Language: Portuguese
Currency: Real (BRL)
Calling call: +55
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (in Portuguese: Federative Republic of Brazil), is a sovereign country of South America that includes the eastern half of the subcontinent and some groups of small islands in the Atlantic Ocean. With an area estimated at more than 8.5 million km², it is the fifth largest country in the world in total area (equivalent to 47% of the South American territory). Delimited by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 km to the north, bordered by the French overseas department of French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Venezuela; to the northwest with Colombia; to the west with Peru and Bolivia; to the southeast with Paraguay and Argentina, and to the south with Uruguay. In this way it has a border with all the countries of South America, except Ecuador and Chile. The majority of the country is included among the terrestrial tropics, so the climatic seasons do not feel in a radical way in much of the same. The Amazon rainforest covers 3.6 million km² of the territory. Thanks to its vegetation and climate, it is one of the countries with the most animal species in the world.
The country consists of 26 states, a federal district
and is divided into five regions.
North
Amazon, rainforest and
noticeable Indian influence.
Acre (State) Amapá Amazonas Pará
Rondônia Roraima Tocantins
Northeast
The north-east is often
associated with the most beautiful stretches of coast in the country. It
has the sunniest and hottest climate, but is also the driest and poorest
region.
Alagoas Bahia Ceará Maranhão Paraíba Pernambuco Piauí Rio
Grande do Norte Sergipe
Central west
Wetlands, large farms and
young towns characterize this region.
Distrito Federal · Goiás · Mato
Grosso · Mato Grosso do Sul
Southeast
São Paulo and Rio are
the country's largest cities and commercial and economic centers. There
are also several centuries-old towns.
Espírito Santo Minas Gerais Rio
de Janeiro Sao Paulo
South
The region of valleys and pampas.
It is the country's most prosperous region, with only two large cities
(Curitiba and Porto Alegre) and several medium-sized cities with very
low crime rates. German, Italian and Portuguese immigrants colonized the
area in the mid-19th century. The south is also the only region where it
snows every year, mostly in the mountains of Santa Catarina State.
Paraná (state) Rio Grande do Sul Santa Catarina
The most famous and most visited city in Brazil is
certainly the former capital Rio de Janeiro with its approximately 6
million inhabitants, which scores with an incomparably beautiful
location between mountains and sea and also offers architectural sights,
it also has a lively cultural scene and of course the famous Blessed
Carnival in February. Today's capital, Brasília, is probably most
interesting for friends of modern architecture. It was planned on the
drawing board by the architect Oscar Niemeyer in the 1950s and has many
avant-garde buildings from that time. Even bigger and more turbulent
than Rio is the 12-million-inhabitant juggernaut of São Paulo, with a
world-class cultural scene but few architectural sights. This is the
center of the Brazilian economy. Another important industrial city is
Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais (2.5 million inhabitants).
In the
northeast and north are old colonial cities like Salvador (3 million),
the city of Capoeira and the many churches. It is said that there are as
many churches here as there are days in a year. Many of these are
showpieces from the colonial era. The twin cities of Recife/Olinda and
Belém, capital of the state of Pará at the mouth of the Amazon, can also
score with architectural charms. Also unique is the Amazon metropolis of
Manaus, built by gold diggers and rubber plantation owners, a strange
mixture of original Indian cultures with European high culture and the
starting point for ecological cruises and tours in the largest
rainforest on earth.
The south offers bustling Curitiba, the
modern city of Porto Alegre, well known to all globalization critics,
and the island city of Florianópolis with its very attractive beaches,
one of the main destinations for South American travelers.
Smaller places of tourist importance are the best-preserved colonial
city on the entire continent, Ouro Preto, the posh seaside resort of
Buzios north of Rio de Janeiro, the folkloric city of Parintins in the
Amazon with its festival "Boi Bumbá", also in the Amazon Novo Airão
(starting point to the Jaú National Park) and Presidente Figueiredo
(known for its mysterious grottos), the listed colonial city of
Diamantina, and Petrópolis, the residence of the Brazilian emperors with
a palace.
Abrolhos Marine National Park is a protected area that cover 5 islands situated in Abrolhos Archipelago of Brazil.
Aparados da Serra National Park is a protected area in Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina states in Brazil. It covers an area of 103 sq km.
Araguaia National Park is a protected area in Tocantins state in Brazil.
Brasília National Park is a protected area situated 10 km from the center of Brasília. It covers an area of 30,000 ha.
Caparaó National Park is protected area situated in Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais states in Brazil.
Chapada Diamantina National Park is a protected biosphere in Bahia State in Brazil. It covers an area of 1,520 sq km.
Chapada dos Guimarães National Park is a protected biosphere situated in Mato Grosso state in Brazil.
Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park is a protected area situated on Chapada dos Veadeiros plateau in Brazil. It covers an area of 655 sq km.
Nature reserve of Emas National Park lies in the states of Goiás & Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil.
Fernado de Noronha Marine National Park is a cluster of islands off the shores of Brazil.
Iguaçu Falls or Iguazu Falls are located 12 mi (19 km) Northeast of Puerto Iguaçu on the border between Brazil and Argentina.
Ilha Grande National Park is a protected area situate on the border of Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraná states in Brazil.
Itatiaia National Park is a protected biosphere located on the border of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais states in Brazil.
World's largest wetland Pantanal Conservation Area is located in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.
Parque Estadual do Caracol is famous for Cascata do Caracol or Caracol waterfall that reaches a height of 130 meters.
Serra do Itajaí National Park covers an area of 57374 ha that is mostly covered by rain forest in the basin of Itajaí river.
Serra da Bodoquena National Park is a nature reserve situated in Mato Grosso do Sul region of Brazil. It covers an area of 76,400 ha.
Citizens of the European Union do not need a visa to enter Brazil if they are in the country for tourism or business purposes and do not plan to stay longer than 90 days. You have to fill out an immigration card, which is usually handed out on the plane. The bottom section of this card should be kept carefully as it will need to be presented again upon departure. The passport must be valid for six months upon entry. Since the agreement between the EU and Brazil came into force on October 1, 2012, citizens of the Schengen area may enter or transit through Brazil for tourism or business purposes and stay there for a maximum of three months in a six-month period. All in all, as a tourist you can only stay in Brazil for 180 days per calendar year - you should consider this if you are planning longer tours. It has also happened that Brazil has allowed less than 90 days of entry - these are often politically motivated paybacks for the restrictive entry policies, particularly of Portugal, Spain and the UK for Brazilians, which change over time.
Just as passport control is carried out by
agents of the Federal Police Departamento de Polícia Federal (DPF) when
entering and leaving the country, customs is subject to specially
trained agents of the Federal Tax Office Secretaria da Receita Federal
(SRF).
Cash may be brought in amounts of up to 10,000 reais or
the equivalent in exchangeable currencies. Any sums in excess of this
must be declared in any case, failure to do so will be severely
penalized. It is usually not worth having too much cash with you when
you enter the country.
With the crackdown on money laundering and
drug trafficking getting tougher, owning Swiss francs makes any customs
official suspicious, and even Swiss citizens don't necessarily see the
francs as a logical explanation. Swiss francs on you can lead to lengthy
searches of the person.
You can bring all normal items for
personal use duty-free. One mobile phone, one camera, one film camera,
one tablet, one notebook and one iPod may be brought along as electronic
devices per person. But this is hardly ever checked. However, the SRF
agents at customs are very suspicious if the personal use of electronic
devices cannot be clearly identified; in such cases it is advisable to
explain the items in question yourself. The completed document will be
presented together with the declared items when you leave the country,
thus saving you any trouble.
You can also bring duty-free:
Gifts valued at US$500
Purchases at the Brazilian duty-free shop upon
immigration
two liters of distilled alcoholic beverages
three
liters of wine
400 cigarettes
50 cigars
280ml perfume
Live animals, meat, dairy products, eggs, honey, plants, fruits and
seeds may only be imported with a permit.
By plane
International airports with direct connections from Europe are Rio de
Janeiro, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Salvador, Forteleza, Natal
and Recife. Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo offer connections with all
major airlines from many European cities. The Portuguese TAP via Lisbon
has the densest network. In the case of transfer connections in São
Paulo between the international and domestic airports (journey time 60
minutes), Tam and GOL airline buses run free of charge if one of the
connecting flights is with the respective airline.
The banderoles
should be left on the piece of luggage until you leave the security
zone, as there are always follow-up checks.
In the street
For
land border crossings with Bolivia and Peru, see the relevant country
articles.
Further north from Boa Vista is access to both
Venezuela and Leithim in Guyana.
The border bridge in Oiapoque to
French Guiana can be reached from Macapá.
There is no road to
Suriname.
By bus
From the major cities of Argentina, Uruguay
and Paraguay there are direct buses to the metropolises of Rio de
Janeiro and São Paulo and the cities on the way there. From Santa Elena
de Uairén and Puerto La Cruz, both in Venezuela, there are buses to Boa
Vista, RR.
In Santa Elena you can also take a shared taxi to Boa
Vista, which is about 250 km.
By boat
Brazil has numerous port
cities that are served by freighters and cruise ships.
For more
exotic ways to enter via the border rivers at the border triangles of
Peru-Colombia-Brazil and Bolivia-Brazil-Peru, see the relevant section
in the Peru country article.
By bus
Practically every place in Brazil can be reached by bus or
minibus, it can be difficult especially in the rainy season in the
Pantanal and in the Amazon region. The buses to remote areas do not
always run regularly and are very busy. Bus rides are cheap, but often
take time. In all towns there are "rodoviárias" (bus stations) from
which buses depart regularly to the surrounding towns and to more
important cities. Between major cities there are different bus companies
for each route, but they generally charge the same prices for the same
level of comfort.
For long-distance journeys, there are not only
“normal” coaches (“ônibus convencional”) but also buses with more
comfortable (“executivo”) seats or seats that can be folded down into a
bed (“leito”). Leito-class buses are a lot more comfortable than German
coaches (legroom, folding seats, toilets, etc.). On journeys longer than
four hours, statutory stops of 15 minutes - one hour at mealtimes - are
made at intervals of two to four hours at rest stops where food can be
eaten.
There is also long-distance international bus service.
The bus connections can now be easily found using a large number of
online search engines. These usually show connections from different bus
companies. An example is the BuscaOnibus site (Portuguese/English),
which also offers information about accessibility, toilets, showers,
luggage storage, ... of many bus stations.
By plane
The larger
cities are linked, but not necessarily directly. As a result, it can
happen that you are on the road for quite a long time due to multiple
changes, even for domestic flights. For travel between regions, however,
the plane is still the first choice.
Brazil has four major
national airlines: LATAM (also international network, e.g. Frankfurt am
Main, London, Paris, Milan, Madrid and New York), GOL (cheap flight,
some connections to South American metropolises, very reliable), Avianca
Brasil (including international flights) and Azul.
Other smaller
airlines are e.g. e.g.:
Passaredo (small network but important
routes; cannot be booked online from abroad either)
Abaeté (small
network with important routes)
Rico (nationwide air taxi company)
cruisers
Sete
brave
Meta
Sol
There are also many
small regional airlines, mostly with a website and internet booking
option.
In Brazil, too, flying is a comparatively very safe form
of transportation. However, the planes are on average a bit older than
in Europe and the security checks are not always quite as rigorous.
By boat
One experience is a trip on a passenger steamer from
Belém to Manaus on the Amazon. Either you hang up your hammock with 200
others on one of the decks or you afford a cabin, which is also not that
expensive. You spend the day on the upper deck, looking at the passing
landscape or chatting with your fellow passengers. It is best to inquire
at the hotel before booking which ships are recommended. From Manaus you
can travel even further into the jungle on the rivers or even to
neighboring Peru.
The Brazilian real (plural reais, international currency abbreviation BRL, national abbreviation R$) was linked to the dollar for a long time. Until the beginning of the Corona crisis, you received a little more than 4 R$ for one euro. The exchange rate has fallen rapidly since then and was around R$ 6 for one euro in early August 2020. Payment in foreign currency is almost never accepted anywhere, so you should always have Brazilian cash or cards with you if you want to buy something.
Coins from 5 centavos to 1 real and bills from 2 reais to
100 reais are common. With the same value, there are sometimes several
different coins (size, thickness and even material) in circulation, so
that you should sometimes take a close look at which coin you are
holding.
US dollars and euros can be easily exchanged, as can
British pounds. However, you should avoid bringing Swiss francs with you
if possible. And many money exchange offices, both those of the banking
companies at the international airports as well as those of travel
agencies and private exchange offices in the city centers and shopping
centers change Swiss francs at worse rates, if at all. The exchange
offices of reputable banks in particular refuse to exchange Swiss
francs.
Cash payments are accepted almost everywhere and are
still the norm for in-store purchases. For cash payments at the
checkout, the amount is rounded to 5 centavos, but for card payments,
the exact amount is debited.
Getting cash is sometimes not as
easy as one might think. There are plenty of ATMs, especially in
shopping centers, and bank branches, but unfortunately these are very
often out of order. If not, long queues form at the functioning
machines, since Brazilian bank customers make transfers there, etc.,
which can take quite a long time.
Also, not all foreign bank or
credit cards always work at all machines. ATMs of the state bank Caixa
Economica Federal (CAIXA) are only available to their own customers and
do not accept any third-party cards. ATMs of the second large semi-state
bank, Banco do Brasil, accept major credit cards, but usually have the
longest waiting times, since almost every Brazilian citizen has an
account there and online banking is not really widespread. As a tourist,
it is best to use private banks such as Bradesco, Itaú or Santander, as
long as you can find a branch or an ATM from these providers.
Major international credit cards are accepted almost everywhere. Even some street vendors and many taxis have readers with them. American Express and Diners Club also work at banks' electronic tills, but are rarely accepted in restaurants or shops. Some even accept European debit cards with Maestro or Visa Electron symbols. On the other hand, you can never rely on any particular card to work everywhere. Specific European bank and credit cards such as Postcard work at Banco do Brasil's machines, but not for cashless payment transactions. It is therefore worth having several cards to choose from (e.g. Visa and Mastercard).
Portuguese is spoken in Brazil. However, Brazilian Portuguese is very
different from the version spoken in Portugal, so when visiting Brazil,
it is advisable to use a Brazilian Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese
dictionary rather than a Portuguese dictionary. Brazilians often use a
simplified grammar in the spoken language and it is also spoken softer
than in Portugal. Even within Brazil, the language differs regionally
due to dialects.
Without a certain basic Portuguese vocabulary,
you will have a hard time in Brazil. English is not taught in all
general schools and is therefore only spoken by a very small part of the
population. These include mainly young people from the middle and upper
classes. Especially for individual travelers it is recommended to be
able to speak Brazilian Portuguese. This is especially true if you only
have a limited budget. If you can speak Spanish, you should point it
out. If you then speak slowly, understanding is often possible because
the languages are very similar. Anyone who speaks the Portuguese spoken
in Portugal should be very careful with their use of language, as
expressions that are completely irrelevant in Portugal can often have
derogatory and even offensive meanings in Brazil. In the Portuguese
phrasebook there is a table of scrupulously translated examples that
require special attention as Brazilians generally do not know their
meanings in Portugal.
You can get everyday products in one of the many supermarkets in the
cities. Large supermarkets (Hipermercado) can usually be found in the
outskirts. In addition, there are cash & carry markets everywhere in the
big cities, which mainly sell to private individuals and are worthwhile
for large purchases thanks to volume discounts.
Brazilians love
shopping in malls, so there are plenty of them; small, big, huge, simple
and elegant. From the inside, however, they usually look quite similar.
There are the big chains (C&A, Insinuante, Schalk, Lojas Americanas
etc), banks, a few cafes, a food court and often a children's
playground.
Brazil is generally a very expensive travel destination for shopping and
the prices still increase if you stay in the rural areas of the interior
of the country, for example. This mainly affects the tourist
infrastructure (hotels and restaurants). The prices here are now often
on a Central European level. Along with Canada, Brazil is the most
expensive travel destination on the American continent. Nevertheless, z.
For example, prices for groceries, rent and transport services are
generally lower than in Western Europe.
When it comes to
souvenirs, it is essential to pay attention to species protection. Plant
or animal souvenirs are often forbidden. Soil is a better choice, as
Brazil offers a variety of beautiful gems and minerals. Gold is mined in
the Amazon, whereby the environmentally conscious souvenir hunter has to
weigh up whether he wants to support the environmental destruction with
the purchase, which unfortunately is still associated with gold mining
today.
