This page to discover Brazil

History

In 1500, Pedro Alvares Cabral discovers the Brazilian coasts and announces have discovered new territories returning to Portugal. According to the treaty of Tordesillas signed in 1494 under the aegis of the pope Alexander VI, all newly discovered lands located in more than 370 leagues on the West by the Green Cape went to Spain, and the others went to Portugal. What forms the half today is from Brazil comes back so to Portugal.

Sailors returned to Brazil and brought back brazil wood, an ember-coloured wood that they bought from the Indians and to which Brazil owes its current name. However, the actual colonization enterprise did not begin until the 1530s, under the reign of John III. In 1532, the first São Vicente village was founded. In 1533, Brazil was divided into fifteen captaincies, each headed by a hereditary donatário. Only two captaincies prosper: São Vicente and Pernambuco. It was in the latter that sugar cane was first introduced, the main commercial wealth of Brazil until the beginning of the 18th century. Faced with the relative failure of colonization, the King of Portugal places Brazil under his direct authority and appoints a Governor General who oversees the fifteen captaincies. He settled in Bahia.

During the summer of 1554, Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon secretly visited the region of Cabo Frio, on the Brazilian coast, where his compatriots usually hid. There he obtained information of great importance from the Tamoios Indians, learning about the habits of the Portuguese on this coast and collecting the data necessary for a future expedition to found a colonial establishment. The site chosen was located nearly two hundred kilometers to the south: the bay of Guanabara, which the Portuguese avoided because of the hostility of the natives of the region. The plan was to turn this area into a powerful military and naval base, from which the French Crown could attempt to control trade with the West Indies. This is the beginning of “Antarctic France”, the name given to the ephemeral French colony which occupied the bay of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, from 1555 to 1567 and was finally eliminated by the arrival of Portuguese reinforcements. In response to the other French attempts at territorial conquest in Brazil (with equinoctial France near São Luís (Maranhão) between 1612 and 1615), the Portuguese Crown decided to intensify the colonization of Brazil and improve its status.

Brazil begins to develop economically. The exploitation of the local Indian population is no longer sufficient for sugar production and in 1550, the first slaves are imported from Africa. The slave trade lasted until the middle of the 19th century: Brazil was the country that received the most black slaves, with approximately 5.5 million Africans deported from the 16th century to 1850, or 40% of the total.

At the end of the 17th century, gold was found inland. Mining activity then took on considerable importance and allowed the development of a vast region known as Minas Gerais.

In 1807, Napoleon invaded Portugal; the regent Jean VI embarks for Brazil and settles in Rio. When he left America, in 1821 only, he left behind his son Dom Pedro. The Cortes, however, want to bring Brazil back to the rank of a simple colony and recall Dom Pedro to Portugal. This one, supported by the Brazilian population, refuses to return to Europe and proclaims the independence of Brazil. He was declared emperor in 1823. In 1825, Portugal recognized Brazilian independence. In 1831, however, Peter I, highly contested, had to abdicate. He hands over power to his son Pierre II, then six years old. Peter II was declared of age in 1840.

Under the reign of Peter II, Brazil experienced the beginnings of modernization and industrialization. Slavery was abolished, but later than in European countries, since it was only completely abolished in 1888. In 1889, the army overthrew Peter II and the Republic was proclaimed, but the country did not become a democracy anyway.

On October 4, 1930, Getúlio Vargas became president after a coup. He remained in power until 1945. In 1942, following attacks by German submarines, the country entered the Second World War. In 1945, Vargas had to resign and Brazil experienced twenty years of democracy.

From 1964, Brazil experienced, like other Latin American countries, a right-wing military dictatorship. In the 1970s, the Brazilian government took part in Operation Condor, a vast plan of coordination between Latin American military dictatorships in order to fight against opponents of the regimes throughout the continent. In Brazil, there are a large number of revolutionary groups which, since 1964, have organized resistance against the military power. Most of them have taken shape in student circles. Among them, we can cite the MR-8, rather based in Rio de Janeiro, or the ALN (National Liberation Action), based in São Paulo. In 1985, Tancredo Neves was elected president but died before taking office. It was then José Sarney who became president. Democracy is taking hold in a difficult economic and financial context.

October 27th, 2002, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, ancient union activist, carries off presidential election. It is reelected on October 28th, 2006. He is the first socialist president of Brazil. Dilma Rousseff succeeded Lula in the presidency of the Republic on January 1st, 2011.

Policy

Brazil is a presidential federal republic, made up of 26 states and a federal district. Its Constitution was adopted in 1988.

The president is elected for a term of 4 years and can be re-elected once. The current president is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, nicknamed “Lula”.

The right to vote is optional for citizens who are between 16 and 18 years old and for those who are over 65 years old, it is compulsory for citizens who are between 18 and 65 years old. The vast majority of Indians have the status of protected minor and are, as such, deprived of civic rights.

Legislative power is exercised by the Chamber of Deputies, made up of 513 seats, and the Senate, which has 81 members (3 senators per state and 3 senators for the federal district).

Geography

Brazil covers a total area of ​​8,547,877 km². The majority of the population lives near the Atlantic coast, which in the south is bordered by the Serra do Mar.

Brazil's vast plateau occupies much of the south and east of the country. In the north of the country, a region of the Amazon rainforest, the altitudes are lower. Population densities are generally low.

The rainy season runs from November to May in the north, with very heavy rains in the rainforests. The south has hot summers and cold winters (July-August). In general, the climate is slightly more temperate by the sea, and at altitude, and under the forest canopy.

In addition to the continental part of its territory and islands close to the coast, Brazil has some small groups of islands and islets in the Atlantic: the Rocks of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Fernando de Noronha , Trindade and Martim Vaz as well as the small coral islands called atoll des Roches.

Économy

An economic crisis broke out in 1998. Brazil has the largest total GDP in Latin America. GDP per capita, on the other hand, is lower than that of Argentina, Chile and Mexico. Although it has powerful commercial agriculture and a fairly diversified industrial sector, Brazil is largely tertiarized: in 2006, the service sector accounted for 64% of GDP.

The fragile economic growth has not come without pain. Economic disparities are strong and constitute an important political issue.

The International Monetary Fund then decided to grant a loan of 41.5 billion US dollars in November 1998, because Brazil adopted the imposed reforms (privatization) and reduced its budgetary expenditure, in particular in education. Today, the economy tends to stabilize, but remains fragile.

On April 15, 2008, Brazil entered a new era in its economic history with the announcement of the discovery of huge oil deposits in the Santos Basin. These would be of the order of 33 billion barrels

Source : Wikipedia

When to leave?

Remember that the seasons are reversed compared to the Northern Hemisphere. Winter is an ideal period (September to January), especially since it is the bewitching time of preparation for carnival.

Transports

Few trains, buses and cars in very good condition, but given the distances it is the most useful plane.

Sleep / Eat

We eat very well and varied, always fresh. Avoid tap water and sometimes ice cubes depending on where you are. The hotel is clean and of high quality in all the posadas (in general).

Sites utiles

• Le routard (In french)
• Lonelyplanet

Tourism Office

• Tourism Office