabolli2014">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Amar2014">Template:Cite book</ref> According to Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brazil is home to a Lebanese diaspora of 7 million to 10 million, surpassing the population of Lebanese individuals residing in Lebanon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Brazilian society is more markedly divided by social class lines, although a high income disparity is found between race groups, so racism and classism often overlap. The brown population (officially called pardo in Portuguese, also colloquially moreno)<ref name="Coelho 1996, p. 268">Coelho (1996), p. 268.</ref><ref name="Vesentini 1988, p. 117">Vesentini (1988), p. 117.</ref> is a broad category that includes caboclos (assimilated Amerindians in general, and descendants of Whites and Natives), mulatos (descendants of primarily Whites and Afro-Brazilians) and cafuzos (descendants of Afro-Brazilians and Natives).<ref name="Coelho 1996, p. 268" /><ref name="Vesentini 1988, p. 117" /><ref>Adas, Melhem Panorama geográfico do Brasil, 4th ed (São Paulo: Moderna, 2004), p. 268 Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Azevedo (1971), pp. 2–3.</ref><ref name="Moreira 1981, p. 108">Moreira (1981), p. 108.</ref> Higher percents of Blacks, mulattoes and tri-racials can be found in the eastern coast of the Northeastern region from Bahia to Paraíba<ref name="Moreira 1981, p. 108" /><ref>Azevedo (1971), pp. 74–75.</ref> and also in northern Maranhão,<ref>Enciclopédia Barsa, vol. 10 (Rio de Janeiro: Encyclopædia Britannica do Brasil, 1987), p. 355.</ref><ref>Azevedo (1971), p. 74.</ref> southern Minas Gerais<ref name="Azevedo 1971, p. 161">Azevedo (1971), p. 161.</ref> and eastern Rio de Janeiro.<ref name="Moreira 1981, p. 108" /><ref name="Azevedo 1971, p. 161" />
People of considerable Amerindian ancestry form the majority of the population in the Northern, Northeastern and Center-Western regions.<ref>Enciclopédia Barsa, vol. 4, pp. 254–55, 258, 265.</ref> In 2007, the National Indian Foundation estimated that Brazil has 67 different uncontacted tribes, up from their estimate of 40 in 2005. Brazil is believed to have the largest number of uncontacted peoples in the world.<ref>"In Amazonia, Defending the Hidden Tribes", The Washington Post (8 July 2007).</ref>
Religion
[edit]Template:Main Template:Further Template:Pie chart Christianity is the country's predominant faith, with Roman Catholicism being its largest denomination. Brazil has the world's largest Catholic population.<ref name="PEWCATHOLIC">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="USDS">Template:Cite conference</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to the 2010 demographic census (the PNAD survey does not inquire about religion), 64.63% of the population followed Roman Catholicism; 22.2% Protestantism; 2.0% Kardecist spiritism; 3.2% other religions, undeclared or undetermined; while 8.0% had no religion.<ref name="census2010">IBGE – Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics). 2010 Census. Retrieved 7 August 2012.</ref> In 2019, it was estimated that 50% were Roman Catholic; 31% Protestant; 11% irreligious; 3% Spiritist; 2% practitioners of Afro-Brazilian faiths; and 0.3% Jewish.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Religious diversity in Brazil developed from the meeting of the Roman Catholic Church with the religious traditions of enslaved African peoples and indigenous peoples.<ref name="BoyleSheen2013">Template:Cite book</ref> This confluence of faiths during the Portuguese colonization of Brazil led to the development of a diverse array of syncretistic practices within the overarching umbrella of Brazilian Catholic Church, characterized by traditional Portuguese festivities.<ref name="georgetown1">Template:Cite web</ref>
Religious pluralism increased during the 20th century,<ref name="Morris2006a">Template:Cite book</ref> and the Protestant community had grown to include over 22% of the population by 2010—partly due to a mixture of American missionary and government influence.<ref name="JeynesRobinson2012">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The most common Protestant denominations are Evangelical Pentecostal ones. Other Protestant branches with a notable presence in the country include the Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, Lutherans and the Reformed tradition.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In recent decades, Protestantism, particularly in forms of Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism, has spread in Brazil, while the proportion of Catholics had dropped significantly during the 2010s.<ref name="georgetown2">Template:Cite web See drop-down essay on "The Growth of Religious Pluralism"</ref> As they have spread throughout Brazil, many have even been deeply involved in Brazilian and international politics,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Evangelical Protestant influence has been implicated in the 2022 Brazilian coup plot.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Since 2022, Evangelicals and Catholics have considered begun reconsidering religion as a political factor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
After Protestantism, individuals professing no religion are also a significant group, having exceeded 8% of the population according to the 2010 census. The cities of Boa Vista, Salvador, and Porto Velho have the greatest proportion of Irreligious residents in Brazil. Teresina, Fortaleza, and Florianópolis were the most Roman Catholic in the country.<ref name="FGV no G1">Template:Cite web</ref> Greater Rio de Janeiro, not including the city proper, is the most irreligious and least Roman Catholic Brazilian periphery, while Greater Porto Alegre and Greater Fortaleza are on the opposite sides of the lists, respectively.<ref name="FGV no G1" />
