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Short History Of brazil and Culture
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With an estimated 156 million inhabitants, Brazil has the largest population in Latin America and ranks sixth in the world. The majority live in the south-central area, which includes the industrial cities of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte. Urban growth has been rapid: by 1991, 75% of the total population were living in urban areas. Rapid growth has aided economic development but has also created serious social, environmental, and political problems for major cities.
Four major groups make up the Brazilian population: the Portuguese, who colonized in the 16th century; Africans brought to Brazil as slaves; various other European, Middle Eastern, and Asian immigrant groups who have settled in Brazil since the mid-19th century; and indigenous people of Tupi and Guarani language stock. Intermarriage between the Portuguese and indigenous people or slaves was common. Although the major European ethnic stock of Brazil was once Portuguese, subsequent waves of immigration have contributed to a diverse ethnic and cultural heritage.
From 1875 until 1960, about 5 million Europeans emigrated to Brazil, settling mainly in the four southern states of Sao Paulo, Parana, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul. Immigrants have come mainly from Italy, Germany, Spain, Japan, Poland, and the Middle East. The largest Japanese community outside Japan is in Sao Paulo. Despite class distinctions, national identity is strong, and racial friction is a relatively new phenomenon.
Indigenous full-blooded Indians, located mainly in the northern and western border regions and in the upper Amazon Basin, constitute less than 1% of the population. Their numbers are declining as contact with the outside world and commercial expansion into the interior increase. Brazilian Government programs to establish reservations and to provide other forms of assistance have existed for years, but are controversial and often ineffective.
Brazil is the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas. Approximately 80% of all Brazilians belong to the Roman Catholic Church; most others are Protestant or follow practices derived from African religions.
Portuguese Conquistador, Pedro Álvares Cabral, led his fleet to the shores of the country now called Brazil in April 1500. The Europeans saw great potential in a land inhabited by squabbling tribes but rich in natural resource and potential wealth. Despite French and Spanish resistance, the Portuguese slowly expanded their territory in Brazil, taking Rio de Janeiro and some land in the Amazon basin before the Treaty of San Ildefonso was signed in 1777 (which agreed most of the modern borders). In 1808, the Portuguese royal family fled the Napoleonic wars and declared Brazil the centre of the entire Portuguese Empire. When King João VI returned to Europe, his elder son, Pedro de Alcântara, stood by the Brazilians as they refused to continue as a Portuguese colony and was named 1st Emperor of Brazil in 1822.
Towards the end of the 19th Century, the Monarchy was overthrown and a period of political instability began. After a number of rebellions, coups and changes of power, a brutal military dictatorship, led by Getúlio Vargas, gained power in 1937. After the Second World War, Vargas was overthrown and the country enjoyed a period of remarkable economic growth before a democratic government was finally re-established in 1985. In 2002, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula), a former shoeshine boy and metalworker, ran a widely celebrated left-wing government. He helped establish Brazil as a major international economic power whilst investing in social welfare and the country’s poorer citizens. Current president Dilma Rouseff was a close political ally of Lula and is the first woman to hold office in Brazil.