Meat is an important part of Brazilian food, while fish and shellfish
play a major role on rivers and the sea. Popular side dishes include
black beans, rice, farofa (roasted cassava flour), pasta, and potatoes.
Feijoada is a black bean stew.
An inexpensive dining option is
the buffet restaurant (sometimes self-serve). At a buffet you can fill a
plate with vegetables and side dishes, and you can usually choose one or
two pieces of meat. Sometimes you help yourself to the meat, then you
put the plate on a scale at the checkout and pay according to the weight
of the food. The price varies between 10 and 40 R$ per portion in the
different restaurants.
À la carte restaurants are usually
significantly more expensive, but in many restaurants the portions are
large enough for two people to be fed.
Brazilian specialties are
Feijoada, a hearty stew with black beans, beef and pork and lots of
bacon,
Picanha, beef tail
Moqueca, fish stew, often with tomatoes,
peppers, coconut milk and palm oil,
Caururú, shrimp in a hot sauce
made from red pepper, okra, onions, tomatoes, garlic, chili, palm oil
and nuts,
Bacalhau, cod, particularly popular are bolinho de
bacalhau, fried cod balls,
Farofa, roasted cassava flour, an
accompaniment to many dishes
Pamonha, coconut, sugar and corn
porridge cooked in corn husks
Quindim, a type of pudding made from
sugar, egg yolk, and coconut
A dream is the unbelievable
selection of fruits that you have often never heard of in Europe. A good
way to try them is to test them as sucos (fruit juices). The fruits end
up in the blender and, depending on taste, are supplemented with water,
ice and sugar, sometimes with ginger. A wonderful refreshment in the
heat of Brazil. Sometimes you get strains that taste gross, but most are
incredibly good. Of course, the cautious traveler can also use the types
of fruit he is familiar with, such as lime.
A local
lemonade is "Guaraná" after the plant of the same name. The Brazilian
versions contain caffeine but no taurine. The caffeine addict will also
love Brazilian coffee, especially the little after-meal coffee called
cafezinho.
Those who cannot do without alcohol reach for
Brazilian rum or cachaça and the well-known caipirinha with lime, sugar
cane liquor, cane sugar and ice.
Brazil's true national drink,
however, is undeniably beer, so much so that the number of non-beer
drinkers is second only to that of lottery winners. There is no shortage
of breweries in Brazil, and Brazilian beer is chilled to cryogenic
temperatures before opening for human consumption. Brazilian beer is
great refreshment on hot summer evenings, but beer is generally drunk in
all weathers. It is not for nothing that Brazilian law regulates the
consumption of alcoholic beverages during working hours - including
lunch breaks - and the slightest drink-driving with such extreme
strictness.
However, at the drinking temperatures considered
correct in Central Europe, Brazilian beer easily becomes undrinkable.
Therefore, Brazilians generally believe that beer is drunk warm in
Germany; by Brazilian standards it is already warm. What is the right
drinking temperature for Brazilian beer - ice cold - becomes clear when
Brazilians hear from the innkeeper "uma geladinha" (a small ice-cold
one, which in no way means "small beer"), "aquela gelada" (the ice-cold
one), or "aquela qu' cê guardou pra você” (the bottle you saved for
yourself).
In the restaurant, a 600 ml bottle is often ordered
for a small group, which is then served with an insulating sleeve. It is
drunk from small 150 ml glasses.
Canned beer from most breweries
comes in 350ml ("Lata"), 400ml, 445ml and 500ml ("Latão" for all three
of the latter) cans. Better restaurants often have draft beer (“chope”
or “chopp”), but this is usually more expensive and not necessarily
better.
Brazil is rightly considered one of the most party-loving countries in
the world. The festivals, especially those around the winter solstice
(São João at the end of June) and the famous carnival, which is
celebrated colorfully and exuberantly throughout Brazil and by no means
only in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, mobilize the population.
The
centers of nightlife are São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro as well as the
south coast around Florianópolis in summer. In these areas, in addition
to the traditional Brazilian rhythms, you can also find a "European"
nightlife, for example in the form of techno and house discos and all
kinds of rock music.
On the other hand, the Musica Popular
Brasileira (MPB), a mixture of pop music and traditional dances, is
particularly popular with the locals. It is characterized by simple
melodic structures and a guitar-heavy sound. Representatives include
Gilberto Gil (who made it to the Minister of Culture), Milton
Nascimento, Caetano Veloso and Chico César and Sérgio Mendes, who are
influenced by reggae and Afro sounds.
Baile Funk, which has also
made it into the large discotheques of South America, is considered more
of the music of the favela dwellers. It is an offshoot of the US
Electro. Events of this type of music, which are particularly widespread
in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, are not recommended for tourists -
fights with injured and even dead people very often occur.
The
samba shows, which are particularly common in Rio de Janeiro, are
considered very touristy and commercial. Don't expect a glimpse of true
Brazilian folklore.
There are enough hotels and pousadas in all price ranges from simple to
noble. As a rule, you pay extra per room, from the third person for an
extra bed. Breakfast is usually included in hotels. Cleanliness is
standard. Tourism in Brazil is only in the process of networking.
Information is usually only available on site.
The flow heater in
the shower head in simple to medium-sized accommodation takes some
getting used to. This must be switched on before use ("Verão" = half
power; "Inverno" = full power). Caution! You should stand dry, otherwise
you could get an unpleasant electric shock.
A word of warning: a
"motel" room in Brazil is booked by the hour and serves as a quiet spot
for sex escapades. So don't try to stay there overnight. These motels
have a pretty straightforward look and feel, called "Venus" or "Club 69"
and decorated with bright neon signs. A normal tourist does not easily
get lost in such a motel. However, even if it is not the actual purpose:
you can also stay overnight there. Many motels not only have hourly
rates, but also nightly rates. The furnishings are rather functional,
i.e. no wardrobe, desk and no bright lighting, but depending on the
price range there may be a larger bathtub, which is otherwise rare in
Brazilian hotels. Breakfast is usually not included in the room price.
The state universities are considered to be of good quality, but there is fierce competition for places. Therefore, many young Brazilians are enrolled in private universities, but they are not considered full-fledged. Studying or at least an exchange program can also be attractive for foreigners. Further information is available, for example, from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Emergency calls: Police 190
In Brazil, it is no more dangerous
for tourists than in Europe, if you take some precautions. The main
thing to remember is that you are often seen as a "rich tourist". That's
why one should never flaunt one's wealth, i.e. not leave the gold
jewelry hanging out so that the poor population could become jealous.
In some areas of the big cities, especially in the poorer districts
(favelas) of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and the cities of the Northeast,
one must exercise increased caution as a tourist in Brazil. If you stay
in Brazil for several weeks, you may come across tourists who will tell
you how they themselves were robbed at gunpoint. In order to prevent the
inevitable robbery or at least to limit its harmful effect, just follow
a few simple rules:
If you go out, then only with as much money
as you will probably need (never more than 20€, i.e. an amount of money
that seems manageable).
Always keep some coins (small change or small
bills) in your pocket and willingly hand them over in the event of a
robbery. Show or claim that that's all you have. Place the bulk of the
money in a purse or money belt tied around your waist.
Never go out
alone at night, except in well-lit and busy parts of the city.
In
poorer areas, especially at night, it is better not to carry valuables
such as a watch or digital camera. There are inexpensive disposable
cameras that also take good pictures, the loss of which is not nearly as
serious as that of the beloved digital camera.
Do not follow anyone
into dark or deserted alleys. Distrust everyone, especially those who
try to inspire trust from the start. An almost classic variant of the
robbery in broad daylight is that three to four boys come towards you
smiling, stretch out their hand, which the good European of course
immediately reflexively grabs, only to then realize that one of the boys
is unfortunately hiding under his T-shirt marks the tip of a not too
small knife pointing in the direction of your own liver. So: Don't even
shake hands.
Don't be surprised if you come across gangs armed to
the teeth in the shopping streets of some seaside resorts that are well
developed for tourism. The escorts of money transports are no less
armed. It is not uncommon for five security guards to secure the area
before the money messengers leave. There are also youth hostels with
security guards outside day and night.
Especially in the poorer
areas of the big cities, the security officers, allegedly because of the
high crime rate, very quickly take up arms to protect themselves. In
some places, the population is more afraid of the military police than
of criminals.
Also be prepared that in some regions you will be
begged for very obtrusively. Salvador stands out particularly
negatively. Here especially in the districts of Barra (around the Farol
de Barra) and Pelourinho (historical old town).
Be reserved,
friendly and find out beforehand which parts of the city you are in.
Because with the necessary caution, Brazil is a great travel
destination.
If you bring your own electrical devices with a
safety plug, you should definitely use a three-pin adapter (three pins
and a round opening) for the Brazilian sockets (see picture).
Two-pronged adapters, which you can get on every street corner, can be
plugged in and also provide power, but no grounding. There is therefore
a risk of an electric shock, which can endanger people and the device.
Depending on the region, the voltage can be 127 V or 230 V and the mains
frequency is 60 Hz. Devices with a wide-range power supply (labeled e.g.
100 - 240 V and 50 / 60 Hz) and a Euro plug (two-pin) can be used
without any problems .
Large parts of Brazil are dengue and yellow fever areas. Yellow fever
vaccination is highly recommended. In addition, there is malaria in
parts of Brazil, including the particularly dangerous Malaria Tropica.
It should be noted that for this reason all-day protection against
insects is recommended, since the yellow fever mosquito (dengue) is
active during the day and the anopheles mosquito (malaria) is active at
night. A mosquito net should definitely not be missing. Prevention
against hepatitis A and B is also advisable.
Brazil is often
wrongly suspected of having a high AIDS rate. This is not so, the HIV
rate is about as high as in the USA and in neighboring Argentina. The
Brazilian condoms are not reliable though! They often tear. Here too, as
everywhere in the world, avoid unprotected intercourse and blood contact
and bring the rubber bands from home.
However, medical care from
private clinics in the cities is sometimes considerably more expensive
on a European level, which is why travel health insurance is highly
recommended. With a little luck, however, you will also be treated in
the state health centers, which is basically free of charge. However,
you have to put up with long waiting times and, if necessary, overcome
language barriers.
On the dengue epidemics in Rio de Janeiro
(2002, 2008) see also: News:2008-03-27: Dengue fever in Rio
Even within South America, Brazilians have a reputation for being a very
open people. The "open" not only refers to dealing with each other, but
also to tolerance towards others, for example homosexuals. Here the
country is significantly further than its neighbors to the south and
west.
Nevertheless, there are of course extremely conservative
areas in Brazil, especially in the interior. Also towards the south one
is naturally a bit quieter than towards the north. Unfortunately, racism
is still a long way from being eradicated, despite or perhaps because of
the colorful ethnic mix of Afro- and Euro-Brazilians as well as natives,
with many mestizos or pardos.
There are many active evangelical
Christians. What these, like all Puritans, have in common is their
humorless hostility to pleasure. Almost all of these groups ban tobacco
and alcohol from their followers, and the more fanatical ones also ban
coffee -- all of which are often insistently promoted to "lost" souls.
On the positive side, these gentlemen commit significantly fewer
robberies. Higher education is found among the pseudo-Christian sect of
the "Espíritas do Brasil" who believe in reincarnation.
Brazil is divided into several time zones. These have changed several times since 2013. Summer time, which existed in some southern parts of the country, was once again abolished in 2020.
Stamps are
almost exclusively available from the post offices of the national post
office of Correios. Unfortunately, these are not particularly densely
distributed and also have very short opening times. Therefore, as soon
as you find an open post office, it is worth stocking up on stamps for
your entire stay.
An annoying bad habit: postal workers remove
the stamps from the postcards for resale. It is therefore best to hand
in your holiday greetings directly at the counter and insist that the
stamps are stamped immediately: Carimbar por favor!
Transit times
for shipments to and from Europe vary between 10 working days and three
months. Important shipments should therefore always be insured and
preferably sent by express.
There are four
mobile network operators in Brazil, Claro, Oi, TIM and Vivo, each
operating a modern 3G or 4G network. Modern mobile phones and
smartphones should therefore be able to be used without any technical
problems. However, owners of older European devices should find out
which network operator operates a GSM network (GSM900 or GSM1800) that
is compatible with their device.
Roaming with a European mobile
phone contract is very expensive (sometimes more than EUR 2.50 per
minute) and should only be used in emergencies. It is usually cheaper to
get a local prepaid SIM card. The SIM card is often even free of charge.
A tax number (CPF) is actually required to purchase a Brazilian SIM
card, but almost all network operators now also offer the option of
buying a SIM as a foreigner by presenting their passport. For this,
however, a special "Visitors SIM" is required, at least at Claro, which
is not available in every shop or the employees do not know exactly how
the activation process for foreigners works (either they activate it via
their own CPF, which may, however, lead to problems, because you also
need the CPF to log in to the customer center or to change tariffs, or
you have to go to another shop).
127V/60Hz (devices) and 110V/60Hz (sockets), or 220V/60Hz (usually in
older networks);
Sockets according to North American (old) or IEC
60906-1 standard (new)
Death in Brazil by Peter
Robb. English. Finely spun narrative about the country and people mixed
with the comprehensive historical and political background of Brazil.
Great introductory literature for new discoverers of Brazil.
Brazil - A Country of the Future by Stefan Zweig. About someone who left
Hell (Germany before and during World War II) and discovered his
paradise.
The name Brazil derives from the Portuguese name pau-brasil of the
brazilwood tree (Caesalpinia echinata), which was an important export
product at the time of early colonization from the forests of the
Atlantic coast. Brasa means "embers" and "hot coals" in Portuguese; the
adjective brasil ("ember") refers to the color of the wood, which glows
red when cut (Brasilin) and was used to dye fabrics in Europe.
A
phantom island west of Ireland called Brasil has been on maps since
1325. According to a letter from an English agent to Christopher
Columbus in 1498, it was discovered by sailors from Bristol around 1480.
The author of the letter identifies it with the land discovered by the
Venetian navigator Giovanni Caboto in 1497, i.e. with Newfoundland.
The oldest traces of human life were found in the Caverna da Pedra
Pintada in the state of Piauí. The oldest dated finds date from around
11,700 BP. Pottery was used there around 7580 BP (Paituna phase). The
Itaparica phase is also one of the oldest cultures; similarly old traces
from the period between 11,500 and 6000 BP (Dourado tradition) were
found at Abrigo do Sol in Mato Grosso do Sul. Skeleton finds show that
the coastal areas of present-day Brazil were inhabited around 8000 BC.
were inhabited. The use of nut trees can be traced back to 8500 BC. in
Amazonia, real agriculture began between 6000 and 2700 BC. - a lot is
still unclear here. Fire often promoted the growth of certain plants,
such as palm trees, which provided food, a process that can be traced
back to the 4th or 3rd millennium BC at the latest; Added to this was
gardening and many groups becoming increasingly sedentary. In the 2nd
century AD, land use must have been extremely intensive, as indicated by
the so-called Amazonian Dark Earth.
The early inhabitants
fundamentally changed the ecosystem of the Amazon basin by planting
certain types of plants and improving the soil. Their settlements - for
example on the huge river island of Marajó - were far larger than long
assumed. In addition, many groups built so-called mounds, often burial
mounds, which on the coast of Brazil, when made of shells, are called
sambaquis. Others represented ceremonial centers or residences. The
Ibibate mound complex in the Bolivian Amazonia covers 11 hectares, with
40 mounds found on Marajo alone.
In the province of Mato Grosso
there were numerous planned places where fish farming and agriculture
were practiced up to the 1500s. The cities, which were up to 60 hectares
in size, were connected by a network of roads - although in most areas
the canoe was the means of transport - there were dams and artificial
ponds. As in many parts of America, the people of the Xingu may have
fallen victim to epidemics, especially smallpox.