In October 2009, the Brazilian Senate approved and enacted by the President of Brazil in February 2010, an agreement with the Vatican, in which the Legal Statute of the Catholic Church in Brazil is recognized.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Health
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The Brazilian public health system, the Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde – SUS), is managed and provided by all levels of government,<ref name="ForgiaCouttolenc2008">Template:Cite book</ref> being the largest system of this type in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On the other hand, private healthcare systems play a complementary role.<ref name="Wolper2004">Template:Cite book</ref> Public health services are universal and offered to all citizens of the country for free. However, the construction and maintenance of health centers and hospitals are financed by taxes, and the country spends about 9% of its GDP on expenditures in the area. In 2012, Brazil had 1.85 doctors and 2.3 hospital beds for every 1,000 inhabitants.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Despite all the progress made since the creation of the universal health care system in 1988, there are still several public health problems in Brazil. In 2006, the main points to be solved were the high infant (2.51%) and maternal mortality rates (73.1 deaths per 1000 births).<ref name="Radar social" />
The number of deaths from noncommunicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases (151.7 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants) and cancer (72.7 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants), also has a considerable impact on the health of the Brazilian population. Finally, external but preventable factors such as car accidents, violence and suicide caused 14.9% of all deaths in the country.<ref name="Radar social">Template:Cite web</ref> The Brazilian health system was ranked 125th among the 191 countries evaluated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Education
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The Federal Constitution and the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education determine that the Union, the states, the Federal District and the 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 constitution reserves 25% of the state budget and 18% of federal taxes and municipal taxes for education.<ref name="Usa2005">Template:Cite book</ref>
According to the IBGE, in 2019, the literacy rate of the population was 93.4%, meaning that 11.3 million (6.6% of population) people are still illiterate in the country, with some states such as Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina reaching around 97% of literacy rate;<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> functional illiteracy has reached 21.6% of the population.<ref name="Agency2010">Template:Cite book</ref> Illiteracy is higher in the Northeast, where 13.87% of the population is illiterate, while the South, has 3.3% of its population illiterate.<ref name="Bank2001">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":0" />
Brazil's private institutions tend to be more exclusive and offer better quality education, so many high-income families send their children there. The result is a segregated educational system that reflects extreme income disparities and reinforces social inequality. However, efforts to change this are making impacts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The University of São Paulo is often considered the best in Brazil and Latin America.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Of the top 20 Latin American universities, eight are Brazilian; most are public. Attending an institution of higher education is required by Law of Guidelines and Bases of Education. Kindergarten, elementary and medium education are required of all students.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Language
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The official language of Brazil is Portuguese (Article 13 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Brazil), which almost all of the population speaks and is virtually the only language used in newspapers, radio, television, and for business and administrative purposes. 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 those of its Spanish-speaking neighbors.<ref name="language2">Template:Cite web</ref>
Brazilian Portuguese has had its own development, mostly similar to 16th-century Central and Southern dialects of European Portuguese<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (despite a very substantial number of Portuguese colonial settlers, and more recent immigrants, coming from Northern regions, and in minor degree Portuguese Macaronesia), with a few influences from the Amerindian and African languages, especially West African and Bantu restricted to the vocabulary only.<ref name="Portuguese" /> As a result, the language is somewhat different, mostly in phonology, from the language of Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries (the dialects of the other countries, partly because of the more recent end of Portuguese colonialism in these regions, have a closer connection to contemporary European Portuguese). These differences are comparable to those between American and British English.<ref name="Portuguese">Template:Cite web</ref>
