Zur Incognita Terra Oceanus ("Unknown Land on the South of the Ocean") | |||||
| Anthem | "Hymno do Reino do Brazil" | ||||
| Capital | Rio de Janeiro | ||||
| Largest city | San Paul | ||||
| Language | Portuguese, Latin | ||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||
| Demonym | Brazilian | ||||
| Government | Federal Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy | ||||
| Legislature | General Assembly -Upper house: Senate -Lower house: Chamber of Deputies | ||||
| King | Louis II | ||||
| Royal house: | Orléans-Braganza | ||||
| Prince-Regent | Bertrand of Orléans-Braganza | ||||
| Area | 8,637,524 km² | ||||
| Population | 211,054,640 inhab. | ||||
| Established | 16 December 1815 | ||||
| Independence | from United Kingdom of Brazil, Portugal and the Algarves | ||||
| declared | 23 July 1840 | ||||
| Currency | Mil-réis (Rs$) | ||||
| Time Zone | -3, -4, -5 | ||||
| summer | |||||
| Driving Side | right | ||||
| Calling Code | +55 | ||||
| Internet TLD | .br | ||||
Brazil (Brazil, in Portuguese; Brasilia, in Latin; Brasil, in Spanish), officially Kingdom of Brazil (Reino do Brazil, in Portuguese; Regnum Brasiliæ, in Latin; Reino del Brasil, in Spanish), is the biggest country in both South and Latin America, the fifth biggest country in the world, and fifth most populous. It's one of the three realms that form Portugal-Brazil. It's the only country in America where Portuguese is primarily spoken, and the biggest Portuguese speaking country in the world. Its Constitution, conceded in 1824, conceives Brazil as a parliamentary federal monarchy in real union with Portugal and the Algarves, formed by the union of 18 provinces and a Neutral City. Delimited on the East by the Atlantic Ocean, Brazil has a 7,491 km (4,655 mi) coast. The countries borders with all the other countries in South America, except Chile. It borders with Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and the French Guyana on North; New Granada and Peru on West; Argentina on Southwest. Several archipelagos are part of Brazil's territory, such as the Rocas Atoll, the Archipelago of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Fernando de Noronha, and Trinity and Matim Vaz. Brazil is also home to a diversity of wild animals, ecosystems and vast natural resources in great variety of protected habitats.
History[]
Pre-colonial period[]
It's thought that the first humans occupied the region that comprises Brazil's current territory 60,000 years ago. When the Portuguese arrived in 1500, there were circa two million natives on the east coast of South America
The native American population was divided in great Indian nations, composed of several ethnic groups, such as the tupy-guarany, macro-je and aruaque. The tupy-guarany were divided in Guaranys, Tupynambas and Tupyninquins. The Tupy were the first Indian race to make contact with the colonizers.
Portuguese Colonization[]
The land which is now called Brazil, was claimed by Portugal on April 22, 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral.
The colonization of Brazil was effectively started in 1534, when King John III divided the territory into 14 hereditary captaincies, but this disposition ended up being problematic, since only the captaincies of Pernambuco and Saint Vincent prospered. In 1549, the King appointed a governor-general to administer the whole colony. The Portuguese assimilated some of the native tribes, while others were enslaved or exterminated by European diseases, or in long wars fought in the first and second centuries of colonization between rivals native groups and their European allies.
On the 16th century, when cane sugar became the most important export product of Brazil, the Portuguese started to import African slaves, bought in slave markets in Western Africa.
Ignoring the Tordesillas Treaty of 1494, through expeditions known as bandeiras (literally, "flags"), the Portuguese gradually advanced their colonial borders in South America, and defended such conquests through the 16th and 17th centuries against rival European countries. The outstanding conflicts were those which rejected French colonial incursions (in Rio de Janeiro in 1567, and in Maranham in 1615), and that, after the end of the Iberian Union, expelled the Dutch from the northeast, in the Pernambucan Insurrection - part of the Portuguese-Dutch War.
By the end of the 17th century, due to colonial competition, Brazilian sugar exports started to fall, but the discovery of gold by the expeditionaries in the decade of 1690 opened a new cycle for the colony's economy, promoting a gold fever in Brazil, which attracted thousands of new settlers, not only from Portugal, but from other Portuguese colonies, which generated conflicts (like the Emboabas War), between old and new settlers.
