Brazil’s Atlantic Coastal Plain begins in the northeast of South America at Cabo San Roque and expands southward ending in Rio de Janeiro. The Coastal Plain is located between the Atlantic Coast and the escarpment which runs parallel to the plain. This area is characterized by its warm and humid climate which is ultimately considered tropical. Most climatic patterns have been influenced by the plains proximity to the Atlantic Ocean (Kent 236). The region’s precipitation is considered moderate with rainfall ranging from 1,300 mm to 1,600 mm; essentially the region has little to no real dry season (Kent 237) The Portuguese began exploring Brazil’s Atlantic Coastal Plain in the early 1500s (Kent 236). In fact, colonization and settlement began in this region (Kent 237). The region quickly became the focus of colonization, and the countries first two settlements, Salvador and Rio de Janeiro were located on the plain. Today roughly 45 million Brazilians call the plain their home (Kent 236). During the early years of colonization, tropical broadleaf forests and brazilwood tree were extensively logged. The Brazilwood could be used as a rich red dye, which became the colony’s first significant export. However, by the end of colonial period, forests were largely nonexistent (Kent 237). This led the colonists to seek another alternative export which in this case was agriculture, especially sugarcane, cacao, and pasture (Kent 237). Sugar cultivation essentially became the economic backbone throughout the remainder of the colonial period. Sugar cultivation led to the plantation system, which led to the transformation of Brazil (Kent 236). Brazil moved from being an unwanted, remote part of the world to a dynamic and productive colony (... ... middle of paper ... ...ajority of Brazilians can trace their ancestry back to European, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Africa, and in fact, Indigenous Brazilians form less than 1 percent of population (The World Book Encyclopedia 567). Today, the three main ethnic groups are there of African descent, European origin, and mixed ancestry. The mixed race consist of caboclos or mixed Indian, and mulattoes or mixed African and European (The World Book Encyclopedia 568). Works Cited “Sugar Industry (Colonial Brazil).” Encyclopedia of Latin America. 1974. Print. Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. 1996. Print. Kent, Robert. Latin America: Regions and People. New York: The Guilford Press, 2006. Print. “South America.” World Geography. Ed. Sumner, Ray. Vol. 3. Pasadena, California: Salem Press, 2001. Print. The World Book Encyclopedia. 2013. Print.
Northeast Brazil has limited vegetation as it is the driest part of the country. While most of the country experiences hot temperatures in general, some regions do experience mild to cool winters however never cold enough for snow. Brazil is home to the famous Amazon rainforest which is home to many exotic plants and animals. Some challenges to agriculture growth and animal life is deforestation as well as acid rain.
When the Portuguese landed in Brazil 500 years ago the sight that greeted them was of a huge rain forest, which then ran along much of Brazil’s Atlantic coast. In more recent times, there has been an outcry over the destruction of the much larger Amazon forest. But its devastation is nothing compared to Brazil’s Atlantic forest. About 86% of Brazil’s Amazon forest is still intact but only about 7% of the Atlantic forest remains. In this paper, I will explain why the Atlantic forest was destroyed, why deforestation happens, and the effects of rain forest destruction and the effect it is having on the Earth.
You probably heard of Brazil but, do you know much about it? Brazil is a beautiful place or country, in South America. It’s great for tourists’ sites; it has amazing land features, and especially cool culture and history. Brazil has a tremendous amount of nature and folktale. Brazil was found actually, over 8,000 years ago. The Portuguese were the first European settlers to arrive there. The journey was led by Pedro Cabral who began in the 1500s. When they finally got there they found Native Americans living there. They were around the seven millions.
Brazil's rainforest became more heavily populated and invaded by migrants when the Brazilian government ncouraged settlement and development" (Crittenden 3) to bri...
Collectively, Brazil has one of the most ethnocentric obtained cultures in South America. It is the fifth largest country within the world. Brazil diverse society is enacted with rich South American, Indian, African and European cultures. These Brazilian cultures however; were, "inherited a highly stratified society from the colonial system and from slavery, which persisted for nearly three generations after independence in 1822". The Brazilian nation has remained separated into fiv...
The beginning of Brazil’s footballing greatness has its roots in the cross-cultural interactions within the Atlantic world. According to Jerry Bentley, trade, mass migration, and empire building are key categories within the process of cross-cultural interaction. Cross-cultural interaction beyond the South American continent did not occur until 1500. Prior to 1500, native Brazilians were traditionally mostly semi-nomadic tribes who subsisted on hunting, fishing, gathering, and migrant agriculture. Many of the estimated 2,000 nations and tribes that existed in 1500 died out as a consequence of the European settlement. In 1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral sailed by accident to Brazil. After 1500, an influx of new people, Europeans and Africans, arrived. Europeans, Africans, and indigenous people provided the right mixture to create chan...
III – South and Southeast - states Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Santa Catarina, São Paulo and Rio de Janei...