The 2002 sign language law<ref name="Libras 2002">LEI Nº 10.436, DE 24 DE ABRIL DE 2002. Presidência da República, Casa Civil, Subchefia para Assuntos Jurídicos. Retrieved on 19 May 2012.</ref> requires government authorities and public agencies to accept and provide information in Língua Brasileira dos Sinais or "LIBRAS", the Brazilian Sign Language, while a 2005 presidential edict<ref name="Libras 2005">Brazilian decree nº 5626, 22 December 2005. Planalto.gov.br (23 December 2005). Retrieved on 19 May 2012.</ref> extends this to require teaching of the language as a part of the education and speech and language pathology curricula. LIBRAS teachers, instructors and translators are recognized professionals. Schools and health services must provide access ("inclusion") to deaf people.<ref name="Russo2011">Template:Cite book</ref>
Minority languages are spoken throughout the nation. One hundred and eighty Amerindian languages are spoken in remote areas and a significant number of other languages are spoken by immigrants and their descendants.<ref name="Portuguese" /> In the municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Nheengatu (a currently endangered creole language with Tupi lexicon and Portuguese-based grammar that, together with its southern relative língua geral paulista, once was a major lingua franca in Brazil),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Overly detailed inline Baniwa and Tucano languages had been granted co-official status with Portuguese.<ref name="nyt-language">Template:Cite news</ref>
There are significant communities of German (mostly the Brazilian Hunsrückisch, a High German language dialect) and Italian (mostly the Talian, a Venetian dialect) origins in the Southern and Southeastern regions, whose ancestors' native languages were carried along to Brazil, and which, still alive there, are influenced by the Portuguese language.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Talian is officially a historic patrimony of Rio Grande do Sul,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and two German dialects possess co-official status in a few municipalities.<ref name="Stevenson1997">Template:Cite book</ref> Italian is also recognized as ethnic language in Santa Teresa and Vila Velha, in the state of Espírito Santo, and is taught as mandatory second language at school.Template:Citation needed
Urbanization
[edit]According to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) urban areas already concentrate 84.35% of the population, while the Southeast region remains the most populated one, with over 80 million inhabitants.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The largest urban agglomerations in Brazil are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte—all in the Southeastern Region—with 21.1, 12.3, and 5.1 million inhabitants respectively.<ref name="concentrações_urbanas" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The majority of state capitals are the largest cities in their states, except for Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, and Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia Template:Dubious</ref> Template:Largest urban agglomerations in Brazil
Culture
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The core culture of Brazil is derived from Portuguese culture, because of its strong colonial ties with the Portuguese Empire.<ref name="Meade2009">Template:Cite book</ref> Among other influences, the Portuguese introduced the Portuguese language, Roman Catholicism and colonial architectural styles. Brazilian culture was also strongly influenced by African, indigenous and non-Portuguese European cultures and traditions.<ref name="Levinson1998">Template:Cite book</ref>
Some aspects of Brazilian culture were influenced by the contributions of Italian, German and other European as well as Japanese, Jewish and Arab immigrants who arrived in large numbers in the South and Southeast of Brazil during the 19th and 20th centuries.<ref name="Lesser2013a">Template:Cite book</ref> The indigenous Amerindians influenced Brazil's language and cuisine; and the Africans influenced language, cuisine, music, dance and religion.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Brazilian art has developed since the 16th century into different styles that range from Baroque (the dominant style in Brazil until the early 19th century)<ref>Leandro Karnal, Teatro da fé: Formas de representação religiosa no Brasil e no México do século XVI, São Paulo, Editora Hucitec, 1998; available on fflch.usp.br Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name="itaucultural.org.br">"The Brazilian Baroque", Encyclopaedia Itaú Cultural Template:Webarchive</ref> to Romanticism, Modernism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism and Abstractionism. Brazilian cinema dates back to the birth of the medium in the late 19th century and has gained a new level of international acclaim since the 1960s.<ref name="Marsh2012">Template:Cite book</ref>
Architecture
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The architecture of Brazil is influenced by Europe, especially Portugal. It has a history that goes back 500 years to the time, when Pedro Álvares Cabral landed in Brazil in 1500. Portuguese colonial architecture was the first wave of architecture to go to Brazil.<ref>Hue, Jorge de Souza (1999). Uma visão da arquitectura colonial no Brasil [A vision of Colonial Architecture in Brazil] (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro.</ref> It is the basis for all Brazilian architecture of later centuries.<ref>Boxer, Charles Ralph (1962). The Golden Age of Brazil, 1695–1750: Growing Pains of a Colonial Society. University of California Press.</ref> In the 19th century, during the time of the Empire of Brazil, the country followed European trends and adopted Neoclassical and Gothic Revival architecture. Then, in the 20th century, especially in Brasília, Brazil experimented with modernist architecture.
