Brazil

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Federative Republic of Brazil

Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Ordem e Progresso"
(Portuguese)
"Order and Progress"
Anthem: Hino Nacional Brasileiro
(Portuguese)
"Brazilian National Anthem"

National seal
Selo Nacional do Brasil
(Portuguese)
"National Seal of Brazil"

Capital Brasília
47°57′W / 15.75°S 47.95°W / -15.75; -47.95
Largest city São Paulo
Official languages Portuguese
Demonym Brazilian
Government Presidential Federal republic
 -  President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Worker's Party)
 -  Vice-President José Alencar (Brazilian Republican Party)
 -  President of the Chamber of Deputies Michel Temer (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party)
 -  President of the Senate José Sarney (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party)
 -  Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes
Legislature National Congress
 -  Upper House Federal Senate
 -  Lower House Chamber of Deputies
Independence from Portugal 
 -  Declared 7 September 1822 
 -  Recognized 29 August 1825 
 -  Republic 15 November 1889 
 -  Current constitution 5 October 1988 
Area
 -  Total 8,514,877 km² (5th)
3,287,597 sq mi 
 -  Water (%) 0.65
Population
 -  2009 estimate 192,272,890[1] (5th)
 -  2007 census 189,987,291 
 -  Density 22/km² (182nd)
57/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2009 estimate
 -  Total $1.984.207 trillion[2] (9th)
 -  Per capita $10,455[2] (77th)
GDP (nominal) 2009 estimate
 -  Total $1.612.539 trillion (2008)[3] (8th[3])
 -  Per capita $7,737[2] (63rd)
Gini (2009) 49.3[4] 
HDI (2007) 0.813[5] (high) (75th)
Currency Real (R$) (BRL)
Time zone BRT[6] (UTC-2 to -4[6])
 -  Summer (DST) BRST (UTC-2 to -4)
Date formats dd/mm/yyyy (CE)
Drives on the right
Internet TLD .br
Calling code +55

Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil[7][8] (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil) listen (help·info), is the largest country and the only Portuguese-speaking country in South America.[9]

Brazil was a Portuguese colony from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until 1815 when it became a united kingdom with Portugal. In 1822 the country became independent as the Brazilian Empire, but has been a republic since 1889, although the bicameral legislature, now called Congress, dates back to the ratification of the first constitution in 1824.[10]

Brazil is a founding member of the United Nations, the G20, Mercosul and the Union of South American Nations, and is one of the BRIC Countries. Brazil is also home to a diversity of wildlife, natural environments, and extensive natural resources in a variety of protected habitats.[9]

History

Portuguese colonization and territorial expansion

The land now called Brazil (the origin of whose name is disputed), was claimed by Portugal in April 1500, on the arrival of the Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral.[11] The Portuguese encountered stone age natives divided into several tribes, most of whom shared the same Tupi-Guarani linguistic family,[11] and fought among themselves.[12]

Colonization was effectively begun in 1534, when Dom João III divided the territory into twelve hereditary captaincies,[13][14] but this arrangement proved problematic and in 1549 the king assigned a Governor-General to administer the entire colony.[14][15] The Portuguese assimilated some of the native tribes[16] while others were enslaved or exterminated in long wars or by European diseases to which they had no immunity.[17][18] By the mid 16th century, sugar had become Brazil's most important export[12][19] and the Portuguese imported African slaves[20][21] to cope with the increasing international demand.[17][22]

Through wars against the French, the Portuguese slowly expanded their territory to the southeast, taking Rio de Janeiro in 1567, and to the northwest, taking São Luís in 1615.[23] They sent military expeditions to the Amazon rainforest and conquered British and Dutch strongholds, founding villages and forts from 1669.[24] In 1680 they reached the far south and founded Sacramento on the bank of the Rio de la Plata, in the Eastern Strip region (present-day Uruguay).[25]

At the end of the 17th century sugar exports started to decline[26] but the discovery of gold by explorers in the region that would later be called Minas Gerais (General Mines) around 1693, and in the following decades in current Mato Grosso and Goiás, saved the colony from imminent collapse.[27] From all over Brazil, as well as from Portugal, thousands of immigrants came to the mines.[28]

The Spanish tried to prevent Portuguese expansion into the territory that belonged to them according to the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, and succeeded in conquering the Eastern Strip in 1777. However, this was in vain as the Treaty of San Ildefonso, signed in the same year, confirmed Portuguese sovereignty over all lands proceeding from its territorial expansion, thus creating most of the current Brazilian borders.[29]

In 1808, the Portuguese royal family, fleeing the troops of the French Emperor Napoleon I that were invading Portugal and most of Central Europe, established themselves in the city of Rio de Janeiro, which thus became the seat of the entire Portuguese Empire.[30] In 1815 Dom João VI, then regent on behalf of his incapacitated mother, elevated Brazil from colony to sovereign Kingdom united with Portugal.[30] In 1809 the Portuguese invaded French Guiana (which was returned to France in 1817)[31] and in 1816 the Eastern Strip, subsequently renamed Cisplatina.[32]