Brazil: where we come from

With the official name Federative Republic of Brazil, the largest country of South America is the world's eighth largest economy. Brazil is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and has boarders with all countries of South America, apart from Ecuador and Chile.

As it's the only portuguese-speaking nation in Americas, also the largest lusophone country in the world, its language makes an important part of Brazilian national identity and gives national culture distinctions from the Spanish-speaking neighbors.

Brazil was a colony of Portugal since the landing of Pedro Álvares de Cabral in 1500 until 1815, when it was elevated to a United Kingdom with Portugal and Algarves. Actually, sice 1808, when the royal family of Portugal went to Brazil, transferring the capital of the kingdom from Lisboa to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil acquired a different role in Portugal's territories.

In 1822 Brazil achieved the independence from Portugual and in 1889, as Empire of Brazil, the Republic was proclaimed. From 1930 to 1945 Brazil was governed by the President Getulio Vargas, during a time we call "Vargas Era", he istitutionalized a new Constitution and did a lot of changes in Brazil. In 1960, the President Juscelino Kubitscheck transferred the Brazilian capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília. During 1964 and 1985, Brazil suffered with a military dictatorship and in 1988, when the dictatorship was off, a new Constitution was proclaimed and it's the one used until today. This year Brazil elected the first woman to the presidency Dilma Rousseff.

Nowadays, Brazil is one of the world's fastest growing major economies and it's very known by all the diversity of this large country. As an almost continental nation, Brazil has different climates and traditions spread around the country. The core influence came from Portugal, as the language, Catholicism and the colonial archtecture, but we can see cultural influences from Africans, indians and non-Portuguese Europeans. For instance, the South Region, composed of three States (Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul), had a lot of European and Asian imigrants and thus has a huge cultural influence from them. On the other hand, the Northeast received more influence by Africans and non-Portuguese Europeans, what can be clearly seen on the different cuisine and dancing influences of that part of the country. However this differences are not concetrated exclusively on one region, we can see people from all the states of Brasil practicing "Capoeira", an Afro-Brazilian art that combines martial arts, music and dance.

In the area of sports, doubtless soccer is the most popular sport of Brazil, but other sports have great importance in the country. Brazil man's volleyball team curently hold the titles of the World League, World Grand Champions Cup, World Champions and the World Cup. Basketball, auto racing and martial arts also attract large audiences. In addition, some sports variation came from Brazil as Beach Football, Footvolley and Futsal. Martial arts as Capoeira, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Vale Tudo have origins in Brazil too.

The rich literature of Brazil dates back to the letters of Pêro Vaz de Caminha in the 16th century, filled with descriptions of an explorer in a new territory. Brazil produced famous works in Romancism with novelists as José de Alencar and Joaquim Manoel Macedo and poets as Alveres de Azevedo, Gonçalves Dias and Castro Alves. With Realist Style, Machado de Assis is known as the greatest Brazilian writer. He wrote recognized books as "The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas" (also known as "Epitaph for a Small Winner") and "Sir Dour". Since 1922, writters or poets as Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Cecília Meireles, Clarisse Lispector, Manuel Bandeira and Guimarães Rosa are some of the names of Brazilian Literature.

At last but not less important, Brazil holds an enormous biodiversity and we carefully tend it. We are very proud to be Brazilians and represent our extremely beautiful and admirable nation.

Know more: http://www.brasil.gov.br/