The colonial architecture of Brazil dates to the early 16th century, when Brazil was first explored, conquered and settled by the Portuguese. The Portuguese built architecture familiar to them in Europe in their aim to colonize Brazil. They built Portuguese colonial architecture, which included churches and civic architecture, including houses and forts, in Brazilian cities and the countryside.<ref name="Guimaraens" />
During the 19th century, Brazilian architecture saw the introduction of more European styles to Brazil, such as Neoclassical and Gothic Revival architecture. This was usually mixed with Brazilian influences from their own heritage.<ref name="Guimaraens">Guimaraens, Cêça de. Arquitetura Template:Webarchive. Portal do Ministério das Relações Exteriores.</ref> In the 1950s modernist architecture was introduced when Brasília was built as a new federal capital in the interior of Brazil to help develop the interior. The architect Oscar Niemeyer idealized and built government buildings, churches and civic buildings in the modernist style.<ref name="Claro">Claro, Mauro. "Ambientes modernos. A casa modernista da Rua Santa Cruz, de Gregori Warchavchik, e outras casas da modernidade". In: Drops, 2008; 09 (025.03)</ref>
Music
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The music of Brazil was formed mainly from the fusion of European, Native Indigenous, and African elements.<ref name="FonsecaWeiner1991">Template:Cite book</ref> 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 an influence of Viennese classicism.<ref name="Grazia2013">Template:Cite book</ref> The major contribution of the African element was the rhythmic diversity and some dances and instruments.<ref name="FonsecaWeiner1991" />
Popular music since the late eighteenth century, samba was considered the most typical and on the UNESCO cultural heritage list.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Samba-reggae, Maracatu, Frevo and Afoxê are four music traditions that have been popularized by their appearance in the annual Brazilian Carnivals.<ref name="Crook2009">Template:Cite book</ref> Capoeira is usually played with its own music referred to as capoeira music, which is usually considered to be a call-and-response type of folk music.<ref name="Fryer2000">Template:Cite book</ref> Forró is a type of folk music prominent during the Festa Junina in northeastern Brazil.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jack A. Draper III, a professor of Portuguese at the University of Missouri,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> argues that Forró was used as a way to subdue feelings of nostalgia for a rural lifestyle.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Choro is a popular musical instrumental style. Its origins are in 19th-century Rio de Janeiro. The style often has a fast and happy rhythm, characterized by subtle modulations and full of syncopation and counterpoint.<ref name="MacGowanPessanha1998">Template:Cite book</ref> Bossa nova is also a well-known style of Brazilian music developed and popularized in the 1950s and 1960s.Template:Sfnp The phrase "bossa nova" means literally 'new trend'.<ref name="Kassing2007">Template:Cite book</ref> A lyrical fusion of samba and jazz, bossa nova acquired a large following starting in the 1960s.<ref name="Campbell2011b">Template:Cite book</ref> Some international Brazilian music artists are, for example: Carmen Miranda, Tom Jobim, João Gilberto, Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66, Eumir Deodato, Kaoma, Sepultura, Olodum.