As early as 1494, Portugal and Spain decided to partition South America
in the Treaty of Tordesillas. In this was mediated by Pope Alexander VI.
an imaginary line 370 léguas (approx. 2282 kilometers) west of the
westernmost Cape Verde Islands. According to today's geographic
coordinate system, this corresponds to a meridian of 46° 37' west
longitude. Along this line the world was divided between the two sea
powers. Spain was given all the land yet to be discovered in America,
while Portugal was given Africa and Asia. Because the line had been
agreed upon in ignorance of the coastline of the New World, the eastern
tip of South America (which was still generally unknown at the time)
also belonged to Portugal's dominion. The prerequisite for legitimate
appropriation was the consistent Catholicization of the locals. On April
22, 1500, the Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral landed near what
is now Porto Seguro (in the south of the state of Bahia) and took
possession of the land for the Portuguese crown. The period from 1500 to
1530 was characterized by bartering with the locals. However, to stop
the French, who did not consider the Treaty of Tordesillas binding, and
who bartered with the Tupinambá for redwood, the Portuguese crown
decided to send European settlers to Brazil.
In 1549, today's
Salvador da Bahia (São Salvador da Bahía de Todos os Santos) became the
capital. From the 1530s, Indians were brought to the coast from the
interior to do the work on the sugar cane plantations in the northeast.
Because of the hard work, persecution and vulnerability of the Indians
to European diseases, many of them died. The colonial masters then tried
to replace the lost labor force with slaves from Africa. The Africans
were forcibly baptized after their abduction, but in fact kept their
traditional religions. This was the cause of the emergence of the
typically Brazilian syncretic cults Candomblé and Umbanda. By 1580, the
Portuguese effectively took control of the entire country.
In
1629, the Dutch settled near today's Recife and in 1637, under the
leadership of Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen, conquered these
cultivation areas, which then briefly flourished again. By 1654 the area
around Pernambuco fell under Dutch control. In the same year, the Dutch
troops were decisively defeated and driven out again at the Battle of
Guararapes.
Rich baroque cities developed in the 17th century as
Bandeirantes expeditions explored the hinterland and discovered gold and
diamonds among other mineral resources. In the same century, escaped
slaves built simple settlements called quilombos. When uprisings against
the oppression of the blacks broke out in the Quilombos, all settlements
were destroyed again by 1699. In 1763, Rio de Janeiro was made the
capital because the country's economic center was shifting to the south.
25 years later, the officer and dentist Tiradentes led an uprising that
failed. In 1792, today's national hero of Brazil was executed. At the
same time, a conflict with Spain began because the Bandeirantes
expeditions, contrary to the agreements, moved the western border of
Brazil.
In 1807 Napoleon Bonaparte's French troops invaded Portugal, whereupon
the Portuguese King João VI. fled to Brazil (first Bahia, later Rio de
Janeiro) under British protection and there for the first time allowed
foreign trade, which had been strictly forbidden until then. With the
relocation of the king and the entire court, Brazil received the status
of an equal member of the mother country, and the capital Rio de Janeiro
was in fact the center of the then Portuguese empire, with the exception
of the French-occupied Portugal. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815,
Brazil was given equal status as a kingdom with Portugal. Rio de Janeiro
remained the capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the
Algarves until 1821.
After the French troops left Portugal, King
João VI. Returned to Portugal against his will in 1821 to secure his
claim to the throne. He left the rule of Brazil to his son Pedro I.
Pedro I declared Brazil's independence from Portugal on September 7,
1822 in São Paulo and proclaimed himself the first Brazilian emperor on
September 22, 1822.
Two years later, targeted German immigration
to Brazil began with the founding of the first colony of São Leopoldo in
Rio Grande do Sul. In 1828, after three years of war between Brazil and
Argentina, the province of Uruguay, which had been annexed by Argentina
as the Cisplatin Province in 1821, broke away and declared its
independence from Brazil. Three years later there was a military
uprising, which is why Emperor Pedro I abdicated and transferred the
rule to his five-year-old son Pedro II. The former Emperor Pedro I went
back to Portugal and succeeded his father as Portuguese King Pedro IV.
An additional point in the constitution created in 1822 made some
reforms possible on the day of Pedro I's abdication. Thus it was decided
to appoint a single regent. In the Farrapen Revolution of 1835, Rio
Grande do Sul split off again from a province that from then on formed
the Republic of Piratini until it was reintegrated into the empire after
a ten-year war with the government troops. During the Regent period
there were a number of other uprisings in the north and north-east,
which were put down relatively quickly and cost the lives of many poor
people in particular.
On July 23, 1840, at the age of 14, Pedro II was prematurely declared of
legal age. The following year he was crowned Emperor of Brazil. In 1864,
Paraguay declared war on Brazil. After five years, Brazil, Uruguay and
Argentina defeated Paraguay's troops in the bloodiest war in Latin
American history. Although the war years hit the country, Brazil
experienced good economic development due to the rubber boom. Brazil had
a monopoly on rubber and was therefore able to generate large revenues
by exporting it.
Slavery was officially abolished in 1888 by
Crown Princess Isabella, a daughter of Pedro II, with the "Golden Law"
(Lei Áurea). Although slavery had been outlawed since 1853, the ban led
to uprisings by landlords and the army. As a result, the military seized
power, prompting the Kaiser to go into exile in Paris on November 15,
1889, paving the way for the first republic.
Marshal Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca proclaimed the republic on November 15, 1889 in the Praça Quinze de Novembro in Rio de Janeiro and headed the provisional government that adopted the first republican constitution on February 24, 1891 as the United States of Brazil (República dos Estados Unidos do Brasil). In the years that followed, an oligarchic system was established. Prosperity seemed to be secured by the proceeds from the rubber boom and the great demand for coffee, and the economy was concentrated in these branches, through which the large urban modernization projects of the Belle Époque Brasileira were financed. However, it soon fell into crisis due to the fall in the price of rubber (since 1910) and coffee (since the late 1920s). In World War I, Brazil officially sided with the Allies against Germany, but did not take an active part. During the war years, the demand for coffee fell sharply. In the 1920s, large parts of the population demanded an end to the oligarchy. This first or old republic lasted from the proclamation of the republic in 1889 to 1930 and went down in history as the República Velha, succeeded by the Getúlio Vargas era.
When coffee prices plummeted again in 1930, Getúlio Vargas, the "father
of the poor," led a rebellion and became president. In the first months
of his reign, Brazil's economy grew noticeably. Women's suffrage,
secrecy and proportional representation were first introduced in Brazil
with the electoral law of 1932, repealed when the Estado Novo was
declared in 1937 and renewed in 1945. In 1937, Vargas ruled as a
“benevolent dictator” and in 1942, under pressure from the United
States, he declared war on the Axis powers. He sent a 25,000-strong
contingent (Força Expedicionária Brasileira) to Italy, which was used,
among other things, in the Battle of Monte Cassino. After the end of
World War II, Vargas was deposed from the army.
Just five years
later, the people re-elected him President. Because the United States
opposed Brazil's socialist policies and then demanded rights and the
army Vargas' resignation, he committed suicide in 1954. Vargas'
successor Juscelino Kubitschek, through the Partido Trabalhista
Brasileiro (PTB), attracted new foreign investors, which boosted the
Brazilian economy in the late 1950s. In 1960 Jânio da Silva Quadros was
elected president. After taking office in 1961, he tried to break the
dependency on the USA and to consolidate the deficit state budget. He
resigned after only a few months in office and was succeeded by
Vice-President João Goulart shortly after the new capital, Brasília, was
inaugurated after three years of construction. Goulart was also not
without controversy among the population, which is why his powers were
limited in the first three presidential elections.
In 1964, the military staged a coup and ousted João Goulart, after which
Brazil was ruled by the military until 1985. During this time, the
Indians in particular suffered from human rights violations, the economy
was supported, but at the same time large prestigious projects
(Transamazônica, the Itaipú hydroelectric power plant, the Angra dos
Reis nuclear power plant, motorways) were initiated. This policy
resulted in high public debt and unprofitable state-owned companies.
The new regime under Marshal Humberto Castelo Branco suppressed the
left-wing opposition and deprived about 300 people of their political
rights. A law passed in 1965 curtailed civil liberties, gave more powers
to the national government, and mandated the election of the president
and vice president by Congress.
Former Minister of War Marshal
Artur da Costa e Silva, candidate of the governing party ARENA (Aliança
Renovadora Nacional; German: Alliance for National Renewal), was elected
president in 1966. The Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB, Movimento
Democrático Brasileiro), the only legal opposition party, refused to
nominate a candidate for the election in protest because the government
had rejected all serious opponents. In 1966 the ARENA also won the
national and parliamentary elections. The year 1968 was marked by
student unrest and strikes. The military regime responded with political
purges and censorship. In August 1969, Costa was ousted. The military
appointed General Emílio Garrastazu Médici as his successor, and
Congress elected him President. Under the Médici, repression was
intensified and revolutionary activity increased as a result. The Roman
Catholic clergy increasingly raised their critical voice and denounced
the conditions of the poor population.
In 1974 General Ernesto
Geisel, after his military career president of Petrobras, the state oil
monopoly company, was elected President of Brazil. Due to the relative
political stability and targeted promotion of industry, the time of the
military rulers was also a time of economic boom; many investors – also
from Germany – invested in Brazil in the 1970s. This is how São Paulo
advanced to become the "largest German industrial city outside of
Germany" at the time.
At the beginning of the 1980s, the military
government eased the repression significantly until finally, in 1985,
due to a lack of options from the military cadre and already in the
midst of an economic crisis with galloping inflation, free elections
were allowed.
From 1985 the Nova República (Sixth Republic) followed. The victor,
Tancredo Neves, was hospitalized shortly before his inauguration in
Brasília. He underwent seven surgeries for a stomach ulcer. He died on
April 21, 1985 from infections contracted during surgery. José Sarney,
who was elected Vice-President, then became President. Sarney had to
contend with enormous foreign debts, hyperinflation and corruption,
which he initially tried quite successfully with the "Plano Cruzado". In
addition, he had to stabilize the new democracy.
Fernando Collor
de Mello was elected Sarney's successor in democratic elections in 1990.
He spent the first months of his tenure fighting inflation, which at
times reached 25% a month. On April 26, 1991, Mercosur (Portuguese
Mercosul) was founded. This common market of the south, which the states
of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay founded together with Brazil, is a
single market with more than 230 million inhabitants, which should
strengthen the economies of the member countries and thereby Latin
America's position in the world.
In 1992, Collor was accused of
corruption by his brother Pedro, leading to investigations by Congress
and the press. Increasing evidence of bribery and the misappropriation
of state funds gave rise to mass demonstrations and unrest in the major
cities of Brazil. In October of that year, Congress voted to remove
Collor, who subsequently resigned. According to the constitution, Vice
President Itamar Franco succeeded him.
In 1993, the people of
Brazil were able to decide on both the form of government and the form
of government in a referendum. The choice fell clearly on a republic
(instead of a monarchy) with a presidential (instead of a parliamentary)
system of government. A comprehensive currency reform was passed in
1994, which ended the hyperinflation. Fernando Henrique Cardoso was
primarily responsible for the introduction of the new currency and a
number of other measures (collectively referred to as "Plano Real"), who
was able to use this success in his presidential candidacy and was
elected president in October 1994 and again in October 1998. In order to
balance the budget, parliament decided to privatize state monopolies,
but under Cardoso's presidency the state debt rose from 28.1% to 55.5%
of gross domestic product. From 2003 to 2011, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
was President of Brazil from the Workers' Party PT. He emphasized
reducing the national debt, but also implemented social programs such as
Fome Zero ("Zero Hunger") and Bolsa Família ("Purse for Families"). In
2004, Brazil led UN peacekeeping forces for the first time in its
history, and the military sent 1,470 soldiers to Haiti.
In 2011,
Dilma Rousseff became the first woman to be elected head of state in
Brazil. Despite her controversial, hardline style of government, which
differs greatly from that of her mentor Lula, her approval ratings were
72 percent in March 2012 and had risen to 79 percent in March 2013. In
mid-June, however, a group of young people opposed to increases in
public transport fares in São Paulo began protesting. The violent
repression with which the police reacted to the demonstrators triggered
a chain of nationwide protests: In the weeks that followed, hundreds of
thousands of people took to the streets. In addition, there was a fight
against the hosting of the 2014 World Cup, corruption and little social
policy, which includes the increasing disregard for the rights of
indigenous people, women and homosexuals. President Rousseff responded
by promising a "grand pact" for a better Brazil. From June to July,
President Rousseff's approval ratings fell to 31 percent.
However, in the 2014 presidential election, Dilma Rousseff was
re-elected.
Increased living costs and declining economic output
in Brazil as a result of falling commodity prices also led to
large-scale demonstrations across the country in 2015 and 2016.
The deep crisis of confidence in the political system was not resolved
with Rousseff's impeachment in 2016, but intensified, since the
impeachment itself was a coup to sabotage investigations into the Lava
Jato corruption scandal for its own benefit by changing power. Roussef's
successor, Michel Temer, lost six of his ministers within six months to
allegations of corruption, while the country was in recession for the
second year in a row. In May 2017, the Supreme Court also began
investigating President Temer over the Lava Jato corruption scandal. Not
only the state oil company Petrobras, but also the construction company
Odebrecht and the world's largest meat dealer JBS were involved in the
corruption.
Two candidates
In the October 2018 presidential election, the two
most promising candidates were far-right ex-military Jair Bolsonaro and
left-liberal ex-president Lula da Silva. However, Lula da Silva was
ultimately unable to run because Chief Justice Sergio Moro sentenced him
to a total of 12 years in prison on charges of alleged corruption. His
party PT then appointed Fernando Haddad as the replacement candidate; he
lost the election to Bolsonaro. Under his leadership, the human rights
situation in Brazil has continued to deteriorate.
Justice Scandal
(2019)
In 2019, the investigative journalist network The Intercept
published private chat transcripts and transcripts of judge Sergio Moro
with the chief prosecutors. These publications show that the verdict
against Lula da Silva was passed without sufficient evidence and that
the trial was a political show trial. The verdict against da Silva
prevented his candidacy in the October 2018 presidential election,
paving the way for Bolsonaro's election victory. After winning the
presidential election, Bolsonaro appointed Sergio Moro as his Minister
of Justice. According to the publications, da Silva was released from
prison in November 2019 after Lula's lawyers filed a Supreme Court
appeal alleging bias against then-Judge Sergio Moro.
Brazil's landscape is characterized by extensive tropical rainforests of
the Amazon lowlands in the north and plateaus, hills and mountains in
the south. While the country's agricultural base is in the south and in
the savannas of the Midwest (Cerrado), most of the population lives near
the Atlantic coast, where almost all major cities are also located. The
coastline is 7491 km long, most of which are sandy beaches.
Brazil has ten neighboring countries. It borders - with the exception of
Chile and Ecuador - on all South American countries (seen
counterclockwise from the northeast with the border lengths): French
Guiana with 730 km, Suriname with 593 km, Guyana with 1298 km, Venezuela
with 1819 km, Colombia with 1645 km, Peru with 2995 km, Bolivia with
3400 km, Paraguay with 1290 km, Argentina with 1132 km and Uruguay with
985 km. The total border length is 15,887 km. Brazil has the third
longest land border in the world after China and Russia.
The
continental part of Brazil lies in two time zones, some offshore islands
belong to a third. See also: time zones in Brazil.
The highest peak is the 2994 m high Pico da Neblina, which is located in the national park of the same name near the border with Venezuela and Guyana. The second highest mountain is the Pico 31 de Março (2973 m). The third highest mountain - and the highest in the Brazilian mountains - is the Pico da Bandeira (2891 m). More famous, however, are the 710 m high Corcovado with the 30 m high statue of the Redeemer because of its view over Rio de Janeiro and the 395 m high Sugar Loaf, famous for its conical shape.
Rivers
With a water flow of 209,000 m³/s, the Amazon is the most
water-rich river on earth, larger than the world's seven next smaller
rivers put together. The entire flow path of the Amazon measures 6448
km; in this respect it is only surpassed by the Nile in Africa, which
has much less water. The most important tributaries, the Rio Madeira and
the Rio Negro, are already comparable to the largest rivers on other
continents. Other rivers of similar size are the Rio Icá and the Rio
Tapajós.
With the exception of a narrow coastal strip, the south
of Brazil belongs to the catchment area of the rivers Uruguay (1790 km)
and Paraná (3998 km). The Paraná is dammed almost continuously; The
second largest hydroelectric power station in the world is located in
Itaipú. One of its tributaries gave its name to the state of Paraguay;
another is known for the Iguazú Falls.
