Culture & Religion

• The Brazilian people's Culture and Religion
The Brazilian people is the result of a mixture of races. Portuguese colonizers, natives and African slaves (the majority of them coming from the Yoruba and Quimbundu ethnic groups, which today correspond to Nigeria, Benin and Angola) formed the racial basis. French and Dutch colonizers were also present in the Brazilian northeast. In the 20th century, a vast contingent of German, Italian, Polish, and Japanese immigrants added new elements to this mixture. Brazilians are, perhaps, the most intermarried people in the world.

• People formation
White people coming from Europe, black people from Africa, yellow people, and Brazil native Indians contributed for the formation of the Brazilian people. Miscegenation has been intense since colonization times. The small number of white women among those Portuguese colonizers led them to have sexual intercourse with Indian or black slave women, frequently by force. This miscegenation originated other racial types, such as the mulatto, a miscegenation of black and white people; the “caboclo” or “mameluco”, the miscegenation of white and yellow people; and the “cafuzo”, a miscegenation of black and yellow people. People arriving later in Brazil, although in many cases remaining in closed and isolated communities, also intermarried.

• Immigrants
The number of immigrants to Brazil was always greater than the number of people leaving the country. Immigration officially started when, in 1808, Don João VI enacted a law allowing the ownership of lands by foreigners. The law's objective was to facilitate the occupation of southern areas in order to guarantee the territory, in which the Castelhanos were interested in, remained in the ownership of the Brazilian crown. There was also an interest in “whitening” the population's skin, which was predominantly black by those times. The arrival of immigrants brought in changes to the country's life, with the introduction of new cultivation products and techniques, concepts on small property, subsistence economy, and small-size domestic industries (textile, food, leather, and ceramics). Germans, Austrians, Hungarians, Slavs, Spanish, Italians, Japanese, Syrians, Lebanese , and German Swiss were the groups who most immigrated to Brazil. This miscegenation characterized the Brazilian people as one of the most hospitable in the world. Everybody arriving in Brazil, no matter the place of origin, is welcomed by with a warm hug.

• Religion
Brazil has no official religion. Almost 88% of the population is Catholic. However, approximately 20 million Catholics practice another kind of ritual of African origin. There are at least five million Protestants, including Lutherans, Methodists, and Episcopalians, as well as Jews. Most of the Indians follow religions.

History & Geography

The discovery of Brazil by the Portuguese takes place in a period of crisis and great changes in Europe.

The transformation process is accelerated in the urban centers. Commerce flourishes and brings along a new social class, the mercantile bourgeoisie. This is the class that will finance the grand sailing trips of the 15th and 16th centuries, which ended up in the discovery of America and Brazil, and the conquest and colonization of Africa and Asia.

In April 1500, Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral reaches the coast of what is currently known as Brazil and claims the whole region on behalf of Portugal. Before reaching terra firma, he names the region Monte Pascoal, which was later changed to Terra de Vera Cruz.

During the exploration process, many capes and bays were named, including a bay named Rio de Janeiro. Terra de Vera Cruz was then called Santa Cruz and finally Brazil, an allusion to the pau-brasil, a tree abundant in the region and taken in large quantities to Portugal.

For three centuries, Brazil remained in the condition of a Portuguese colony. Colonialism benefited the Metropolis. One cannot say that there was domination in Brazil at that time. At first, the country was a challenge, because it had no riches for Portugal to exploit. The major interest was to guarantee the control over the Atlantic route.

The right to exploit Brazilian lands was granted to individuals provided certain obligations were observed, taking into consideration the Crown's monopoly. During the earliest times, the French held a good relationship with the Indians. Only by 1530, Portugal started to show interest in Brazil.

Brazil was the cradle for the “racial democracy”. If a race became predominant, so did its customs.

In order to better govern the country, Brazil was divided into Capitanias Hereditárias (Hereditary Districts). These districts, which were created by D. João III, faced several problems. In 1549, Brazil elected its first general governor to administrate those districts. Royal districts came later. The General Government, can be defined as the first Brazilian public government prototype. The Marquis of Pombal, being aware of the need for people to administrate the colony, made use of native Brazilian individuals. The political centralization had already overcome the experimental stage and turned itself into a broader project.

The first general governors were assigned administrative and military tasks for a three-year mandate term. There was a distinction between governors and vice-kings: a vice-king, higher in rank than the general governor, seemed to be the power personification itself.

That was the element that gave rise to the republican era, which starts with the falling of the Empire and is followed by the Proclamation of the Republic on November 15, 1889, a regime standing up to these days.

Climate

Brazil is one of the few countries in the world with an equatorial forest (together with Congo, in Africa), which is limited to the equatorial climate. Such climate is predominantly seen over the Amazon Forest region, where average temperatures vary from 24 to 26°C.

The tropical climate prevails over the Central Plateau region, as well as over other northeast and southeast Brazilian regions. This climate is characterized by two distinct annual hot seasons, with average temperatures over 20°C.

At higher regions, limited by the Atlantic Plateau at southeast, and even in regions at south of Mato Grosso do Sul and north of Paraná, the predominant climate is the so-called altitude tropical climate. Average temperatures range from 18 to 22°C.

The so-called Atlantic tropical climate prevails over almost the entire Brazilian seacoast, extending from Rio Grande do Norte to Rio Grande do Sul. Such climate records average annual temperatures ranging from 18 to 26°C.

The semi-arid climate covers the territory corresponding to the northeastern midland, from the São Francisco River valley to the north of the state of Minas Gerais. Annual average temperatures are among Brazil's higher ones, namely about 27°C.

The coldest region corresponds to the territorial area located below the Capricorn Tropic, which includes the southern states, with the exception of the northern Paraná.

This region's sub-tropical climate records average temperatures below 20°C, where winter times are the country's rigorous ones, especially in those areas of higher altitudes, where blizzards are likely to occur.