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Brazil
Belem
Brasilia
Natal
Recife
Rio de Janeiro
Salvador
San Paulo
The Federative Republic of Brazil (República Federativa do Brasil
in Brazilian Portuguese) is the largest and most
populous country in Latin America, and fifth
largest in the world. Spanning a vast area
between central South America and the Atlantic
Ocean, it is the easternmost country of the
Americas and it borders Uruguay, Argentina,
Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela,
Guyana, Suriname and the French department of
French Guiana — every South American nation
except for Ecuador and Chile. Named after
brazilwood, a tree highly valued by early
colonists, Brazil is home to both extensive
agricultural lands and rain forests. Exploiting
vast natural resources and a large labor pool,
it is today South America's leading economic
power and a regional leader. As a former colony
of Portugal, Portuguese is its official
language.
History
Main article: History of Brazil
Brazil is thought to have been inhabited for at
least 10,000 years by semi-nomadic populations
when the first Portuguese explorers, led by
Pedro Álvares Cabral, disembarked in 1500. Over
the next three centuries, it was resettled by
the Portuguese and exploited mainly for
brazilwood (Pau-Brasil) at first, and later for
sugarcane(Cana-de-Açúcar) agriculture and gold
mining. Work in the colony was based on slavery.
In 1808, Queen Maria I of Portugal and her son
and regent, the future João VI of Portugal,
fleeing from Napoleon, relocated to Brazil with
the royal family, nobles and government. Though
they returned to Portugal in 1821, the interlude
led to the opening of commercial ports to the
United Kingdom — at the time isolated from most
European ports by Napoleon — and to the
elevation of Brazil to the status of a Kingdom
united to Portugal's Crown. Then prince regent
Dom Pedro I of Brazil and IV of Portugal
declared independence on 7 September 1822,
establishing the independent Empire of Brazil.
As the crown remained in the hands of the house
of Bragança, this was more the severance of the
Portuguese empire in two, than an independence
movement as seen elsewhere in the Americas.
The Brazilian Empire was theoretically a
democracy in the British style, although in
practice, the emperor-premier-parliament balance
of power more closely resembled the autocratic
Austrian Empire. Slavery was abolished in 1888,
and intensive European immigration created the
basis for industrialization. Pedro I was
succeeded by his son, Pedro II — who in old age
was caught by a political dispute between the
Army and the Cabinet, a crisis arising from the
Paraguay War. In order to avoid a civil war
between Army and Navy, Pedro II renounced the
throne on 15 November 1889, when a federal
republic was established by Field Marshal
Deodoro da Fonseca.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
Brazil attracted over 5 million European and
Japanese immigrants. That period also saw Brazil
industrialise, further colonize, and develop its
interior. Brazilian democracy was replaced by
dictatorships three times — 1930–1934 and
1937–1945 under Getúlio Vargas, and 1964–1985,
under a succession of generals appointed by the
military. Today, Brazil is internationally
considered a democracy since 1985, specifically
a presidential democracy, which was kept after a
plebiscite in 1993 where voters had to choose
between a presidential or parliamentary systems,
whilst also choosing if Brazil should reinstate
its constitutional monarchy.
Demographics
Demographics of Brazil.
See also: Indigenous peoples in Brazil.
Strong influence from German immigrants in
Blumenau, Southern BrazilThe main ethnic group
in Brazil are the Portuguese, who colonized the
country after 1500. Until independence in 1822,
the Portuguese were the only European nation
that successfully settled in Brazil, and most of
Brazil's culture is based on that of Portugal.
The Dutch and the French also colonized Brazil
during the 17th century, but their presence
lasted only a few decades.
The Amerindian population of Brazil has in large
part been exterminated or assimilated into the
Portuguese population. Since the beginning of
Brazil's colonization, intermarriage between the
Portuguese and Native Brazilians has been
common.
Brazil has a large black population, descended
from African slaves brought to the country from
the 16th century until the 19th century. The
African population in Brazil has mixed
substantially with the Portuguese, causing a
large mixed-race population.
Beginning in the 19th century, the Brazilian
government stimulated European immigration to
substitute for the manpower of the former
slaves. The first non-Portuguese immigrants to
settle in Brazil were Germans, in 1824. However,
significant European immigration to Brazil began
only in the 1870s, when immigration from Italy
increased. Brazil has the largest Italian
population outside of Italy, with 25 million
Italians and Italian-descended Brazilians,
constituting 15% of Brazil's population. Another
important influx of immigrants came from Spain.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Brazil
received immigrants from several other European
countries, such as Poland, Russia, Ukraine and
Austria.
Starting in the early 20th century, Brazil also
received a large number of Asians: Korean,
Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese immigrants. The
Japanese are the largest Asian minority in
Brazil, and Japanese-Brazilians are the largest
Japanese population outside of Japan (1.5
million). Significant immigration from the
Middle-East (Lebanon and Syria) has also
occurred.
Brazil's population is mostly concentrated along
the coast, with a lower population density in
the interior. The population of the southern
states is mainly of European descent, while the
majority of the inhabitants of the north and
northeast are of mixed ancestry (Amerindians,
Africans and Europeans).
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