Lakes
The Lagoa dos
Patos near Porto Alegre is the largest lagoon in Brazil and the second
largest in South America with over 10,000 km². Next comes Laguna Merín,
less than half the size, just south of the city of Rio Grande.
Brazilian territory also includes some islands in the
Atlantic, e.g. B. the approximately 800 km off the coast of St. Peter
and St. Paul rocks, which are built only with a lighthouse, and the
former convict colony Fernando de Noronha, which is not far from the
rock group. Both lie on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The islands of Trindade
and Martim Vaz, which belong to the state of Espírito Santo, are of
volcanic origin. The oval-shaped Rocas Atoll stretches for several
kilometers and has been listed as a World Heritage Site for its
exceptional wildlife.
The largest island, however, is Marajó
between the mouths of the Amazon and the Rio Pará, which belongs to the
mouth of the Rio Tocantins. With an area of around 48,000 km², it is
larger than Switzerland, for example. However, since large parts are
flooded in the rainy season, the island is only populated in a few
places. Since the north shore of Marajó is a sea coast, the slightly
smaller Ilha do Bananal in the Rio Araguaia with its area of 20,000 km²
is the largest river island in the world. It is located in a national
park in the state of Tocantins and is larger than Jamaica, for example.
The climate of Brazil, which lies between latitude 5° north and latitude 34° south, is predominantly tropical with little seasonal variation in temperature. Only in the subtropical south is there a more moderate climate. The Amazon Basin in particular has ample rainfall, but there are also relatively dry areas with sometimes long periods of drought, especially in the north-east of the country. In the higher elevations in the south of the country, precipitation occasionally falls as snow in winter.
Brazil is the most biodiverse country on earth, ahead of Colombia,
Mexico and Indonesia. So far, around 55,000 species of flowering plants,
over 3,000 species of freshwater fish, 1,154 species of amphibians, 861
reptiles and 532 species of mammals have been discovered. Due to the
enormous biodiversity (which is the fourth highest in the world in the
Atlantic coastal rainforest at the level of the Tropic of Cancer), the
large number of endemic species, genera and families and the diverse
ecosystems, Brazil is one of the most megadiverse countries on earth.
Above all, because the forest areas are constantly being reduced, a
high proportion of animal species are endangered. Nevertheless, the
diversity of Amazonia is not yet endangered due to the large areas of
largely untouched wilderness regions. The ecoregions Mata Atlântica
(rain forest) and Cerrado (savannahs), on the other hand, are counted
among the world's biodiversity hotspots due to the high level of risk
(see Environment section).
The evergreen tropical rainforest of
the Amazon is the largest contiguous forest area in Brazil. So far, more
than 2500 tree species have been discovered there. Almost all of these
trees, which are up to 60 m tall, are found in the flood-free Eté forest
of Terra Firme, which covers 98% of the Amazon region. In this area grow
i.a. the rubber tree (caucho), various colored and precious woods (e.g.
rosewood), fruit trees (e.g. Brazil nut tree) and medicinal plants. The
approximately 1000 different types of ferns and orchids are striking. In
addition to the terra firme, there is the várzea, which is flooded at
high tide. Jupati and Miriti palms grow there. The Igapó area, on the
other hand, is constantly flooded. A typical plant in this area is the
Açaí palm. On the Amazon, but especially on its tributaries, water
lilies grow, the flowers of which can reach 30 to 40 cm in size. Along
the coast of Amazonia (with the exception of the actual Amazon estuary)
there are extensive mangrove forests, which, however, are relatively
species-poor with six mangrove tree species.
Parrots and toucans
are particularly well known throughout the Amazon region. Extremely many
insect and butterfly species are known. Larger forest animals are the
tapir, the peccary, the jaguar and the puma. In addition, smaller wild
cats, monkeys, sloths, armadillos and anteaters populate the rainforest.
Anacondas, caimans and capybaras ("water pigs" - the world's largest
rodents) live on the shores and shallow waters, and other mammals such
as giant otters, river dolphins and manatees in the deeper water.
Numerous species of fish (about 1500) are also native to the Amazon.
Including one of the largest known freshwater fish in the world: the
pirarucú is 2 m long and weighs around 100 kg. An electric eel that
delivers 800-volt electric shocks and the piranhas, some species a good
30 cm long, are also exceptional.
The extreme north-east of
Brazil, which also used to be rainforest, is now used almost exclusively
for sugar cane plantations and cotton cultivation. Mangroves and palm
groves can still be found here and there.
The typical vegetation
of the semi-arid mountains and highlands in the center (Cerrado) and in
the north-east of the country (Sertão) is the savanna, from tree and
grass savannas to the north-east, to shrub savannas interspersed with
deciduous trees. Typical inhabitants of these dry zones are giant
anteater, maned wolf, pampas deer, nandu and various armadillos. All of
these species, as well as big cats such as jaguars and pumas, are
protected in the Emas National Park, which is a World Heritage Site.
The Pantanal has an even greater variety of animals and plants. In
addition to numerous bird species, flatland tapirs, swamp deer,
capybaras and caiman are characteristic. The swamp region in the
mid-west of the country is flooded seven months of the year. Higher
areas of the region are predominantly savannah. As in those of the
Cerrado and even in the Amazon, there are pastures for cattle.
The focal points of colonial development and the most densely populated
areas are found in the coastal mountains of the south and south-east.
Instead of the original Atlantic rainforest, habitat for monkeys and
numerous other animal species, coffee plantations dominate. The original
vegetation can only be found in a few national parks.
The south
shows subtropical vegetation; the original forests of araucaria, which
reach a height of up to 40 m, were largely destroyed for timber. Today,
low-grass steppes are more common in this region.
There are 62 national parks (Parques Nacionais) in Brazil. Protected
areas of a similar character exist under the name Estação Ecológica.
There are also protected areas at the state level (Parques Estaduais)
and at the municipal level. These and other areas have been placed under
protection because of their ecological, scientific, touristic and
educational importance.
Some organizations dedicated to nature
and wildlife conservation are:
Instituto Onca-Pintada (IOP):
Brazilian NGO for the protection of the jaguar (Jaguar Concervation Fund
– JCF)
Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC): international
organization for the protection of dolphins and whales in the Amazon
Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA): Protected area program for
the preservation of the rainforest
Destruction of the rainforest
While around 93% of the Atlantic
coastal rainforest has already been destroyed and the remnants are
highly fragmented, the tropical rainforest of the Amazon region is one
of the largest remaining primeval forest areas in the world. Until the
arrival of the Europeans, it was used extensively and sustainably by the
indigenous people, so that the changes in ecosystems that were brought
about benefited biodiversity rather than harmed it. Many of the modern
changes in land use, on the other hand, cause immense damage to forests.
These are primarily clearings for the creation of agricultural land,
plantation-type agriculture and forestry (e.g. Jari project), but also
infrastructure projects such as roads (e.g. the Transamazônica and the
Perimetral Norte), mines (e.g. Serra dos Carajás) and large dams (even
on direct tributaries of the Amazon such as Tucuruí or Belo Monte). It
is not only the use of land by the construction projects that has an
effect. The associated roads make the areas available for (today mostly
illegal) logging.
The wood from these forests is only partly used
by the local population (e.g. as firewood or for higher-value products
such as plywood, pulp or building materials that are already
manufactured in Brazil). A large part is traded internationally. In
Brazil there are around 2500 companies that buy and sell tropical
hardwood. Most of them are large foreign companies. Although some
tropical woods such. B. Mahogany is now protected by law, but the trade
continues illegally.
According to the FAO, in 2010 60.1% of the
country was still covered with virgin forest, compared to 66.9% in 1990
(not including afforested areas). In the period 2000-2005, the loss of
primeval forest was 32,000 km² per year. In relation to the total area
of forests, around 0.5% has been lost annually in the last 20 years.
From 2004 (approx. 27,000 km² annually) to 2012 the rates were
declining. In 2005 18,793 km² were announced, in 2006 it was 14,039 km².
According to the German BMZ, the deforestation rate in 2012 was "only"
around 4570 km² (that is slightly less than the area of the Balearic
Islands or 0.09% of the total rainforest area of Brazil). From August
2012 to July 2013, however, deforestation increased again to 5800 km².
The Brazilian government attributed the decline in primary forest
loss to the enforcement of its environmental standards, with
environmentalists citing the strength of the real and falling soybean
prices as the reasons. As a result, in January 2008, a government
emergency cabinet discussed measures. The authorities responsible for
protecting the rainforest are struggling with a lack of money and staff
as well as corruption. The Amazon forest is only relatively protected
within the framework of protected areas. In 2002, the world's largest
protected area (Tumucumaque) of a tropical rainforest was founded in
northern Brazil.
Brazil created a fund to protect the Amazon
rainforest in mid-2008 and for the first time accepted a link between
this protection and global warming. The government is planning
investments of several million euros by 2021 to develop sustainable
economic bases for the Amazon population instead of deforestation.
However, the country is reluctant to foreign interference in its Amazon
policy. Indigenous people, environmentalists and human rights activists
fear that deforestation will continue under President Jair Bolsonaro,
who has been in office since 2019.
Rainforest soils are
nutrient-poor, so vegetation relies on recycling the nutrients and
minerals from the dead biomass. In a hot, humid tropical climate,
microorganisms decompose leaf litter in a very short time and feed it
back to the plants, whereas hardly any soil-forming processes take
place. However, if the forest is removed and the humus layer is
unprotected from the sun and precipitation or new ones can no longer
form on the barren subsoil, these dry out and erosion occurs. If the
cleared areas are larger, the forest there cannot regenerate.
Trees absorb carbon dioxide, which creates a greenhouse effect in the
atmosphere. Three-fourths of the greenhouse gases released in Brazil are
due to slash-and-burn and one-fourth to the burning of fossil fuels.
Another environmental problem is bauxite and open pit gold mining, which
poisons rivers and endangers local people. The gold diggers
(garimpeiros) use mercury to wash out the gold (amalgam process). The
toxic fumes escape into the air and the heavy metal contaminates water,
soil and groundwater, causing serious damage to human and animal health.
As everywhere, the extraction of oil causes problems: in 2000 there
was an oil spill in the Iguaçu River. A year later, what was then the
world's largest drilling platform sank off the Brazilian coast,
threatening the local ecosystem. Cities struggle with air pollution and
sanitation problems.
In Brazil, a certain amount of alcohol is
added to the fuel. In addition to environmental reasons (reduction of
pollutant emissions), the costs are mainly responsible for this: ethanol
is significantly cheaper than car and aviation fuel. The proportion of
ethanol in petrol is regulated by law and was reduced from 25% to 20% in
2006. In Brazil, you can drive cars with ethanol, petrol or flex fuel
engines. The three millionth flex fuel car was sold in December 2005.
The first planes are also flying with ethanol, which reduces air
pollution overall. The world's first alcohol-fueled aircraft, the
EMB-202 Ipanema, was built by Embraer in Brazil in 2002. Brazil is the
world's fourth-largest car and, with 12,000 aircraft, the second-largest
aircraft producer.
Brazil had 214.0 million inhabitants in 2021. Annual population growth
was +0.7%. Brazil's population experienced rapid growth during the 20th
century, reaching 79 million in 1960. However, only moderate growth is
expected in the future. An excess of births (birth rate: 13.5 per 1000
inhabitants vs. death rate: 6.6 per 1000 inhabitants) contributed to
population growth. Statistically, the number of births per woman in 2020
was 1.7, that of the Latin America and the Caribbean region was 2.0.
With urbanization and increasing prosperity, the birth rate has
fallen significantly. In the 1950s, fertility per woman was still over 6
children. Brazil is thus one of the countries where fertility has fallen
rapidly within just a few decades. Due to earlier high fertility rates,
there are still relatively many young people, but it is in the fifth
phase of the demographic transition. In this phase, the number of
children per woman is below the level of 2.1 required to keep the
population constant in the long term, and the population will decrease
in the long term without immigration. It is assumed that from 2025
onwards there will be an aging of the population and thus a shortage of
labor while the elderly population will increase at the same time. The
Brazilian population is still very young. 23.27% are under 15 years old
and only 7.8% over 64 (as of 2015). The median age of the population in
2020 was 33.5 years.
The life expectancy of residents of Brazil
from birth was 76.1 years in 2020 (women: 79.7, men: 72.5).
The
migration balance per 1000 inhabitants is 0. This means that roughly the
same number of people immigrate to Brazil as emigrate. Although a large
part of Brazil's population has historical roots abroad, today only 0.1%
of the population was born outside of Brazil; this means that Brazil has
one of the lowest proportions of foreigners in the world. In total there
were around 713,000 migrants in the country in 2015, the largest group
of which were Portuguese. In the same year, almost 20,000 people born in
Germany lived in Brazil.
About 90% of the population is
concentrated in the states of the east and south coast of Brazil with a
population density of 20 to over 300 inhabitants/km². The rest of
Brazil, with the Amazon and the mountain regions, has by far the largest
area, but only a population density of less than five to 20
inhabitants/km². The capital district Distrito Federal do Brasil as a
city state and the state of Rio de Janeiro have a population density of
over 300 inhabitants/km².
In 2021, 87 percent of Brazil's
residents lived in cities. Numerous cities are characterized by rapid,
disorderly growth; Poor settlements called favelas have formed in
previously undeveloped areas of the city.
Originally four population groups make up the Brazilian population.
Today, however, they are so extensively mixed that a clear assignment is
often no longer possible. These groups are:
the Portuguese, the
original colonists
the Africans who were taken to Brazil as slaves
(Afro-Brazilians)
various immigrant groups, mainly from Europe
(Italians, Germans, Spaniards, Poles and Ukrainians) and Asia (Japanese,
Koreans, Lebanese and Syrians), who have settled in Brazil since the
mid-19th century. Since 1818, over 300,000 Germans have immigrated (see
also German-Brazilian), mostly to the south of the country; in the
states of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, around 40% of
the population is of German origin. A large Japanese population lives in
Brazil (mainly in São Paulo), as well as many Poles and Ukrainians
(mainly in Paraná).
native ethnic groups of the Tupi and Guarani
language families (200 ethnic groups with a total of about 500,000
members). About twelve percent of the area of Brazil (largely in
Amazonia) is reserved for Indians.
About half of the Brazilian
population has a not inconsiderable proportion of African ancestors who
were brought to the country as African slaves from the 16th to the 19th
century. Over time, however, blacks have mixed extensively with the
population of European descent. According to a genetic study from 2013,
the population of Brazil is on average about 60% of European descent,
about 25% of African descent and about 15% of Amerindian descent.
European lineages are most prevalent in the south of the country at 74%
and least in the north at 51%. African genes are most prevalent in the
Northeast at 28% and weakest in the South at 15%. Indigenous ancestry is
strongest in the country's sparsely populated north at 32% and weakest
in the south at 11%. Borders between ethnic groups are often blurred in
Brazil, as the vast majority of the population descends from more than
one ethnic group. For example, Brazilians who self-identified as White
were 75% of European descent, while Brazilians who self-identified as
Black were 58% African.
According to a survey by the IBGE, which
distinguishes five groups, in 2005 (2016), around 49.9% (45.5%) of
Brazilians describe themselves as white, 43.2% (45%) as mixed race
(pardo) and 6.3% (8.6%) as Black, 0.7% (0.9%) as Yellow or Indigenous.
Most of the Afro-Brazilian population lives in the Northeast. The
self-understanding and the relationship between the ethnic groups is not
free of conflicts and unprocessed. 70 percent of those affected by
poverty are Afro-Brazilian, and when it comes to crime and its victims,
three quarters of those affected are black.
The indigenous peoples in Brazil lived partly from hunting, fishing and
gathering, as well as from land management adapted to the fragile
ecosystem. A large part of the local population died in the course of
European colonization, mostly from imported diseases, but also as a
result of forced labor or enslavement. The majority of the Indians
living outside the rainforest, especially in the cities, were
assimilated to the extent that they survived violence and epidemics and
mixed with the European immigrants. From an estimated five to six
million Indians in the period around 1500, the population collapsed to
100,000 by 1950.
By 1997 the indigenous population had grown
again to about 300,000. According to the Brazilian embassy, around
410,000 Indians live in the country today, which corresponds to around
0.2% of the population. In 2005 there were reports of a renewed increase
in the number of Indios living in Brazil to about half a million. The
largest indigenous people in Brazil are the Guaraní with around 46,000
members in seven states.
