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Brazil, a country
for everyone! Diversity is Brazil's trademark. In 500 years of history a nation was built and formed
by a variety of people. Brazil is a mix of different cultures and a vast territory divided into 26 states,
one Federal District and 5.563 municipal districts. Brazil's politic is Democratic and it's
run according to the current laws and the National Constitution.
Brazil is South America's most influential country, an economic giant and one of the world's
largest democracies.
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The country geographic profile shows a strong concentration of economic and population activities
over a smaller area of the total Brazilian territory. Such fact impacts directly on income concentration as well as social
exclusion. Interfere on this scenario and build a better country of greater and equal opportunities are fundamental
challenges of the citizens and public authorities.
Brazil's Aids programme has become a model for other developing countries.
It has stabilised the rate of HIV infection and the number of Aids-related deaths has fallen. Brazil has bypassed the major
drugs firms to produce cheaper, generic Aids medicines.
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Total Population: 187.493.516 habitants
. Brazil's Surface
Area
"Giant
by Nature": Brazil is considered a country of continental dimensions due to its total area of
8.511.996 Km2 and it's among the five largest countries in the world.
- 1º - Russia (17.075.400 km2)
- 2º - Canada (9.922.330 km2)
- 3º - China (9.461.300 km2)
- 4º - United States (incluindo Alasca e Hawaii: 9.363.124
km2)
- 5º - Brazil
(8.511.996 km2)
The Brazilian territory represents 1,6% of the total area of the planet and occupies 5,7%
of the above-water area of the earth, 20,8% of the total area in the American continent and 47,3%
of the South America total area.
Brazil, the United States, and China are the only countries possessing certain key factors for sustainable
growth: surface area of over 8,5 million Km², GDP over US$ (PPP) 1,5 trillion; over 180 million consumers.
Brazil has a highly diversified and competitive industrial base. The country's agricultural research
institutions are doing leading-edge work and reaching ever-higher yield levels. Another highlight is the
progress made in mineral extraction, particularly in the oil sector.
Besides achieving oil extraction self-sufficiency in quantitative terms, the field
of alternative energy sources also harbors several opportunities. Investors can benefit from carbon credits
obtained through initiatives in the areas of: bio-fuels: ethanol and biodiesel as well as wind and solar energy.
. Ethnic Mix
Brazilians are descendants of a mixture of races.
Portuguese colonizers, natives and African slaves (originally from Yoruba and Quimbundu, currently Nigeria, Benin and
Angola) are the ethnic base. French and Dutch colonizers were also at Northwest of Brazil. During
the XX century a mass of German, Italian, Polish and Japanese imigrants added new elements to this racial blend.
The Brazilian current population is of 54% white,
39,5% half-breed (mulatto, caboclo-white + indian and cafuzo-the offspring of negro and indian),
5,7% negros, 0,6% asians and 0,2% indians.
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Language
Portuguese is the official language of Brazil. The portuguese language arrived at
the Brazilian territory on board of the portuguese vessels during the XVI century and was added to the linguistic family of
Tupi-Guarani and Tupinambá, a Tupi dialect. Indians were conquered but "trained"
europeans on such dialect. Later on, they all comunicated in this "common language" - Tupinambá. In 1694 the
"common language" was used in the portuguese colony with characteristics of a literal language with prayers, hymns and sacred
plays translated by the missionaries during catechesis.
The Iorubá language (Nigeria) and Quimbundo (Angola) arrived
with the slaves from Africa. The Portuguese Noble Courtship wanted to guarantee a stronger political presence in the
new land and decided to enforce the Portuguese language onto the indians.
Now a days, the number of Portuguese speaking people is approximately 200 million around the
world. Portuguese is the 8th language in the planet and the 3rd among the western
languages after English and Spanish/Castellano. It is still the official language in seven countries (ex portuguese
colonies): Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and Sao Tome & Principe. Since Portugal's
admission to the European Union the portuguese language is now one of the official languages in Europe.
. Media
South America's biggest media market is home to thousands of radio
stations and hundreds of TV channels.
Media ownership is highly concentrated. Home-grown conglomerates such
as Globo, Brazil's most-successful broadcaster, dominate the market and run TV and radio networks, newspapers and pay-TV operations.
Brazilian-made dramas and soaps are aired around the world.
The constitution guarantees a free press; vigorous media debate about controversial political and social matters is
commonplace.
Brazil is rolling out digital TV services throughout the country.
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. National Flag
The Brazilian flag was projected in 1889 by Raimundo Teixeira Mendes and Miguel Lemos with the special design of Décio Vilares. Inspired in the imperial flag, it was illustrated by the French painter Jean Baptiste Debret with the blue sphere and the positivist white label/motto ensuring: "Order and Progress". The colors represent: green
-> forests, yellow -> gold and ore, blue celestial sphere -> on the republican
standard is a portrait of the sky of Rio de Janeiro, whilte label -> peace and the stars represent
each federal state.
. Biodiversity
Brazil holds the greatest biological diversity of the planet, with at least 10-20% of total species in the world. Such treasure is distributed in biomes: Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Coastal Area (and its various ecosystems: mangroves, sandbanks, beaches, wild coasts, coral
reef, etc), Araucária Forests (Brazilian Pine), Fields South, Caatinga, Rain Forests, Closed and Pantanal.
The exploitation of the Amazon rainforest, much of which is in Brazil,
has become a major worry.
. Weather
This geography makes for a simple division of the country into four climatic regions: the Amazon basin, the
Brazilian plateau, the coastlands within the tropics and the southern states of Paraná, and Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.
This last division is distinctive because it is outside the tropics and has a lower temperate climate and is modified
by the greater height of the interior. Unlike most other South American countries, it does not include any part of the
Andes Mountains, so no area of the country has permanent snowfields.
Temperatures are typically tropical in all months with average midday temperatures in the range 27°
C/80° F -32° C/90° F. Frost was unknown
until two decades ago and now in the southern parts of the region snow falls every year and destroys crops and kill animals, cold
spells are very common and known as friagem, cause night temperatures to fall below zero.
. Learn More About Brazil
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