Literature
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Brazilian literature dates back to the 16th century, to the writings of the first Portuguese explorers in Brazil, such as Pero Vaz de Caminha, filled with descriptions of fauna, flora and commentary about the indigenous population that fascinated European readers.Template:Sfnp
Brazil produced significant works in Romanticism—novelists such as 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 Guarani, Iracema and Ubirajara.<ref>"Brazilian Literature: An Introduction". Embassy of Brasil – Ottawa. Visited on 2 November 2009.</ref> Machado de Assis, one of his contemporaries, wrote in virtually all genres and continues to gain international prestige from critics worldwide.<ref>Candido; Antonio. (1970) Vários escritos. São Paulo: Duas Cidades. p. 18</ref><ref>Caldwell, Helen (1970) Machado de Assis: The Brazilian Master and his Novels. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, University of California Press.</ref><ref>Fernandez, Oscar Machado de Assis: The Brazilian Master and His Novels The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Apr. 1971), pp. 255–56</ref>
Brazilian Modernism, evidenced by the Modern Art Week in 1922, was concerned with a nationalist avant-garde literature,<ref>Beatriz Mugayar Kühl, Arquitetura do ferro e arquitetura ferroviária em São Paulo: reflexões sobre a sua preservação, p. 202. Atelie Editorial, 1998.</ref> while Post-Modernism brought a generation of distinct poets such as João Cabral de Melo Neto, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Vinicius de Moraes, Cora Coralina, Graciliano Ramos, Cecília Meireles, and internationally known writers dealing with universal and regional subjects such as Jorge Amado, João Guimarães Rosa, Clarice Lispector and Manuel Bandeira.<ref>Daniel Balderston and Mike Gonzalez, Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean Literature, 1900–2003, p. 288. Routledge, 2004.</ref><ref>Sayers, Portugal and Brazil in Transitn, "Literature". U of Minnesota Press, 1 January 1999.</ref><ref>Marshall C. Eakin and Paulo Roberto de Almeida, Envisioning Brazil: A Guide to Brazilian Studies in the United States: "Literature, Culture and Civilization". University of Wisconsin Press, 31 October 2005.</ref>
Brazil's most significant literary award is the Camões Prize, which it shares with the rest of the Portuguese-speaking world. As of 2016, Brazil has eleven recipients of the prize.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Brazil also holds its own literary academy, the Brazilian Academy of Letters, a non-profit cultural organization aimed at perpetuating the care of the national language and literature.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Cinema
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The Brazilian film industry began in the late 19th century, during the early days of the Belle Époque. While there were national film productions during the early 20th century, American films such as Rio the Magnificent were made in Rio de Janeiro to promote tourism in the city.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The films Limite (1931) and Ganga Bruta (1933), the latter being produced by Adhemar Gonzaga through the prolific studio Cinédia, were poorly received at release and failed at the box office, but are acclaimed nowadays and placed among the finest Brazilian films of all time.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> The 1941 unfinished film It's All True was divided into four segments, two of which were filmed in Brazil and directed by Orson Welles; it was originally produced as part of the United States' Good Neighbor Policy during Getúlio Vargas' Estado Novo government.
During the 1960s, the Cinema Novo movement rose to prominence with directors such as Glauber Rocha, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Paulo Cesar Saraceni and Arnaldo Jabor. Rocha's films Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (1964) and Terra em Transe (1967) are considered to be some of the greatest and most influential in Brazilian film history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
During the 1990s, Brazil saw a surge of critical and commercial success with films such as O Quatrilho (Fábio Barreto, 1995), O Que É Isso, Companheiro? (Bruno Barreto, 1997) and Central do Brasil (Walter Salles, 1998), all of which were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the latter receiving a Best Actress nomination for Fernanda Montenegro. The 2002 crime film City of God, directed by Fernando Meirelles, was critically acclaimed, scoring 90% on Rotten Tomatoes,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> being placed in Roger Ebert's Best Films of the Decade list<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and receiving four Academy Award nominations in 2004, including Best Director. Notable film festivals in Brazil include the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro International Film Festivals and the Gramado Festival.