100,000 to 200,000 Indians live in
cities today, which means that the Indian culture is gradually being
lost. While there are numerous reserves, known in Brazil as Terras
Indígenas, mostly in the Amazon, few live according to their traditional
culture. The deforestation of the jungle is rapidly destroying their
habitat. The proceeds generated are transferred out of the Amazon
region, so there is a lack of local investments, and even less of
compensation. Miners and prospectors not only pollute rivers and soil
with heavy equipment and toxic chemicals, they also bring disease and
violence. The government is accused of complicity, since murderers are
rarely prosecuted. In addition, it issues permits for the economic use
of areas (e.g. for oil production) inhabited by Indios. Because of these
extremely bad experiences, around a hundred tribes avoid any contact as
much as possible.
In contrast, there is the official legal
position of the indigenous people in Brazil. As early as 1988, as a
result of the international debate about ILO Convention 169, they were
guaranteed extensive rights in the constitution (Art. 231), which
include traditional life, self-determination as well as property and
usage rights to their land. In August 2017, a court protected the
Indians' rights against a "time limit" after which they would have lost
claim to uninhabited lands since 1988.
In international comparison, Brazil has a very developed debate on
so-called “traditional peoples and communities” (Povos e Comunidades
Tradicionais). This originally Brazilian name summarizes all local
communities that lead a way of life based on traditions and subsistence
farming. Crucially, attribution is independent of ethnicity, and so
includes not only indigenous groups but also non-indigenous groups such
as the quilombolas, who descended from black slaves, or the rubber
tappers, who have European and Amerindian ancestry.
Traditional
peoples and communities are cultures that, over the course of their
history, have evidently positioned themselves more often in favor of
preserving the existing structures. Since this is always an active
process, they are neither more primitive nor less dynamic than "modern
cultures". In addition, one must note that the assignment is relative,
since the distinction between "traditional" and "modern" is a subjective
evaluation that depends on the zeitgeist and is made one-sidedly from
the point of view of the moderns.
On the contrary, science now
considers them to be the groups that have contributed the least to the
ecological and climatic vulnerability of the planet. They have developed
a large number of traditionally sustainable ways of life and economy
that are adapted to the respective ecosystems. At the same time, it is
precisely these groups that suffer particularly from economic
development projects as well as from ecological and climatic changes.
The multiple and massive conflicts give reason to fear that many local
communities will lose their territories and thus their specific cultural
forms of expression, despite political improvements.
While
indigenous land rights have played a role in politics since the founding
of Brazil, debate over rights for non-indigenous local communities only
began in the 1980s. It started with the rubber tappers in the state of
Acre: they demanded secure territories and the right to sustainable
regional economic activity and developed the idea of collecting areas.
By 2007, these efforts had led to the designation of 65 such reserves
(Reservas Extrativistas, RESEX) in Amazonia with a total area of 117,720
km². Encouraged by this, other traditional communities such as the
Amazon river people and the Babaçu gatherers soon made similar demands,
which were also successful. In 2004, the "National Commission for
Traditional Peoples and Communities" was established for the first time,
which was not only intended to benefit indigenous peoples. Finally, in
2007, the legally binding “Decree for Traditional Peoples and
Communities” (Decreto 6040) was signed by the President of the Republic.
In addition to the codification of traditional rights, it explicitly
refers to sustainable development and economy, without which the
long-term existence of these groups is hardly imaginable. In contrast to
the constitutionally guaranteed land rights of the indigenous peoples
and quilombolas, the decree does not contain any obligation to designate
specific areas. There is no doubt that the legal position of local
communities has improved significantly since the 1980s. However, since
Brazil's development policy is currently still based on the exploitation
of natural resources and the destruction of ecosystems and destructive
cultural change continue to progress dramatically, securing the
territories is the decisive point for the long-term survival of local
cultures.
Due to immigration, there are numerous minority languages in Brazil.
Up to 1.5 million Brazilians speak German as their mother tongue.
This makes German the second most common mother tongue in the country.
Descendants of the emigrants from Pomerania sometimes have a much better
command of East Pomeranian (Low German), while their High German does
not reach the level of their mother tongue. A particularly strong
Pomeranian minority lives in the state of Espírito Santo.
Furthermore, about 500,000 people speak Italian, 380,000 Japanese and
37,000 Korean.
It must be taken into account that the number of
speakers in the language minorities is calculated very optimistically.
Some of these ethnic groups were among the first settlers, and their
descendants almost only understand Portuguese. In the towns that were
considered centers for immigrants, Brazilian dialects of the immigrant
language often emerged. Examples are Talian, Brazilian Italian, and
Riograndenser Hunsrückisch, Brazilian German. Up until the 20th century
there were entire communities (particularly in the south) in which only
German or Italian was spoken, since the German emigrants and their
descendants in particular had a good infrastructure of schools, clubs
and the like. and mostly lived in relatively closed colonies. When a
nationalization campaign was carried out during the authoritarian regime
of the Estado Novo (1937-1945), the German community came under
increasing pressure as the state forced the assimilation process.
Brazil's entry into the Second World War provided the appropriate
opportunity to ban the languages of the enemy states and to close German
and Italian schools, whereupon Portuguese also found its way into these
towns.
English is not as established as a foreign language as it is in European countries. Although English is usually taught in schools, the language is slow to take hold in Brazil. Even in the big cities, it is not a matter of course that people speak or understand English. However, Brazilians usually have at least a rudimentary understanding of Spanish, even if they don't speak the language themselves. As a result of the increased economic cooperation between the Latin American countries in Mercosul, the importance of Spanish over English will increase. In the border areas to other South American countries, the so-called Portunhol developed, a mixed language of Portuguese and Spanish, which facilitates understanding. This mixed language is particularly common in the border area with Paraguay, mainly because the border town of Ciudad del Este is an important trading center for Brazilian street vendors (“sacoleiros”).
According to the 2010 census, 64.6% of the population
belong to the Roman Catholic Church. This share has been shrinking for
years: while it was 91% in 1960, it fell to 83% by 1985, was only 73.6%
in 2000 and around 50% in 2020. Parts of Brazilian Catholicism are
heavily influenced by Afro-Brazilian traditions.
22.2% of the
population are Protestants. This denomination came to the country with
German immigrants in the 19th century. In the 20th century, however, it
was mainly North American mission churches that were successful. Since
about 1960 there has been an increase in Protestant sects and free
churches. Today there are 35,000 Free Churches in Brazil. In 2020, 32%
of the population identified themselves as evangelical. Notable is the
high proportion of followers or sympathizers of Pentecostalism (15
percent), according to a 2006 survey, which is the third-highest
percentage in the world in any state. However, the considerable
imprecision of the assignment must be taken into account; much of the
Pentecostal attribution may overlap with the more general Protestant
attribution.
There are also almost 1,400,000 Jehovah's Witnesses,
about 225,000 Mormons, 245,000 Buddhists, mostly descendants of Japanese
immigrants, 107,000 Jews (see also: History of the Jews in Brazil), over
35,000 Muslims, mostly descendants of Syrian-Lebanese immigrants, and
more than 5500 Hindus. 8.0% stated that they did not belong to any
religion.
2.0% are followers of spiritism. 0.3% professed
Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomblé and Umbanda.
In 2000,
there were around 17,100 followers of indigenous South American
religions; that is 0.01% of Brazilians and around 4.1% of the indigenous
population; Trend: strongly declining. Aggressive missionary activities
- despite the ban on forced missionary work - not only lead to the
Christian faith, but also to a considerable cultural change, which goes
hand in hand with the destruction of people's traditional world views
(e.g. moral concepts, relationship to the environment, traditional
knowledge, social structures). In addition, many missionaries ignore the
applicable quarantine regulations, so that many indigenous people die
from imported diseases. In many cases, however, there was a syncretic
mixture of ethnic and Christian religion(s) and it can be assumed that a
large number of indigenous people only profess Christianity externally.
Brazil has a highly unequal distribution of wealth. The Gini coefficient
was 0.78 in 2000 (0 means completely equal distribution, 1 means all
wealth belongs to one household). This is related to the unequal
distribution of land. Up to 1998, 2.8% of the farmers were large
landowners with a total of 57% of the agricultural area, whereas 90% of
the farmers had to share 22% of the area. About five million families
are considered landless. According to one study, the average wealth per
adult is $17,485. However, the median is only US$4,591 (world average:
US$3,582), indicating high wealth inequality. More than 70% of the
Brazilian population has less than $10,000 in wealth. The population,
which earns only half the minimum wage, is entitled to social benefits
such as the Bolsa Família. The minimum wage was set at R$ 1,100 as of
January 1, 2021.
Afro-Brazilians, who make up seven percent of
the population, are disproportionately represented in the poor
population. The Indians don't fare much better. An equality and
anti-hunger program has been in place since 2003.
The country's literacy rate was 92.2% in 2015, and the school-leaving
age was 16. In Brazil, the mean enrollment in school for those aged 25
and over increased from 3.8 years in 1990 to 7.8 years in 2015. In 2021,
the expectation of education was 15.6 years. Attending school is
compulsory. A similarly large part of the gross national product flows
into education as in Europe; in absolute numbers, the education budget
is about as big as Germany's (2004). In Brazil, however, this sum is
divided between a population that is more than twice as large and much
younger on average. Public schools have a bad reputation. That is why
financially better off parents send their children to private schools.
These differ considerably in terms of the amount of school fees and the
quality of the teaching. In the last PISA studies, Brazil was in the
bottom quarter of the participating countries. In the 2015 PISA ranking,
Brazilian students ranked 66th out of 72 countries in mathematics, 64th
in science and 60th in reading.
Almost 2.8 million students are
taught in 150 universities. Just over half of the universities are
state-run. They are freely accessible and free of charge for all people
with a qualifying school certificate after an entrance examination. The
private universities are financed by different tuition fees. Their
facilities and the quality of teaching fluctuate accordingly. Uniform
and official entrance examinations, so-called vestibulares, are held
twice a year at state universities. The number of applicants usually far
exceeds the number of available study places. Applicants therefore often
prepare for the vestibular after leaving school with so-called
cursinhos, which are offered by private educational institutions and are
therefore subject to a fee. Anyone who does not get a place in the
vestibular has the option of waiting until the next semester and
completing the vestibular again or studying at one of the private
universities.
The research into the use of regenerative energies,
which was used, for example, in the construction of the Itaipú
hydroelectric power station (model of the Three Gorges Dam), is well
known. Engine construction also deserves attention: the first car with
an alcohol engine rolled off the assembly line in Brazil in 1979, and
engineer Vincente Camargo developed the first alcohol (methanol) engine
for airplanes in 2005, which was the first to be tested by the aircraft
construction company (Neiva-Embraer). Research on aeronautics receives
particular attention in Brazil. Alberto Santos Dumont - after whom the
national airport in Rio de Janeiro is named - was an inventor and
aviation pioneer in the 1900s.
The crime rate is well above the world average and the homicide
rate is among the highest in the world. According to statistics from
2012, at least 56,337 people died as a result of murder or manslaughter.
This equates to over 154 homicides per day. The police have to contend
with murders, kidnappings, robberies and organized drug and crime
syndicates (such as the Comando Vermelho in Rio de Janeiro and the
Primeiro Comando da Capital in São Paulo), especially in the cities. The
police salary is low, which is why the police are considered to be
particularly susceptible to corruption. There are also numerous cases in
which police officers are accused of abuse of power, including extortion
and murder. Corruption is also widespread within the judiciary. The
lives of small farmers and Indians in the countryside are endangered by
conflicts with large landowners and companies looking for raw materials.
In order to reduce the high number of victims of violence, a law was
proposed in January 2004 that would ban private gun ownership. This
proposed law was rejected in a popular referendum in 2005 and was
therefore suspended. A lack of trust in the police was cited as one of
the reasons for this.
According to a UNODC report of October 7,
2011, the homicide rate was 22.7 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants. São
Paulo is cited in the report as a model in combating violence.
Prevention, projects and measures of repression against criminal
organizations were therefore the main causes.
Despite progressive
legislation on equal rights for homosexuals, the number of violent
attacks on lesbians and gays is very high in international comparison.
This is the theme of the annual Parada do Orgulho GLBT de São Paulo, the
world's largest gay pride parade.
All states
have two agencies that do most of the policing: the Military Police
(Polícia Militar) and the Civil Police (Polícia Civil). While the former
is responsible for public order, the latter is mainly active for law
enforcement purposes. In addition, some large cities have a municipal
police force (Guarda Municipal). The Força Nacional de Segurança is made
up of members of the various state police forces and can be called upon
by the governors of the states in the event of a crisis. In addition,
the Força Nacional provides fire brigades and rescue services in some
regions.
At the federal level, the Federal Police (Polícia
Federal) takes on border protection tasks in addition to general
criminal prosecution. In addition, the federal government has its own
police force for federal roads and railways.
As
of February 2017, 1,424 prisons held 650,000 people, including around
40,000 women.[60] The proportion was 316 prisoners per 100,000 people.
In 2000 there were 232,000 prisoners. One reason for the increase is the
high number (approx. 30%) of pre-trial detainees who have not yet been
sentenced by a court. The creation of detention places could no longer
keep up with the demand in recent years. At least 250,000 places were
missing in 2017. Some prisons are run by private, for-profit
corporations.
Many prisons are run by criminal gangs. Above all,
the Primeiro Comando da Capital is present in almost all prisons in
Brazil. Organized uprisings, prison mutinies, and massacres of rival
gang members are regular occurrences.
Brazil is a presidential federal republic. It is made up of
federal, state and local governments. Federal legislative power is
exercised by the National Congress (Chamber of Deputies and Senate). The
513 deputies are elected for 4 years, the 81 senators for 8 years. The
current constitution was adopted on October 5, 1988 and has been amended
several times since then.
The federal government consists of the
head of state (also head of government), the vice president and the
current 26 federal ministers. The President is directly elected by the
people with an absolute majority of votes for a four-year term. The
person can then be re-elected once (or again after an interruption). She
has far-reaching executive powers, is the head of state and government
and assembles the cabinet.
Brazil is divided into 26 states and
the federal district with the capital Brasília. The states have their
own constitutions and laws that must conform to the principles of the
federal constitution. The heads of government of the states, the
governors, are directly elected for 4 years.[
The last
presidential, gubernatorial and parliamentary elections were held in
October 2022, the last municipal elections (Eleições municipais) in
November 2020 (first round on November 15, run-off on November 29).
Brazilian Democracy – Corruption
Only party members can be
elected. Establishing a party requires, among other things, the
provision of at least 500,000 signatures from at least one third of all
states.
A political problem in Brazil is weak parties without
ideologically based programs. These form coalitions that have only
lasted for a short time, so laws usually have to be passed by agreement.
Many small parties and corruption (in 1992 the then President Fernando
Collor de Mello was removed from office for this reason) lead to a very
unstable political situation and to a public administration that is
almost doomed to inactivity.
The Brazilian parliament, the National Congress or Congresso Nacional,
consists of two chambers:
The Federal Senate, Portuguese Senado
Federal do Brasil, consists of 81 senators. In each of the 26 states and
the federal district, three senators are elected for eight-year terms by
a first-past-the-post system. In the list of senators in Brazil there
are currently (July 2019) 16 parties and two non-party representatives.
The MDB has the most senators with 12 senators.
The Chamber of
Deputies, Portuguese Câmara dos Deputados do Brasil, has 513 seats.
Members of Parliament are elected for four-year terms using a
modification of proportional representation. A voter from the smallest
state has about as much influence as eight to nine voters from the
largest. After the 2018 elections, 25 parties and one independent made
it into the Chamber of Deputies, of which 14 parties with 350 deputies
are assigned to the pro-government bloc and 8 parties with 141 deputies
to the opposition, 22 deputies are considered independent. The largest
groups are the Partido Social Liberal (PSL) and the Partido dos
Trabalhadores (PT), each with 55 MPs.
The 2002 election, which ended in a clear victory for the left-wing
Workers' Party PT, was of great importance for the development of the
still young democracy, because a major change of power was carried out
for the first time. Economic stabilization was achieved in the first
year of government, and the recurring inflation and other problems were
consistently counteracted. A pension reform was also passed against
protests from within the ranks. The fight against poverty has been
tackled with various programs and with mixed success.
