SHORT FACTS/INFORMATION ABOUT BRAZIL:
Motto: ”Order and Progress” - appears on Brazil's flag.
Capital: Brasilia, with approximately 3,000,000 inhabitants.
Government Form: Presidential Federal Republic
Year of President Election: Every fourth year. 1st turn in October and 2nd turn November. Last election was in 2010, next election 2014.
Present Head of State: President Mrs Dilma Rousseff
Area: 8,514,877 km2 or 3,287,597 sq mi (about the size of the continental United States)
Population: approx. 194 millions (2010)
Year of the discovery: 1500
Discovery by: Portuguese Pedro Alvares Cabral
Year of the independency from Portugal: 1822, after three centuries of exploitation of country’s natural richness (wood, gold and rubber).
Language: Portuguese
Religion: Roman Catholic (80%)
Currency: Real (R$ / BRL)
Climate: Varies from mostly tropical in the North to temperate in the Southeast and South.
Average temperature: 28C in the North and 20C in the South. Some regions can get cool enough to wearing a jacket during winter months (June-August).
Time Zone: Vary between UTC -2 to -4 (Rio, Sao Paulo & Brasilia -3h UTC)
Internet: com.br
Calling Country Code: +55
States: 26 plus federal District
Largest city: Sao Paulo, located in the southeast region, with approximately 11,2 millions inhabitants. Rio de Janeiro has approx 6,3 million inhabitants (2010).
Main airports: São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) and Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport (GIG). Both offer connections to most Brazilian cities.
Origin of the population: A mix of 1% descendents of indigenous people (original inhabitants), 44% from Africans (that went to Brazil to work as slaves in the colonial period), 54% from Europeans immigrants (mainly from Portugal, Spain, Italy and Germany) and smaller groups from Japanese, Asiatic and Arabian immigrants.
Characteristics of the population: Helpful, happy and festive.
Brazil is famous for: carnival, the Amazon, music, football, beaches, “Caipirinha” drink, good coffee, good beef, supermodels, TV soap operas, cultural diversity, corrupt politicians and social inequality.
Economy:
- Industry: Textiles, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber and iron ore;
- Agriculture: Coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice and beef;
- Exports: Transport equipment, iron ore, soybeans, footwear and coffee.
Curiosities:
- Largest country in South America;
- World's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population;
- The only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas;
- Brazilian football team has won the World Cup five times (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002);
- The most develop region of Brazil is the Southeast region that includes São Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro – forming together the economic hub of Brazil, containing more than 40 percent of the country's population.
The Five Regions of Brazil (North, Northeast, Central West, Southeast and South). Brazil is the fifth largest country on earth. It is divided into five regions, mainly drawn around state lines, but they also more or less follow natural, economic and cultural borderlines.
- North (Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, Tocantins)
The Amazon, the rain forest and frontier life, with remarkable Indian influence
- Northeast (Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, Sergipe). Strong black culture (especially in Bahia) mingles with early Iberic folklore. This is often considered the country's most beautiful coastline, and has the sunniest and hottest climate; but it is also the country's driest and poorest region.
- Central West (Distrito Federal (Federal District), Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul). The Pantanal is the world’s greatest wetlands, with great farms and young cities, the Cerrado Mountain & Dry lands with its fauna & flora, and the Federal District, with its out worldly modernist architecture.
- Southeast (Espirito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo)
São Paulo and Rio are the largest cities of the country and its economic and industrial hub; there are also some century-old colonial towns.
- South (Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Santa Catarina). It is a land of valleys and pampas where a strong gaucho culture (shared with Uruguay and Argentina) meets European influences. Accordingly it is experiencing much growth and tourism. It has the best standard of living in Brazil with only two large cities (Curitiba and Porto Alegre) and several mid-size cities with very low crime rates. German, Italian, Polish and Ukranian immigrants colonized the region in the mid 19th century. It is also the only region in Brazil where it snows every year, mainly in the central mountains of Santa Catarina State.