Visual arts
[edit]Brazilian painting emerged in the late 16th century,<ref>Louzada, Maria Alice & Louzada, Julio. Os Primeiros Momentos da Arte Brasileira Template:Webarchive. Júlio Louzada Artes Plásticas Brasil. Acesso 5 out 2010</ref> influenced by Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Modernism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Cubism and Abstracionism making it a major art style called Brazilian academic art.<ref>Leite, José Roberto Teixeira & Lemos, Carlos A.C. Os Primeiros Cem Anos, in Civita, Victor. Arte no Brasil. São Paulo: Abril Cultural, 1979</ref><ref name="Biscardi" />
The French Artistic Mission arrived in Brazil in 1816 proposing the creation of an art academy modeled after the respected Académie des Beaux-Arts, with graduation courses both for artists and craftsmen for activities such as modeling, decorating, carpentry and others and bringing artists such as Jean-Baptiste Debret.<ref name="Biscardi">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Upon the creation of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, new artistic movements spread across the country during the 19th century and later the event called Modern Art Week broke with academic tradition in 1922 and started a nationalist trend which was influenced by modernist arts.<ref name="Amaral">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Among the best-known Brazilian painters are Ricardo do Pilar and Manuel da Costa Ataíde (baroque and rococo), Victor Meirelles, Pedro Américo and Almeida Júnior (romanticism and realism), Anita Malfatti, Ismael Nery, Lasar Segall, Emiliano di Cavalcanti, Vicente do Rego Monteiro, and Tarsila do Amaral (expressionism, surrealism and cubism), Aldo Bonadei, José Pancetti and Cândido Portinari (modernism).<ref>Sevcenko, Nicolau. Pindorama revisitada: cultura e sociedade em tempos de virada. Série Brasil cidadão. Editora Peirópolis, 2000. pp. 39–47</ref>
Theatre
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The theatre in Brazil has its origins in the period of Jesuit expansion, when theater was used for the dissemination of Catholic doctrine in the 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, dramatists on the scene of European derivation were for court or private performances.<ref>Padre Anchieta Brasil Escola.</ref> During the 19th century, the playwrights Antônio Gonçalves Dias and Luís Carlos Martins Pena were known for their performance.<ref name=teatro>Template:Cite web</ref> There were also numerous operas and orchestras. The Brazilian conductor Antônio Carlos Gomes became internationally known with operas such as Il Guarany. At the end of the 19th century, orchestrated dramaturgias were accompanied with songs of famous artists such as the conductress Chiquinha Gonzaga.<ref>O Teatro no Brasil Secretaria da Educação do Paraná.</ref>
Already in the early 20th century there was the presence of theaters, entrepreneurs and actor companies. In 1940, Paschoal Carlos Magno and his student's theater, the comedians group and the Italian actors Adolfo Celi, Ruggero Jacobbi and Aldo Calvo, founders of the Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia, renewed the Brazilian theater. From the 1960s, it was attended by a theater dedicated to social and religious issues. The most prominent authors at this stage were Jorge Andrade and Ariano Suassuna.<ref name=teatro />
Cuisine
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Brazilian cuisine varies greatly by region, reflecting the country's varying mix of indigenous and immigrant populations. This has created a national cuisine marked by the preservation of regional differences.<ref name="Encarta 4">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Some of the most well known Brazilian foods are the Feijoada, considered the country's national dish;<ref>Roger, "Feijoada: The Brazilian national dish" Template:Webarchive braziltravelguide.com.</ref> and Churrasco, a kind of barbecue which is often served in rodízio style. Other regional foods include beijú, feijão tropeiro, vatapá, moqueca, polenta (from Italian cuisine) and acarajé (from African cuisine).<ref>Cascudo, Luis da Câmara. História da Alimentação no Brasil. São Paulo/Belo Horizonte: Editora USP/Itatiaia, 1983.</ref> The national beverage is coffee; cachaça is Brazil's native liquor. Cachaça is distilled from sugar cane and is the main ingredient in the national cocktail, Caipirinha.<ref name="Bayor2011">Template:Cite book</ref>
A typical meal consists mostly of rice and beans with beef, salad, french fries and a fried egg.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Often, it is mixed with cassava flour (farofa). Fried potatoes, fried cassava, fried banana, fried meat and fried cheese are very often eaten in lunch and served in most typical restaurants.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Popular snacks are pastel (a fried pastry); coxinha (a variation of chicken croquete); pão de queijo (cheese bread and cassava flour / tapioca); pamonha (corn and milk paste); esfirra (a variation of Lebanese pastry); kibbeh (from Arabic cuisine); empanada (pastry) and empada, little salt pies filled with shrimps or heart of palm.