The Lula
government experienced the worst crisis of the legislative period in the
summer of 2005. The PTB, the coalition party in the government, was
accused of corruption, which its chairman Roberto Jefferson massively
denied and directed similar allegations against two other government
parties. They would receive a monthly allowance and then collectively
approve the proposed legislation. This is said to be financed by
donations from large companies that have received government contracts
for it. As a result, the police and congressional investigative
committees began investigations that were able to uncover more and more
financial side deals of the politicians. Dozens of politicians –
including advisors to the president and ministers of the governing
parties, in particular the PT, which had presented itself as “clean” up
to that point – resigned from Congress. Even if personal involvement has
not yet been proven, the President's reputation has suffered greatly
from the allegations. Reforms to the electoral and party financing
system have been tackled but not yet decided.
Anti-Americanism is
present in some sections of the population. Some Brazilians see US
policy as “neo-imperialist” or at least “hegemonic” and fear US
influence in Latin America is too strong. For his part, Lula advocated a
strong Latin America and maintained a cautious distance from American
politics. In foreign policy to date, however, an open dispute with the
USA has been avoided. At the same time, however, Lula distanced himself
from the socialist/Marxist course of former Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez, although economic relations intensified in the following years.
On the other hand, Dilma Rousseff slightly weakened relations with
Venezuela under Maduro, partly because of the continuing tense economic,
political and human rights situation in Venezuela. After the American
presidential election in 2016, Michel Temer reaffirmed
American-Brazilian relations and is committed to intensifying economic
cooperation.
Even under the post-Lula Rousseff government, the
domestic political situation in terms of the economy and security
situation has not changed significantly. This and the perceived
standstill in the country led, among other things, to social tensions
and protests in the run-up to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. After the
Senate voted on August 31, 2016, after persistent scandals and strong
oppositional criticism, to dismiss Rousseff, Michel Temer took over the
position of head of state with a liberal-conservative government until
the next election in 2018. After taking office, Temer announced cuts ,
redundancies, privatizations, a pension reform and the liberalization of
the labor market in order to counteract the recession and difficult
economic situation and to relieve the state budget. A rapidly growing
part of the state budget of more than 10 percent is spent on pensions
alone.
During a police strike for higher wages in February 2017,
more than a hundred murders occurred in the small state of Espirito
Santo in southeastern Brazil.
The 2002 election, which ended in a clear victory for the left-wing
Workers' Party PT, was of great importance for the development of the
still young democracy, because a major change of power was carried out
for the first time. Economic stabilization was achieved in the first
year of government, and the recurring inflation and other problems were
consistently counteracted. A pension reform was also passed against
protests from within the ranks. The fight against poverty has been
tackled with various programs and with mixed success.
The Lula
government experienced the worst crisis of the legislative period in the
summer of 2005. The PTB, the coalition party in the government, was
accused of corruption, which its chairman Roberto Jefferson massively
denied and directed similar allegations against two other government
parties. They would receive a monthly allowance and then collectively
approve the proposed legislation. This is said to be financed by
donations from large companies that have received government contracts
for it. As a result, the police and congressional investigative
committees began investigations that were able to uncover more and more
financial side deals of the politicians. Dozens of politicians –
including advisors to the president and ministers of the governing
parties, in particular the PT, which had presented itself as “clean” up
to that point – resigned from Congress. Even if personal involvement has
not yet been proven, the President's reputation has suffered greatly
from the allegations. Reforms to the electoral and party financing
system have been tackled but not yet decided.
Anti-Americanism is
present in some segments of the population. Some Brazilians see US
policy as “neo-imperialist” or at least “hegemonic” and fear US
influence in Latin America is too strong. For his part, Lula advocated a
strong Latin America and maintained a cautious distance from American
politics. In foreign policy to date, however, an open dispute with the
USA has been avoided. At the same time, however, Lula distanced himself
from the socialist/Marxist course of former Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez, although economic relations intensified in the following years.
On the other hand, Dilma Rousseff slightly weakened relations with
Venezuela under Maduro, partly because of the continuing tense economic,
political and human rights situation in Venezuela. After the American
presidential election in 2016, Michel Temer reaffirmed
American-Brazilian relations and is committed to intensifying economic
cooperation.
Even under the post-Lula Rousseff government, the
domestic political situation in terms of the economy and security
situation has not changed significantly. This and the perceived
standstill in the country led, among other things, to social tensions
and protests in the run-up to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. After the
Senate voted on August 31, 2016, after persistent scandals and strong
oppositional criticism, to dismiss Rousseff, Michel Temer took over the
position of head of state with a liberal-conservative government until
the next election in 2018. After taking office, Temer announced cuts ,
redundancies, privatizations, a pension reform and the liberalization of
the labor market in order to counteract the recession and difficult
economic situation and to relieve the state budget. A rapidly growing
part of the state budget of more than 10 percent is spent on pensions
alone.
During a police strike for higher wages in February 2017,
more than a hundred murders occurred in the small state of Espirito
Santo in southeastern Brazil.
In 2014, the National Truth Commission published its final report on a
large number of human rights violations that had been committed during
the military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. Due to the amnesty law of
1979, there is no legal reappraisal.
The most serious current
human rights violations concern human trafficking, highlighting the
sexual exploitation of children and young people, then the excessive use
of force by police and prison staff, including torture and illegal
executions, most of which go unpunished. The prison conditions are also
described as unacceptable. Marginalized and favela residents are the
most common victims of this violence. In several states, forced labor
and child labor are identified in a report.
Indigenous peoples
and ethnic minorities are discriminated against. Conflicts over land
resulted in scores of killings and thousands were evicted. The
processing of human rights violations is slow or petered out.
As the largest country in Latin America (area, population, economy),
Brazil is a regional and global leader. The main goals and priorities of
Brazilian foreign policy include:
Maintaining relationships with
countries in the region, for example within the framework of the
regional organizations UNASUR and MERCOSUL, as well as traditional
partners in North America and Europe, including Germany. In addition,
Brazil is pursuing goals of economic cooperation within the framework of
the so-called BRICS countries (together with Russia, India, China and
South Africa).
Structurally strengthening Brazil's influence as the
voice of the South in shaping globalization, namely through reforming
the UN (permanent seat for Brazil in a UN Security Council that is to be
expanded) and through filling management positions in international
organizations.
Participation in the content of politics on global
issues, in addition to financial and economic policy, namely
environmental, climate and development policy.
Brazil is a member
a.o. following international organizations:
United Nations (since
1945)
Organization of American States (Organização dos Estados
Americanos, OEA)
Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
(CELAC)
Mercosur
G20 (group of the twenty most important
industrialized and emerging countries)
G20 of developing countries
Movement of the Non-Aligned Countries
Iberoamerica Summit
Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries
Rio group
Union of
South American Nations (evolved from the South America Summit)
BRICS
countries
International Cocoa Organization
After decades of military dictatorship, politicians and the population
are wary of the armed forces. Furthermore, the country does not face any
real external threat. The Latin American states are militarily allied
with each other, which strengthens security and stability in the region.
There is general conscription for men over the age of 18 who are
capable of military service. The Department of Defense budget was just
over $23 billion in 2016, after a peak of $25 billion in 2014. and since
2006 in the range of 1.3 to 1.5 percent of GDP. As recently as 1992,
spending had fallen to $8 billion compared to $14 billion in 1988.
With around 190,000 men, the army is by far the largest branch of
the armed forces in Brazil. With around 500 main battle tanks and 1,500
armored vehicles, the country would hardly be able to secure the vast
and inaccessible hinterland in an emergency. In peacetime, the army is
also used for civil protection and rescue services and for scientific
services (at the Antarctic research station Comandante Ferraz). In
addition, the federal roads are built by the military. Domestic threats
such as crime or terrorism are the responsibility of the police forces
in Brazil. The military can also be used for police activities at the
request of the governor in the state concerned, provided that a state of
emergency is declared, e.g. B. in the city of Rio de Janeiro in 2008 and
2017.
The Air Force employed 73,500 people in 2005, making it the
largest in Latin America. Due to its great importance due to the huge
land areas and wide sea areas, the Air Force is equipped with modern
equipment. Planes and helicopters mostly came from the USA or Europe,
but also from the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer in order to
make the military independent of foreign imports. The navy is also
modern and well equipped. Due to the large river system, which extends
far inland, the Navy can also be deployed inland. It therefore has many
patrol boats and light battleships that secure the inland waters. In
this capacity, the Navy also supports the Brazilian army and owns
amphibious vehicles and even main battle tanks. Several battleships are
available for use on the high seas, as well as some modified German-made
submarines. Brazil also maintains an aircraft carrier.
Brazil is
the fifth largest arms exporter in the world. During the military
dictatorship there was a long-standing, secret nuclear weapons project.
Germany was Brazil's most important partner in the field of (peaceful)
nuclear energy and supported the country, among other things, with the
delivery of nuclear reactors and plants for uranium enrichment. However,
it is difficult to say how much German knowledge and experience actually
flowed into the nuclear weapons program and to what extent the German
government knew about the Brazilian nuclear project. There was probably
also cooperation with Argentina, which also had a secret nuclear
program. In the 1980s, the nuclear weapons project was already well
developed.
With the transition to democracy, Brazil finally gave
up the plan to use nuclear energy for military purposes. The nuclear
weapons program was officially ended with the signing of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1998.
In 2004, for the first time in
its history, the country assumed greater responsibility and role in a UN
peacekeeping mission in Haiti. 1,470 soldiers were stationed in the
Caribbean country, and in July 2004 Brazil took over the leadership of
the international troops until their withdrawal in 2017.
On July
10, 2007, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced plans to expand
Brazil's nuclear program, including uranium enrichment and the possible
construction of a nuclear submarine. A total of 1040 billion real
(around 395 million euros) is planned for this in the budget up to 2015.
During the Brazilian Empire, Rio de Janeiro was the capital of Brazil
and had the status Município Neutro (neutral city), which is roughly
equivalent to a capital district. With the creation of the federal state
and the associated conversion of the provinces into federal states in
1889, the Município Neutro became a Distrito Federal (Federal District).
In 1960 the capital was moved to Brasília, as was the Distrito Federal.
The special district around Rio de Janeiro was temporarily transformed
into the state of Guanabara until 1975 when Guanabara was incorporated
into the state of Rio de Janeiro.
The Distrito Federal has a
special meaning. It is enshrined in the constitution and reports
directly to the Brazilian government.
In 2021, 87 percent of Brazil's residents lived in cities.
The
most populous metropolitan areas (each with their capital) are São Paulo
with around 21.4 million inhabitants (2017), Rio de Janeiro with around
12.2 million (2017), Belo Horizonte with around 5.9 million (2017), the
capital district Brasília with about 4.4 million (2017), Porto Alegre
with about 4.2 million (2017), Salvador da Bahia with about 4.0 million
(2017), Fortaleza and Recife with about 3.9 million each (2017) and
Curitiba with about 3.5 million inhabitants.
São Paulo is the
largest city in Brazil, South America and at the same time the largest
in the southern hemisphere and the economic engine of Brazil. São Paulo
is the largest German investment center outside of the EU and the USA.
As the industrial center of the country, the city continuously attracts
immigrants, so that the population has doubled in 40 years. This rapid
population growth gave the city a financial, cultural and scientific
preeminence, but also traffic problems, pollution and crime.
Rio
de Janeiro was the capital of Brazil for almost 200 years until Brasília
was made the capital in 1960. Nevertheless, Rio de Janeiro is the most
famous city in the country. It is popular with tourists because of the
carnival and the beaches, which are among the most beautiful in the
world. Tourism is of great economic importance in Rio, but the city is
also home to manufacturing industry. Away from the holiday centers, the
city has to struggle with the typical problems of a big city, primarily
with crime and poverty among large parts of the population.
The
capital Brasília was built in three years in the 1960s. A classic
planned capital, it was designed by Lúcio Costa on behalf of
then-President Kubitschek, and Oscar Niemeyer designed the government
buildings. Brasília was originally intended to serve as a brilliant
urban model. However, the development did not progress as planned in
important respects, and so Brasília is now also characterized by favelas
in the outer districts. Today the city has almost 200,000 inhabitants,
the metropolitan region has around 4.4 million people.
With a gross domestic product (GDP) of around USD 1800 billion (2016),
Brazil is the ninth largest economy in the world. The per capita income
at the same time was around USD 8700. The economic structure of Brazil
is characterized by the core sectors of services with approx. 65%,
industry with 17% and agriculture with approx. 6.7% of GDP
(“agribusiness”/production and processing of agricultural commodities
totaling 25% of GDP).
Up until a few years ago, high growth rates
and solid employment growth significantly increased global economic
policy interest in Brazil. Thanks to the explosion in global commodity
prices, rising wages and improved access to consumer credit, GDP
expanded strongly.
However, when the end of the economic boom was
announced a few years ago in view of falling commodity prices,
increasing indebtedness in the private sector and very low productivity,
the government tried to keep economic growth artificially high through
higher government spending and subsidies - with the result of a dramatic
budget deficit (fiscal deficit is around 10%) and an increasingly
eroding trust of entrepreneurs, investors and consumers. Brazil is now
in a severe recession.
After GDP fell by 3.8% in 2015, it is
likely to have contracted significantly again in 2016 (−3.4%). A slight
recovery in economic output of around 0.5% is expected for 2017. The
situation on the labor market has also deteriorated significantly in the
last two years. A year ago unemployment was 8.6% and is now over 12%.
With more than 200 million inhabitants, the strong domestic market with
a share of more than 80% in GDP remains the main economic engine. With a
share of around 20% in GDP, foreign trade plays a comparatively minor
role. A particularly great challenge for economic growth is the very low
and falling investment rate of well under 20% of GDP – also in
international comparison. Brazil is a founding member of the BRICS
countries. The country's biggest problems are, on the one hand, the fall
in commodity prices, the corruption scandal surrounding the state-owned
company Petrobras, the generally high level of corruption in the
country, low corporate productivity and the poor infrastructure. In
2017, Brazil could return to growth.
The unemployment rate was
11.8% in 2017 and has increased significantly in recent years. In the
same year, 9.4% of all workers worked in agriculture, 58.5% in services
and 32.1% in industry. The total number of employees in 2017 is
estimated at 104.2 million.
The South American customs union
Mercosul strengthens the market in Latin America, but other Latin
American countries besides Brazil also have economic problems, such as
e.g. Argentina, Venezuela and Ecuador. In addition to the Latin American
countries, the People's Republic of China, the USA and the European
Union are the most important trading partners. In foreign trade, the
People's Republic of China overtook the USA in March 2009 as Brazil's
most important trading partner.
A particular growth spurt was
expected from the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, but both
major events cost far more than revenue. That is why there were massive
protests against the events in the run-up to the World Cup and the
Olympic Games.
In the Global Competitiveness Index, which
measures a country's competitiveness, Brazil ranks 80th out of 137
countries (as of 2017–18). In the 2017 Economic Freedom Index, Brazil
ranked 140th out of 180 countries.
However, the main problem in exploiting this economic potential is the so-called "Brazil costs" (Portuguese Custo Brasil). Above all, this includes the costs of corruption, the poor logistical infrastructure and high taxes and financing costs associated with a shortage of skilled workers in the country. According to the industry association CNI, wage costs rose by 5.1 percent in 2012, twice as fast as company sales in Brazil. High logistics costs consume 20 percent of companies' sales. The Custo Brasil basically means high taxes. Concessions to promote investments are granted regionally, especially in the hinterland. Another problem is high financing costs. The central bank has lowered interest rates significantly since mid-2011, which also corrected the overvaluation of the national currency, the real. Long-term low-interest loans at a level of 5 percent p.a. a. only awarded by the national development bank BNDES. Financing costs for foreign companies in Brazil are higher than for national companies.
Until the end of the 19th century, the population lived mainly from the
export of agricultural products. Then, due to the country's beginning
industrialization, there was an increasing labor shortage, which became
even worse after the abolition of slavery in 1888. This attracted large
numbers of immigrants, the largest groups among them, alongside
Portuguese and Spaniards, being Germans, Italians, Poles and Japanese.
During the First World War, the country fell into an economic crisis
because the most important export items (coffee, sugar, etc.) were hit
by an enormous drop in prices. Help came from capital and immigrants
from Britain. With the exception of the First World War, the economy and
the transport network grew steadily in the first 30 years of the 20th
century.