Brazil is a country that was discovered in 1500, which ended up being claimed by the Portuguese navigator known as Pedro Alvares Cabral. It was also rule from Lisbon as a colony until 1808. In its first forty years of its republican history. When the country began to export gold to Portugal the region began to welcome people known as fortune hunters from all over, boatloads of people carpenters, stonemasons ,and sculptors. They all came from Europe to build cities in the Brazilian word. In 1763 , the countries capital was moved to Rio de janeiro, which was created for political and administrative reasons. When the company moved the capital it ended up starving successfully by other European nations. It added cotton and tobacco to sugar, gold
Brazil has the 7th largest economy by nominal GDP in the world and also 7th largest by purchasing power parity. It is moderately open to free markets and is one of the fastest growing economies in the world with an annual GDP growth rate of 5%. Brazil is closing the competitiveness gap with India and China among the BRIC economies. The major components of GDP of Brazil are: service sector (68.1% of GDP), industrial sector (26.5 % of GDP) and agriculture (5.5% of GDP). Various industries include textiles, shoes, chemicals, lumber, iron ore, tin, steel, machinery and equipments. Coffee is the major product of agriculture; other agricultural produce include soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, etc. Touris...
Brazil’s water usage can be divided into three main areas: industrial, domestic, and agriculture. Agriculture is the main facet in Brazil’s economy which makes water their biggest concern. Brazil has three main water basins: Amazons, Tocantins and São Francisco. They also have two other basin systems which comprise many smaller basins. The Amazon River basin is very important; being one of the biggest rivers in the world, its huge output accounts for over half of Brazil’s “Drainage Basin.” Surface water is not Brazil’s only abundance in water; subsurface water is also widely available in Brazil. Even with Brazil’s great abundance of water, there are still some regions which are drier, such as the northeast. If maintained properly, their water resources are sufficient to provide for all irrigation “for the foreseeable future”. Brazil has been a part of many treaties including “Treaty of the River del Plata, Amazon Cooperation Treaty, Cooperation Agreement for the Use of Natural Resources and Development of the Quaraí River Basin and the Treaty for the use of Shared Natural Resources of the Bordering Stretches of the Uruguay River and its tributary, the Pepiri-Guaçu River, between Brazil and Argentina.” All of these treaties were signed as different means to protect one of Brazil’s most abundant natural resources. The other reason that water is so important to Brazil is its use as a power supply. Almost 93% of the power they use comes from hydroelectric power. They even house the world’s largest hydroelectricity plant which they share with Paraguay. Currently only about one-fifth of the country’s capacity in hydroelectric production is being tapped. (Kundell, 2008) Brazil faces three major issues when it comes to water: flood...
Brazil, with a total area of 3,287,612 square miles, is the fifth largest country in the world, and the third largest country in the Western Hemisphere. It is also the fifth largest country according to population. Water makes up 21,411 square miles of the total area. Brazil is the largest country in South America, making up almost half (47%) of the land mass of the continent. Brazil has over 4,654 miles of coastline, all of it bordering on the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil contains most of the Amazon River, which is the world’s second longest at over 4,040 miles long. It is the “world’s largest river in volume and contains one-fifth of all the fresh water” on the planet (“Geography of Brazil”). Furthermore, the Amazon rainforest that encompasses the area around the river is the largest rainforest in the world, and is estimated to contain about one-third of the planet’s known animal species (“Brazil Geography Introduction”). The Amazon rainforest makes up almost half of the world’s rainforests all by itself. An interesting note about the Brazilian geography: Brazil shares common boundaries ...
The current population of the Federative Republic of Brazil is estimated to be about 199.321 million people. The population has increase of about 1.3% from the last record of the population. The population of Brazil has a greater population than Mexico, but has a less population than the United States of America. Based on the land area and the total population of the country, Brazil population density is about 60.63 people per square mile (World Population Statistics 2014).
Colonization of Brazil dates back to the 15th century. Brazil was fertile and was mainly used for plantations. The Europeans relied on cheap labor from slaves, who were forcefully imported into the country. Some of the slaves came from Brazil but more than half were imported from Africa (Morn and Alicea, 2004). The forced migration of African slaves to Brazil is attributed to the expansion of the export sector in Brazil and the growth of Trans-Atlantic butter trade. The Africans were exchanged for other commodities and shipped to Brazil as laborers. The Portuguese merchants made this migration possible by opening up the Atlantic markets and organizing a slave-trading fleet (Klein and Luna, 2010). The slaves were mainly the Western Africans and the Bantus.
This book offers many colorful pictures and many interesting facts about Brazil. It will give students the opportunity to learn about the different cultures and foods of Brazil as well as show them places, and other objects that they may never get an opportunity to see. This book is on the reading level of third to fifth grade. This book could be used for a culture fair, or a culture day. This will be able to show students the differences or the similarities between the United States versus the culture of other
Portugal discovered and colonized the land in the 1500's by military leader Pedro Cabral. Throughout the history of Portuguese colonization, 3.5 million slaves were brought to the country for plantation labor. During global crisis in the 17th and 18th century, immigrants from Portugal and Asia arrived to Brazil. After the independence of Portugal in 1822, Brazil was considered to have one of the most diverse nation with the combination of indigenous, African, European, Asian culture . Till this day, Brazil multi-cultural background remains the same. According to the Brazilian census the population is composed of 53% white, 43 % mulatto, 6% black, and 2% others. But as everywhere else in the world, social inequality has been prevalent. In 2010, Brazil declared that Afro-Brazilian (black and mixed race) made the majority of the population with 97 million people considering themselves black and 91 million claimed caucasian (the guardian) Marginalization is also common as whites and Asian Brazilians earns twice as much as blacks and mixed-raced Brazilians (The guardian). With diverse ethnicity comes with different religions. Though there is a melting pot in religion, Roman Catholics makes the majority with over 130 million followe...