Brazil has a variety of desserts such as brigadeiros (chocolate fudge balls), bolo de rolo (roll cake with goiabada), cocada (a coconut sweet), beijinhos (coconut truffles and clove) and Romeu e Julieta (cheese with goiabada). Peanuts are used to make paçoca, rapadura and pé-de-moleque. Local common fruits such as açaí, cupuaçu, mango, papaya, cocoa, cashew, guava, orange, lime, passionfruit, pineapple, and hog plum are turned in juices and used to make chocolates, ice pops and ice cream.<ref>Freyre, Gilberto. Açúcar. Uma Sociologia do Doce, com Receitas de Bolos e Doces do Nordeste do Brasil. São Paulo, Companhia das Letras, 1997.</ref>
Media
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The Brazilian press was officially born in Rio de Janeiro on 13 May 1808 with the creation of the Royal Printing National Press by the Prince Regent Dom João.<ref name="EchevarríaPupo-Walker1996">Template:Cite book</ref> The Template:Lang, the first newspaper published in the country, began to circulate on 10 September 1808.<ref name="Johnston2003">Template:Cite book</ref> The largest newspapers nowadays are Template:Lang, Super Notícia, O Globo and O Estado de S. Paulo.<ref name="Vincent2003B">Template:Cite book</ref>
Radio broadcasting began on 7 September 1922, with a speech by then President Pessoa, and was formalized on 20 April 1923 with the creation of the "Radio Society of Rio de Janeiro".<ref name="McCann2004">Template:Cite book</ref> Television in Brazil began officially on 18 September 1950, with the founding of TV Tupi by Assis Chateaubriand.<ref name="Ward2007">Template:Cite book</ref> Since then, television has grown in the country, creating large commercial broadcast networks such as Globo, SBT, RecordTV, Bandeirantes and RedeTV. Today it is the most important factor in the popular culture of Brazilian society, as indicated by research showing that as much as 67%<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> of the general population follow the same daily telenovela broadcast.
By the mid-1960s, Brazilian universities had installed mainframe computers from IBM and Burroughs Large Systems. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Brazilian government restricted foreign imports to protect the local manufacturing of computers. In the 1980s, Brazil produced half of the computers sold in the country. By 2009, the mobile phone and Internet use in Brazil was the fifth largest in the world.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In May 2010, the Brazilian government launched TV Brasil Internacional, an international television station, initially broadcasting to 49 countries.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Commercial television channels broadcast internationally include Globo Internacional, RecordTV Internacional and Band Internacional.
Sports
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The most popular sport in Brazil is football.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Brazilian men's national team is ranked among the best in the world according to the FIFA World Rankings, and has won the World Cup tournament a record five times.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Zirin, 2014. Chapter 4 "Futebol: The Journey from Daring to Fear"</ref>
Volleyball, basketball, auto racing and martial arts also has large audiences. The 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. In auto racing, three Brazilian drivers have won the Formula One world championship eight times.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The country has also produced significant achievements in other sports such as sailing, swimming, tennis, surfing, skateboarding, MMA, gymnastics, boxing, judo, athletics and table tennis.