In 1917 there were the first large waves of strikes in
São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, to which the government reacted with
repression. In the 1920s workers' parties and unions were formed, but
this did not result in a stronger position in the state as they had no
representation in the upper classes. Even the lieutenant movement
Tenentismo from 1922 could do nothing about it, since attempts at a
revolution failed.
A current problem of the Brazilian economy is
the increasing urbanization and immigration of the rural population to
the cities. In Brasilia alone, it is increasing by three percent a year,
which has catastrophic effects in the slums.
With large,
well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing and service sectors
on the one hand and a large labor force on the other, the Brazilian
economy is now the strongest in South America and is gaining importance
in the world market. The main export products are coffee, cocoa,
tropical fruits, soybeans, sugar and iron ore. 40% of Brazilian
agricultural exports go to the EU, 17% to the USA.
At the
beginning of 2011, the soybean area was 24.08 million hectares (240,800
km²). An increase of 611,000 hectares compared to the 2009/2010 crop
year. In 2020, Brazil exported almost all of its soybean harvest to
China.
The sugar industry in Brazil is an important economic
factor in the country. With a production of more than 500 million tons
of sugar cane, which is processed in roughly equal parts into sugar and
bioethanol and a small part into sugar cane liquor, Brazil's sugar
industry is by far the largest in the world. Extremely poor conditions
prevail on the sugar cane plantations, which are mostly ruled by “sugar
barons”. Some people work in slave-like conditions in huge monocultures.
The biggest challenges for the Brazilian economy continue to be
inflation and the gap between a wealthy, well-educated minority and the
poorly educated majority, most of whom live on the subsistence level.
There is a large movement of landless people, the Movimento dos sem
terra (MST), fighting for land reform.
Brazilian agriculture is of great importance not only for the country
itself but also for the rest of the world. Theoretically, Brazil could
feed about a billion people, which is why it is considered the
breadwinner of the world. On average, 40% of gross domestic product is
generated from agriculture and related industries, and about 43% of all
exports are agricultural goods. In total, there are 248 million hectares
of agricultural land in Brazil, with around 2 million hectares of new
land being added every year. Especially in central Brazil there are
fazendas that cultivate areas of 100,000 hectares or more. They have
made Brazil the cost leader in bulk commodities such as sugar, soybeans,
corn, coffee, orange juice, beef, pork and poultry. Brazil's agriculture
has not yet exhausted its potential, there are still large land reserves
and yields could be further increased by intensifying agriculture. The
development of agriculture is mainly limited by deficiencies in the
country's infrastructure, by the distance of the cultivation areas to
the export ports for agricultural products and by the high capital
expenditure for the fertilization of the fields.
Brazilian
agriculture has been criticized for using huge amounts of artificial
fertilizers and pesticides, for products for export being cultivated in
monocultures on very large areas, and for the poor working conditions
for farm workers. Many fields are now used to grow export crops or crops
for energy instead of growing food for the local population.
Furthermore, ownership is highly concentrated: around 50 companies, some
of them foreign, dominate Brazil's agriculture and its upstream and
downstream industrial sectors, while 150,000 farm-worker families do not
own land.
Major Brazilian companies are Petrobras (petroleum), Companhia Vale do
Rio Doce (mining), Gerdau (metalworking), Embraer (aircraft),
Organização Odebrecht (construction) and BRF (food). Large foreign
companies also chose Brazil as the focus of their South American
activities, such as the Volkswagen Group (Volkswagen do Brasil), Nestlé,
Parmalat, Anheuser-Busch InBev (Ambev) and the Fiat Group. Daimler AG
(2016) and Bayerische Motorenwerke (2014) have set up car production
facilities in Iracemápolis and Araquari, respectively.
The oil
company Petrobras is a state company and one of the largest energy
companies in the world. Since 2014, the group has repeatedly been shaken
by the largest corruption scandal in Brazilian history. The group is
badly affected by the slump in oil prices, so in 2015 a loss of €8.6
billion was accumulated. This makes Petrobras one of the few large
energy companies to post losses.
The mining company Vale is the
largest iron ore producer in the world. In addition to mines and loading
ports, it also owns a large part of the Brazilian railway network. In
1997 the state enterprise was privatised. Indirectly, however, the
public sector still has a great deal of influence via state pension
funds and the investment bank BNDES. In 2007, Vale, led by Roger Agnelli
(1959/60-2016), took over Canadian competitor Inco, the world's largest
nickel producer. In the course of the fall in raw material prices,
especially iron, Vale also came under severe pressure. The group
reported a loss of $13.2 billion in 2015.
The aircraft
manufacturer Embraer also has a state background, but is now mostly
privately owned. Under Mauricio Botelho, the group escaped a serious
crisis. Today, Embraer produces regional and business jets as well as
military-converted regional jets and turboprop-powered military
trainers. With Boeing and Airbus only selling aircraft above the size of
Embraer machines, Embraer jets are now an integral part of scheduled
global aviation. Lufthansa CityLine or Air Dolomiti fly with E-195. Air
France Regional and Air France subsidiary CityJet fly ERJ135.
The following raw materials are mined on a large scale in Brazil: iron, manganese, coal, bauxite, nickel, petroleum, tin, silver, diamonds, gold, natural gas, uranium. 1.5 million barrels of oil are extracted daily, uranium ores are found inland, and open-pit bauxite mining produces harmful by-products in rivers, endangering the environment. Brazil is the world's largest supplier of iron raw materials. The deposits should be able to cover the earth's iron requirements for the next 500 years. Brazil is the second most important exporter of tantalum. About 60% of all processed gemstones (excluding diamonds) come from Brazil. Brazil also has significant steel production, although this has been reduced by US intervention. For example, Brazil was only allowed to produce steel of inferior quality, which US companies did not want to process. The country's national authority for geological exploration and raw materials policy is the Serviço Geológico do Brasil.
Tourism is not yet very important in Brazil and accounts for only about 0.5% of the gross national product. The global average is 10%. The annual number of visitors is around 4.8 million. The beaches and carnival of Rio de Janeiro, the capital Brasília, the Amazon Basin, the Northeast with its beaches and culture and the Iguazú Falls are particularly popular. The relatively small number of tourists (there are 37 locals for every visitor in Brazil, in Germany only about 4.6) is due to various factors. The infrastructure is not very conducive to tourism, domestic and international flights are expensive, as there are few charter flights across the country.
The Brazilian financial market is increasingly integrated into the
international financial system. The international and national banks and
the stock market form the center of the Brazilian financial market. The
latter is characterized by a high level of transparency (compared to
other BRICS countries) and the participation of international actors.
Brazilian companies are also traded using ADRs in America and Europe.
Today's central bank of Brazil is the Banco Central do Brasil. The
former central bank Banco do Brasil gave up this function in 1986 and is
now the largest bank in Brazil. The largest regional bank is the Banco
do Estado de São Paulo. The largest private banks in Brazil include
Banco Bradesco, Itaú Unibanco, HSBC and Banco Real. Most of the largest
banks now operate internationally. In addition, there are local banks
(caixa) that are assigned to the federal states or districts or have
been privatized.
In the meantime, many of the major German banks
such as Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, WestLB
and BHF-Bank are also represented in Brazil.
There are few
barriers to international capital. The Brazilian real is free to float
against other currencies, but the government can influence it through
the central bank through so-called open market actions.
Local
asset managers such as Maua Investimentos are playing an increasingly
important role and are increasingly contributing to the independent
development of Brazilian hedge funds and private equity companies. In
this way, you reduce your dependency on international managers and
expand the derivatives market. Many of these Brazilian venture capital
companies also have projects in other Latin American countries.
In addition to the political framework, an important basis for further
development lies in university education. Some universities, such as the
PUC in Rio or the USP in São Paulo, are closely networked with local
financial players and have a good reputation in Latin America.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) reached US$18.2 billion in 2004 and
Brazil rose to seventh place in AT Kearney's list of the most attractive
FDI countries.
In 2015, the national budget included expenditure equivalent to 641.2
billion US dollars. This was offset by revenues of the equivalent of 631
billion US dollars. This results in a budget deficit of 0.6% of GDP.
Public debt was 67.3% of GDP in 2015.
In 2006, government
spending (as a percentage of GDP) accounted for the following areas:
Health: 7.5%
Education: 4.0% (2004)
Military: 2.6%
road traffic
At around 1.5 million km, Brazil's road network is the
fourth longest in the world, and almost 350,000 km are paved. The
Brazilian name for highway is Rodovia. According to assumptions, more
than 1.2 billion travelers use the trunk roads every year, only 80
million fly.
However, the roads are often in a disastrous
condition, generally worse in the north than in the south. Borracharias
(flat spots for tires) are therefore also located on the side of the
road on all major interurban roads. Buses run between all major cities
at regular intervals and are reasonably reliable between smaller towns
as well. There are different price ranges from a simple coach to a fully
air-conditioned bus with televisions and tour guides.
Traffic is
on the right. The designation of highways includes the state in which
they are located and the direction in which they run. A special case are
trunk roads leading to Brasília:
Highway numbers 000-099 lead to
Brasília
Interstates numbered 100–199 run north–south
Interstates
numbered 200–299 run west to east
Interstates numbered 300–399 run
diagonally (northwest-southeast or northeast-southwest)
Interstates
numbered 400–499 are interstates of regional importance. They usually
only connect a city with a larger trunk road nearby.
For example,
the SP-280 highway is located in the state of São Paulo and runs from
west to east. In addition to their official name, some road connections
are also named after famous people.
Road traffic is considered
unsafe. In 2013, there were a total of 23.4 traffic deaths per 100,000
inhabitants in Brazil. For comparison: In Germany there were 4.3 deaths
in the same year. In total, more than 41,000 people lost their lives on
the roads. After India and China, Brazil was the country with the
highest number of road traffic fatalities. The road fatality rate is far
higher when compared to the country's average motorization rate. In 2016
there were 249 motor vehicles per 1000 inhabitants in the country (in
Germany there were 610 vehicles).
rail transport
Rail
connections have been thinned out, but there is still a rail network of
almost 30,000 km in length. At the beginning of the 20th century, the
railway was particularly important for the economic boom. With the rapid
expansion of the road network, it lost this outstanding position. In the
meantime, this has little or no significance in Brazil. Goods traffic is
handled by trucks or ships; buses are normally used for long-distance
public transport. Nostalgic trains, which serve as tourist attractions,
still operate on routes through the mountain landscape.
air
traffic
Because of the very large distances, air travel within Brazil
is often used. However, the cost is too high for many Brazilians, so
they also make long journeys by bus. However, more and more airlines are
establishing themselves that offer affordable flights within the
country, following the example of European low-cost airlines. The
country's largest airport is the Aeroporto Internacional de São
Paulo/Guarulhos in Guarulhos near São Paulo with almost 40 million
passengers a year. In order to relieve the two congested airports in São
Paulo, the expansion of the Viracopos airport in Campinas, 80 km from
São Paulo, is being planned to become the largest airport in Latin
America with an annual capacity of up to 55 million passengers.
ship traffic
The inland waterways have a total length of around
50,000 km. The merchant and cargo fleet consists of about 475 ships. The
largest Brazilian ports are in Belém, Fortaleza, Ilhéus, Imbituba,
Manaus, Paranaguá, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande,
Salvador, Santos and Vitória. List of seaports in Brazil.
There were 39.7 million telephones in Brazil in 2005, an increase of 20 million installations compared to 1997. There are also around 80 million mobile phones in circulation. Here, too, the increase compared to 1997 (4 million mobile phones) is clear. The phone system works well. Local calls are partly free. There are three coaxial deep-sea cables, the radio relay system is well developed nationally, and the satellite system also works well.
Electricity generation in Brazil is largely based on the use of
renewable sources, in particular hydroelectric power, which in 2011 was
responsible for around 80% of all electricity production. The other
renewable energies had a share of 6.6%, fossil energies were around 10%
and nuclear energy just under 3%. The originally planned construction of
four new nuclear power plant blocks was reconsidered after the nuclear
disaster in Fukushima, instead wind energy is to be expanded
significantly (see also energy transition).
In 2001, more than
90% of the electricity generated came from hydroelectric power plants,
but their potential for expansion has meanwhile been largely exhausted.
Recurring two- to three-year periods of drought, which led to power
failures and social and political problems in 2001 and 2002, also proved
to be problematic. In addition, economic growth leads to a sharp
increase in the demand for electricity, which makes it necessary to
expand the power plant requirement. For this reason, Brazil is relying
heavily on the expansion of wind energy in order to diversify the
generation structure, which is complementary to hydropower, especially
in northern Brazil, and therefore complements it very well. In addition,
Brazil has a very large wind energy potential with high wind speeds both
onshore and offshore. In 2001, the PROEOLICA program was launched, which
was supplemented in 2004 by the PROINFA program, which envisages the
general expansion of renewable energies (small hydropower, biomass,
solar), which were promoted with feed-in tariffs for this purpose. At
the end of 2013, more than 3.3 GW of wind energy capacity was installed
in more than 140 wind farms in Brazil. At the end of 2017, wind turbines
with a total capacity of 12,763 MW were installed in Brazil, which put
Brazil in 8th place worldwide.
Wind energy is one of the cheapest
forms of electricity generation in the country due to favorable site
conditions. Brazil is also one of the countries in the world where the
use of wind energy is among the cheapest in an international comparison.
The electricity production costs of wind turbines are now less than 60
US dollars/MWh, the equivalent of approx. 55.7 euros/MWh. In tenders for
energy contracts, low prices of up to 50.2 US dollars/MWh are achieved
for wind energy projects. By 2020, wind turbines should cover 10% of
electricity production.
Brazil also has significant oil reserves
and has been producing ethanol from sugar cane since the 1980s. As a
result, Brazil has long been the world's top bioethanol producer.
Oil pipelines in Brazil have a length of almost 3000 km, oil
products are transported in a pipeline network with a length of almost
5000 km and the natural gas pipelines have a total length of around 4250
km.
A major obstacle to media independence and press freedom is that almost
all of the country's major media groups, such as Globo, SBT, RecordTV,
Bandeirantes and RedeTV, are in the hands of a few people. In 2002, the
constitution was amended so that foreign companies cannot hold more than
30% of the national media. Former President Jair Bolsonaro (2018-2022)
relied on far-reaching privatizations in the media industry. In early
2021, he merged the major state television channels. He also planned to
privatize the Brazilian state broadcaster EBC.
In Brazil there
were over 500 daily newspapers in the mid-2000s, with an estimated total
circulation of 6.5 million copies (as of 2006). The most famous of them
are Folha de São Paulo, Estado de São Paulo, O Día and O Globo. The
latter belongs to the Globo group, which dominates the Brazilian media
landscape and is accused of protecting individual parties or candidates.
Rede Globo is also one of the market leaders when it comes to the
production of telenovelas. Around 80% of the productions are exported.
Radio plays an important role in media history in Brazil. In the
heyday of radio in the 1940s, the first news reports and soccer games
were broadcast and the radio novella was developed. In the 1960s and
1970s, the first television stations developed from the then most
well-known radio stations Radio Bandeirantes, Record and Tupi. In
addition to around 2,900 private radio stations, MEC AM is a state-wide
cultural program. There are said to be around 70 million radios in the
country. In addition, there are 19 state and around 250 private
television channels. The reach of the television medium is relatively
large in Brazil.
In 2020, 81.3 percent of Brazilian residents
used the internet. There is no censorship of the online offer.
In Brazil, art has developed in close association with religion. During
the colonial period, sacred art was dominant. Among other things,
numerous churches were artistically designed. The collaboration between
woodcarvers, stonemasons and painters was so close that the choice of
color was coordinated with each other and today the churches are among
the most beautiful in America. The churches were lavishly furnished as
early as the 17th century, but the largest and most valuable works of
art were not created until the 18th century.
Among the
neoclassical painters, Alejandro Ciccarelli, born and educated in
Naples, stands out. Giovanni Battista Castagneto, also from Italy, was
one of the early Impressionists. The representatives of what was
informally known as Grupo Grimm around the German landscape painter
Johann Georg Grimm consolidated plein air painting in Brazil around
1880. However, it was only in the 20th century that Impressionism gained
in importance compared to Europe.
