Fun Facts: Brazil

Geography

1. Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world after Canada, China, Russia, and the United States.  Brazil is also the largest country in South America.

2. It shares borders with every South American country except Chile and Ecuador.

3. There are 7 different ecosystems within Brazil; the Amazonian Rain Forest, Caatinga, Atlantic Rain Forest, Coastal Regions, Southern Plains, Cerrado, and the Pantanal.  Currently, Brazil faces serious environmental issues, including Amazon deforestation and pollution.

History

1. The indigenous population (3-4 million before 1500) in Brazil never developed the sophisticated cutrues of tier Andean neighbors, the Incas.  One of the main groups was te Tupi-Guarani, a seminomadic people who originally set out from the Amazon Basin.

2. In 1500, the first Portguese explorers arrived on the southern coast of Bahia and took informal control of Brazil as its colony.

3. By the 1550s, Portugal began importing large number of slaves from its African colonies of Mozambique and Angola, as well as from West Africa and Congo.

4. There were slave markets set up in places such as Salvador, where slave were sold to work on sugar plantations.  Sugar would lay the foundations for Brazil’s economy as an exporter of monocultures (sugar, coffee, rubber, etc.).

5. It was common for plantation masters to have sexual relations with their slaves, leading to a large population of mulatto, which has given rise to today’s myth of racial harmony.  Hidden racism and glaring inequality are the legacies of this plantation system.

6. In 1549 the first Jesuits worked their way into the interiors of Brazil, and continued to convert the indigenous population into Christianity.

7. In the 18th and 19th centuries, there were numerous attempts at uprisings against Portuguese control.  In 1822,  Pedro I was left in charge of Brazil as Prince Regent.  In 1889, there was a bloodless coup d’état, led by the army, which led to the first military dictatorship in Brazil.

8.  Slavery was fully abolished in 1885, making Brazil the last of the New World nations to ban slavery.

9. After a series of failed military dictatorships, Brazil finally got its first Brazilian republic (1890-1930).

10.  In 1930, there was another military coup, which led to the presidency of Getulio Vargas, a fervent nationalist and populist.  He declared himself dictator to carry out radical reforms, such as a minimum wage, labor laws, and extending the right to vote to women.  In 1937, the Estado Novo (New State) was declared, where opposition parties were prohibited, the press was censored, and dissidence was punished with jail sentences.

 

11. Brazil sides with the Allies in World War II, which made it hard for Vargas to justify being a dictator.  He relinquished power in 1945, but was democratically elected by the people in 1950.  Accused of corruption and scandals, was asked to resign.  Instead, on August 4th, 1954, he shot himself through the heart after leaving a love letter-suicide note to the Brazilian people.

12. Juscelino Kubitschek, popularly known as “JK” won the 1956 presidential elections with his campaign slogan “50 years in five.”  He created the capital of Brasilia, in the heart of the nation, at the expense of the government.

13. Between 1964 and 1985, a military dictatorship (backed by the United States) led Brazil.

14. The abertura period (opening process) took place in Brazil between 1979-1985).  Federal elections were called for in 1985, ending the military dictatorship.

15. After numerous attempts, Luiz Inacio da Silva  (affectionately known as “Lula”) won election in 1990. Largely popular in Brazil, Lula hand picked his successor, Dilma Rousseff, who was elected as the first woman president in Brazil in 2010.  She still serves today.