Some sport variations have their origins in Brazil: beach football,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> futsal (indoor football)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and footvolley emerged in Brazil as variations of football. In martial arts, Brazilians developed Capoeira,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Vale tudo<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Brazil has hosted several high-profile international sporting events, such as the 1950 FIFA World Cup,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and recently has hosted the 2014 FIFA World Cup, 2019 Copa América and 2021 Copa América .<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The São Paulo circuit, Autódromo José Carlos Pace, hosts the annual Grand Prix of Brazil.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> São Paulo organized the IV Pan American Games in 1963, and Rio de Janeiro hosted the XV Pan American Games in 2007.<ref name="LiMacIntosh2011">Template:Cite book</ref> On 2 October 2009, Rio de Janeiro was selected to host the 2016 Olympic Games and 2016 Paralympic Games, making it the first South American city to host the games<ref name="guardian_olympics">"Olympics 2016: Tearful Pele and weeping Lula greet historic win for Rio", The Guardian, 2 October 2009.</ref> and second in Latin America, after Mexico City. Furthermore, 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.<ref name="FIBA History">Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
[edit]Notes
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References
[edit]Bibliography
[edit]- Azevedo, Aroldo. O Brasil e suas regiões. São Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional, 1971
- Barman, Roderick J. Citizen Emperor: Pedro II and the Making of Brazil, 1825–1891. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999. Template:ISBN
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- Boxer, Charles R. The Portuguese Seaborne Empire (1969)
- O império marítimo português 1415–1825. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2002. Template:ISBN
- Bueno, Eduardo. Brasil: uma História. São Paulo: Ática, 2003. Template:ISBN
- Calmon, Pedro. História da Civilização Brasileira. Brasília: Senado Federal, 2002
- Carvalho, José Murilo de. D. Pedro II. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2007
- Coelho, Marcos Amorim. Geografia do Brasil. 4th ed. São Paulo: Moderna, 1996
- Diégues, Fernando. A revolução brasílica. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2004
- Enciclopédia Barsa. Volume 4: Batráquio – Camarão, Filipe. Rio de Janeiro: Encyclopædia Britannica do Brasil, 1987
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- Fausto, Boris and Devoto, Fernando J. Brasil e Argentina: Um ensaio de história comparada (1850–2002), 2nd ed. São Paulo: Editoria 34, 2005. Template:ISBN
- Gaspari, Elio. A ditadura envergonhada. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2002. Template:ISBN
- Janotti, Aldo. O Marquês de Paraná: inícios de uma carreira política num momento crítico da história da nacionalidade. Belo Horizonte: Itatiaia, 1990
- Lyra, Heitor. História de Dom Pedro II (1825–1891): Ascenção (1825–1870). v. 1. Belo Horizonte: Itatiaia, 1977
- Lyra, Heitor. História de Dom Pedro II (1825–1891): Declínio (1880–1891). v. 3. Belo Horizonte: Itatiaia, 1977
- Lustosa, Isabel. D. Pedro I: um herói sem nenhum caráter. São Paulo: Companhia das letras, 2006. Template:ISBN
- Moreira, Igor A. G. O Espaço Geográfico, geografia geral e do Brasil. 18. Ed. São Paulo: Ática, 1981
- Munro, Dana Gardner. The Latin American Republics; A History. New York: D. Appleton, 1942.
- Peres, Damião (1949) O Descobrimento do Brasil por Pedro Álvares Cabral: antecedentes e intencionalidade Porto: Portucalense.
- Scheina, Robert L. Latin America: A Naval History, 1810–1987. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1987. Template:ISBN
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- Stuart B. Schwartz Sovereignty and Society in Colonial Brazil (1973)
- Early Latin America (1983)
- Sugar Plantations in the Formation of Brazilian Society (1985)
- Skidmore, Thomas E. Brazil: Five Centuries of Change (Oxford University Press, 1999)
- Uma História do Brasil. 4th ed. São Paulo: Paz e Terra, 2003. Template:ISBN
- Souza, Adriana Barreto de. Duque de Caxias: o homem por trás do monumento. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2008. Template:ISBN.
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- Vainfas, Ronaldo. Dicionário do Brasil Imperial. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2002. Template:ISBN
- Vesentini, José William. Brasil, sociedade e espaço – Geografia do Brasil. 7th Ed. São Paulo: Ática, 1988
- Vianna, Hélio. História do Brasil: período colonial, monarquia e república, 15th ed. São Paulo: Melhoramentos, 1994
- Zirin, Dave. Brazil's Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, The Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy Haymarket Books 2014. Template:ISBN
Further reading
[edit]- Alencastro Felipe, Luiz Felipe de. The Trade in the Living: The Formation of Brazil in the South Atlantic, Sixteenth to Seventeenth Centuries (SUNY Press, 2019)
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- Levine, Robert M. Historical Dictionary of Brazil (2019)
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External links
[edit]Template:Sister project links Government
- Brazilian Federal Government
- Official Tourist Guide of Brazil
- Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics
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- Brazil
- BRICS nations
- Countries and territories where Portuguese is an official language
- Countries in South America
- Federal constitutional republics
- Former Portuguese colonies
- G15 nations
- G20 members
- Member states of Mercosur
- Member states of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries
- Member states of the United Nations
- Newly industrializing countries
- States and territories established in 1822