Important artists of the
interwar period were Anita Malfatti, Manuel Santiago (1897-1987) and
José Pancetti (1902-1958), but Cândido Portinari was even more
respected. He himself is regarded as Brazil's greatest artist of the
last century. Because he painted with highly toxic paints, he contracted
cancer and died young. His famous artworks hang in buildings like the UN
headquarters in New York. According to art critics, the originality of
Brazil is best emphasized in his works. Social realism developed in the
1940s and 1950s. Portinari's artworks with social themes are classified
in this style.
A major group of Brazilian artists took their name
Group of 19 (grupo dos dezenove) after an exhibition in 1947. You own
among others the surrealistic-expressive painters and graphic artists
Mario Gruber (* 1927) and Otavio Araujo. The graphic artist and
draftsman Marcelo Grassman (1925–2013), also one of the 19, was
influenced by Alfred Kubin. He created engravings in medieval technique.
The fourth known member of the 19 is Lena Milliet, who is among the
first Brazilian women to gain recognition in the arts. Luís Andreatini
paints in a cubist style.
Nora Beltran has been caricaturing the
political and social conditions in Brazil since the 1950s. The brothers
Thomaz and Arcangelo Ianelli and the graphic artist Fayga Ostrower stand
out from the abstract art of the 1960s to 1980s. Antonio Dias became
known as a multimedia artist of this time, and Lygia Clark as a creator
of interactive installations. One representative of Neopop is Romero
Britto, while Beatriz Milhazes represents colorful folklore-ornamental
pop. Gustavo Rosa (1946-2013) created cheerfully ironic flat pictures.
Today, the São Paulo Biennale is the largest art event in Brazil.
This event focuses on paintings by internationally renowned artists. Rio
de Janeiro is also an art center. However, smaller, less well-known
places are also held in high esteem by experts, such as the central
Brazilian town of Goiás. Recife is known for João Câmara and Gilvan
Samico. Fortaleza is known for Raimundo Cela and Antonio Bandeira.
Brazil's most famous and, in the eyes of many, the best wood carvers is
Maurino Araujo, which is why his hometown of Minas Gerais is well known
among art lovers.
Native American art is made from natural
materials and is therefore very ephemeral. Complex body painting often
takes several days, but the colors rarely last much longer. The colorful
feather headgear is also rarely seen in museums. Numerous objects are
exhibited in the Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia of the University of
São Paulo.
Brazilian music has been influenced by Portuguese, African and
indigenous musical traditions. Hardly anything is known about the
indigenous music of the pre-colonial period, the first description dates
from 1568. At that time, a French pastor described the dances and songs
of the indigenous people in a book about his trip to the country. The
music changed under the influence of European settlers and African
slaves.
Art music is called música erudita, learned music, in
Brazil. For a long time it was limited to sacred music, concentrating on
Minas Gerais and, to a lesser extent, Rio de Janeiro during this period
known as barocco mineiro. Between 1760 and 1800 there were almost 1000
musicians in Minas Gerais,[154] many of them free mulattos. Among these
was José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767–1830), whose work mainly includes
sacred music, but also some secular works, and who was influenced by the
Viennese classic period.
Brazilian music experienced a
significant boost in development when the Portuguese court fled to Rio
de Janeiro in 1808 due to the Napoleonic War. The royal house now
employed numerous local musicians and the new residence also attracted
European musicians. In this way, new, secular musical impulses came into
the country. The return of the Portuguese court to Lisbon in 1822
resulted in a serious crisis for música erudita.
From the middle
of the 19th century, musical life unfolded again due to the increased
immigration of European immigrants to Brazil. After various music
societies and a conservatory were founded in Rio in the 1830s, several
theaters sprang up in the larger cities, four of which had their own
orchestras. Especially in the capital Rio, European, especially Italian,
operas were performed shortly after their premiere. With the opera A
Noite de São João by Elias Álvares Lôbo, the first Brazilian opera was
premiered in 1860. In 1870, the opera O Guarani by Antônio Carlos Gomes
premiered at La Scala in Milan and was subsequently performed throughout
Europe. Further premieres of his operas in Milan followed in the years
to come.
Before the turn of the century, Brazilian musicians
increasingly looked to German and French art music, although Italian
opera continued to enjoy great success with audiences. Chamber music and
symphonic music now came to the fore. Almost all composers received
their training in Europe.
In 1922, the Semana de Arte Moderna
(Modern Arts Week) sparked a musical revolution. Led by Heitor
Villa-Lobos, a group of new composers emerged who incorporated elements
of Brazilian folklore into their more modern songs. In the 1950s bossa
nova emerged. This style of music is considered the "Brazilian variant
of jazz": it is based on North American jazz, but remains influenced by
South American and African rhythms. Antônio Carlos Jobim is considered
the best-known representative and co-founder of bossa nova. Together
with singer/guitarist João Gilberto and lyricist Vinícius de Moraes, he
helped the style to great international success in the 1960s, not least
because of the most famous song of Brazilian origin, "Garota de
Ipanema", English "The Girl from Ipanema". Jobim became so important to
Brazil that Rio de Janeiro International Airport was named after him.
Bandleader and pianist Sergio Mendes had one of the biggest bossa
nova hits of the 1960s with his version of the Jorge Ben composition Mas
que nada. This title has been copied many more times. Today bossa nova
is mainly heard by older Brazilians. Tropicalismo (also Tropicália)
emerged in the late 1960s during the military dictatorship. Musically,
it's a mix of bossa nova, folk and rock; the essential element, however,
is a shared political awareness among the artists. Their aversion to the
dictatorship and the restriction of their rights found expression in
Tropicalismo. The texts are therefore generally critical of the regime.
Quite a few musicians had to go into exile. Important representatives
are Gilberto Gil and Chico Buarque, who even managed to circumvent the
censorship and publish their songs in Brazil by skilfully encrypting
their lyrics. Gilberto Gil was Minister of Culture of Brazil from
January 1, 2003 to July 30, 2008; its objective was to democratize
access to culture. He travels to remote areas of the country to tell the
people there that they are important bearers of Brazilian culture.
Contrary to its name, Música Popular Brasileira, often abbreviated
to MPB, has little in common with what is understood as pop music in
this country. The designation includes a variety of styles, which always
pick up on typical elements from individual regions of the country. In
Brazil, MPB is considered an expression of musical and national
identity. In this sense, MPB represents a kind of evolution of Brazilian
folklore.
The most well-known Brazilian music form is the samba.
It originated from the music of the African-born population and is very
rhythm-heavy. Samba became popular through the annual carnival in Rio de
Janeiro. There, the largest and most renowned samba schools present
themselves in huge parades in the competition for the title of the "best
samba school in Brazil". In addition to the carnival parades, the bands
sometimes play in the streets or support political demonstrations and
strikes with their music.
There is an unmanageable number of
regionally typical musical styles that have developed according to the
different cultural characteristics of the respective areas. Música
Nordestina is a collective term for music from the Northeast, which has
a particularly large musical variety. Instruments such as the accordion
and guitar are predominant here. Recife in particular is known for the
Frevo, which also has influences from military music. Forró is played by
trios with drum, triangle and accordion. A traditional Afro-Brazilian
style is maracatu, played with large drums, bells and rattles.
Salvador da Bahia plays a special role as a musical source of
inspiration. Since 1949, afoxé blocos have taken part in the carnival
processions, which have their roots in the music of candomble and can
also be seen in connection with the freedom movement of the
Afro-Brazilian population. Samba reggae has been emerging in Salvador
since the 1980s.
Instruments of African origin are used
particularly in the regionally typical musical styles, such as the
berimbau, a bow-shaped rhythm instrument with a hollow gourd at one end,
or the xequerê, a shaking instrument equipped with shells.
In
recent years, the Axé music genre has become popular, especially among
young people, especially in the state of Bahia. Axé is a mix of samba,
pagoda and pop, extremely rhythmic and easy to dance to. It is more and
more preferred to the samba (except during the carnival period).
Well-known singers of the Axé are Daniela Mercury, Ivete Sangalo and
Claudia Leitte. In the open cafés in Brazil, where the audience is
mostly around 30 or 40 years old, pagoda is primarily played.
In
the Brazilian hinterland, Música Sertaneja (or "Música Caipira") is a
popular and typically Brazilian style of music. It shows influences from
Portuguese music and is played with the viola caipira, a twelve-string
variant of the guitar. Well-known singers of "Música Sertaneja" are
Sérgio Reis, Renato Teixeira and Almir Sater, as well as duos like Zezé
di Camargo & Luciano, Chitãozinho & Xororó and César Menotti & Fabiano.
In the state of Rio Grande do Sul there is a special musical
tradition of the gauchos with influences from Uruguay and Argentina.
At the end of the 1990s, "Brazilectro" developed, a mix of English
drum and bass and Brazilian bossa nova.
The first surviving document that can be called Brazilian literature is
a letter from Pero Vaz de Caminha to Manuel I of Portugal describing
Brazil in 1500. Over the next two centuries, descriptions by travelers
of "Portuguese America" and its people made up the mainstream of
Brazilian literature, for example the accounts of the German soldier
Hans Staden became famous. Religious literature from this period has
also been found. Neoclassicism was widespread in the mid-18th century.
In colonial times, the state of Minas Gerais, known for its gold mines,
was a center of literature. From around 1836, Romanticism influenced
Brazilian literature. During this time, the first standard works of
state literature were created. Romanticism was followed by Realism,
where Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis stood out as the best and most
popular Brazilian writer. Between 1895 and 1922 no uniform style can be
identified, but there were already some traces of modernity, so that
this period is called "pre-modern". Since the Semana de Arte Moderna
(Modern Arts Week) in 1922, modernism has become the dominant style.
The most famous authors of this period are Mário de Andrade and
Oswald de Andrade; Jorge Amado has also achieved international fame. The
Brazilian best-selling author Paulo Coelho is currently the world's most
widely read author. In 2004, Lygia Bojunga Nunes received the
prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Prize for Children's Literature.
Brazil: with 108 licenses in 2004, Germany's second most important
license buyer on the American continent (after the USA with 175
licenses). A lack of language skills and high translation costs are
still barriers. The São Paulo Book Fair is perhaps the most important in
South America.
In 2013, Brazil is the guest country of the
Frankfurt Book Fair – as the second country for the second time.
Due to the size of the country, it is difficult to define Brazilian cuisine. It is certain that it was influenced by the Portuguese colonization. The national dish is feijoada, a black bean stew with all kinds of meat. Traditionally, feijoada is served with rice, farofa (a cassava flour) and orange slices. Because of the large distance between the places, the aid stations on highways are important. Here, a distinction is made between commercially operated snack bars with a wide range of sandwiches and other simple dishes and small, family stops that usually only offer one dish (rice, potatoes or beans with one type of meat).
In the Amazon Basin, primitive Indian huts predominate, while in other
states, such as Minas Gerais, there are magnificent and historic cities
built in the Baroque period, and also magnificently decorated churches
(Ouro Preto, Mariana, Congonhas). Colonial architecture still defines
the picture in some coastal towns in the north-east (Olinda). The
country's greatest architects Oscar Niemeyer, who is regarded as a
pioneer of Brazilian architecture, his former lecturer Lúcio Costa and
Roberto Burle Marx jointly designed the most beautiful Brazilian
residential park "Pampulha" in Belo Horizonte. The initiator at the time
was the later President Juscelino Kubitschek, who, in one of his first
official acts as the most powerful man in the state, called the
three-person team together again to decide on the Brasília project.
Because the capital Brasília is the highlight of Brazilian architecture,
it was only built in the 1960s and is subject to a precise plan. After a
tender, in which the winner, Lúcio Costa, had already been determined,
Costa planned the development of the city, Niemeyer was responsible for
most of the buildings, as in Pampulha, and Burle Marx designed squares
and parks. Brasília is now famous for modernist buildings.
The
masterpieces of Brazilian modernism also include the buildings by Paulo
Mendes da Rocha, who received the Pritzker Prize in 2006, and in the
decades from 1954 the image of the metropolis of São Paulo by the Club
Athletico Paulistano (1958), the Chapel of Saint Peter in Campos de
Jordão, Brazil (1987) and the Museu Brasileiro de Escultura – Brazilian
Sculpture Museum in São Paulo (1988). This avant-garde style,
characterized by strictly geometric concrete buildings, is incorrectly
referred to as "Brazilian Brutalism".
The country's national and popular sport is soccer. The first football
game took place in 1894, around 10 years later the first players who had
no European ancestors may have played. The Brazilian national football
team is a five-time world champion, making it the most successful
national team in the world. In addition, Brazil won the Copa América,
the South American championship, eight times. For many football fans,
Pelé is also considered one of the best footballers of all time. Other
players like Arthur Friedenreich, Garrincha and Zico were also among the
best of their time. Romário, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaká also
received the World Player of the Year award. Many internationally
renowned stars also play in the current team. The women's national team
is also one of the world's best, even if they haven't yet won a World
Cup or Olympics, and with Marta Vieira da Silva they have what is
probably the best player in the world in their ranks. However, a large
part of the population plays football under simpler conditions, for
example in the favelas on clay courts (campos). For many children and
young people in the favelas, the prospect of becoming a professional
soccer player is one of the few ways to escape poverty.
Futsal, a
popular variant of indoor soccer that has now been recognized by FIFA as
the official indoor variant of soccer, was largely developed in Brazil
and enjoys great popularity there. As in football, the national team is
one of the best in the world.
Within just over two years, Brazil
was the scene of the two most important sporting events in the world: in
2014, the soccer World Cup was held in Brazil. The country was the only
candidate for the venue of the World Cup. In 2016 the Summer Olympics
took place in Rio de Janeiro. This was the first Olympic Games to be
held on the South American continent.
Special Olympics Brazil was
founded in 1990 and has participated in the Special Olympics World Games
several times. The association has announced its participation in the
Special Olympics World Summer Games 2023 in Berlin. Before the games,
the delegation will be looked after as part of the host town program by
the Rhein-Sieg district with the cities of Siegburg and Lohmar.
Volleyball is also very popular in Brazil. The men's national team
became world champions in 2002, 2006 and 2010, and the women's team
became Olympic champions in 2008 and 2012. The South American country is
particularly well-known for beach volleyball, and has won more medals at
world championships than any other country. In addition, foot
volleyball, a mixture of soccer and volleyball, was invented in Brazil.
Another popular team sport is basketball. The men's national team
became world champions twice, and the women's national team won the
world title in 1994. Well-known NBA players include Leandro Barbosa,
Nenê and Tiago Splitter.
Motorsport also has a great popularity
and tradition: Brazil hosts the Brazilian Grand Prix, currently one of
two Formula 1 races in Latin America and the only one in South America.
With Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna, the country has
produced three multiple world champions, other successful Formula 1
drivers are Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa. Ayrton Senna's funeral
in 1994 was well attended by the population. Two racetracks were used
for Formula 1 races: the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet near Rio
de Janeiro and the Autódromo José Carlos Pace near Interlagos. Alex
Barros is a successful former motorcycle racer and at times held the
record for most World Championship starts with 276 starts.
The
most successful tennis player in Brazil is Gustavo Kuerten, who won the
French Open three times and was at the top of the world rankings in
men's singles for 43 weeks. The country's most important track and field
athlete was the triple jumper and two-time Olympic champion Adhemar da
Silva. The Olympic champion and multiple world champion César Cielo is
the most successful swimmer in the country. Brazil is also successful in
sailing. With Rodrigo Pessoa, Olympic champion in 2004 and world
champion in 1998, and his father Nelson, European champion in 1966,
Brazil also has successful show jumpers.
Capoeira can be
described as typically Brazilian, which is better categorized with the
term martial arts than with martial arts. Capoeira was practiced by the
black population. Since the slaves were not allowed to carry any kind of
weapon, they developed capoeira as a form of self-defence: it combines
martial elements with acrobatics, gimmicks and dance. In the past few
decades, a certain fashion has developed around Capoeira. It is now
widespread throughout the Brazilian population and is also popular
abroad. In the course of the growing spread of martial arts and martial
arts from mixed martial arts (MMA), especially grappling, Vale Tudo,
Luta Livre and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) have gained great international
recognition in recent years.
Rugby union has been played in
Brazil since at least 1888, making it almost as old as football but
never reaching the same popularity. In recent years, rugby has been one
of the fastest growing sports in Brazil and is mainly played at
universities. However, the Brazilian national team has yet to qualify
for a Rugby World Cup. Brazil is considered the fourth strongest team in
South America after Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.