United Kingdom of Brazil, Portugal and the Algarves[]
In 1815, after the coronation of John VI, Brazil was raised from the status of colony to United Kingdom with Portugal and the Algarves.
In 1820, based on the French Glorious Revolution, lots of people went on the streets of Porto and Lisbon to protest for the creation of a constitution. As a result, the General Courts created the first Portuguese constitution. The power was divided in three, and the government was represented by the Prime-Minister. The King only had a figurative and ceremonial role. The captaincies in Brazil were raised to the status of province. Each province's president and Brazil's Governor General were appointed by the General Courts.
Due to separatist conflicts in Brazil, such as the Pernambucan Revolution, in 1818, and the Cisplatine War, in 1826, after the Coronation of Pedro IV, the United Kingdom of Brazil, Portugal and the Algarves was raised to Empire, with the new constitution. The Moderator power was created. It was the Emperor's exclusive power, through which he could dissolve the Chamber of Deputies, call new elections, appoint or exonerate Supreme Court's ministers, appoint provincial presidents, etc. The office of prime-minister was suppressed, and the Executive started being exercised by the Emperor.
Confederation[]
In 1830, the Courts passed the Additional Act, which gave the Brazilian provinces more autonomy.
In the decade of 1830, more separatist movements started across Brazil, in the provinces of São Pedro (Kingdom of Rio Grande), Santa Catharina (Julian Republic), and Northeastern Region (Equator Confederation), etc. The most threatening was the Farrapos War, in the province of São Pedro. Separatists wanted to create a new kingdom in the province. The war culminated in the creation of the Brazilian Confederation by regent Maria da Gloria, through which Brazil became a constitutional parliamentary federal monarchy. A legislative power was created in Brazil, represented by the General Assembly, and the Executive power was now exercised by a prime-minister, and the King's attributions were exercised by the Viceroy. Out of spite, Brazil continued to have representatives in the General Courts, since all the decisions made by the General Assembly should follow those taken by the Portuguese parliament.
Subdivisions[]
Brazil is divided in 18 provinces, and a Neutral City, in which the Court is situated. The Neutral City is currently situated in Rio de Janeiro.
| Flag | Province | Abbrev. | Capital | Largest city | Creation | Population | Area (km²) | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chamber of Deputies | Senate | ||||||||
|
Alagoas | AL | Maceió | 16 September 1817 | 3,322,820 | 27,778.56 | 5 | 2 | |
|
Bahia | BA | San Salvador | 5 April 1534 | 13,969,973 | 390,434.88 | 20 | 10 | |
|
Ceará | CE | Fortaleza | 20 November 1535 | 9,075,649 | 148,920.47 | 13 | 6 | |
| Cisplatina | CI | Montevideo | 20 January 1817 | 3,351,016 | 176,215.00 | 5 | 2 | ||
|
Espirito Santo | ES | Victoria | Villa Velha | 23 May 1535 | 3,972,388 | 46,095.58 | 10 | 5 |
|
Goyaz | GO | Goyaz | Goyania | 12 February 1736 | 11,446,058 | 617,732.70 | 16 | 8 |
|
Grão-Pará | GP | Bethlem | Manáos | 1616 | 14,078,159 | 1,247,954.67 | 20 | 10 |
|
Maranham | MA | Saint Louis | 11 March 1535 | 7,035,055 | 331,937.45 | 10 | 5 | |
|
Matto Grosso | MT | Cuyaba | Campo Grande | 9 May 1748 | 7,977,300 | 903,366.19 | 11 | 5 |
|
Minas Geraes | MG | Ouro Preto | Uberlandia | 12 September 1720 | 21,040,662 | 586,522.12 | 30 | 15 |
|
Parahyba | PB | Parahyba | 1574 | 3,996,496 | 56,585.00 | 6 | 3 | |
|
Pernambuco | PB | Recife | 10 March 1534 | 10,238,938 | 272,609.92 | 14 | 7 | |
|
Piauhy | PI | Oeyras | Parnahyba | 1718 | 3,264,531 | 251,577.74 | 5 | 2 |
|
Rio de Janeiro | RJ | Nictheroy | San Gonzalo | 1 March 1575 | 17,159,960 | 43,780.17 | 24 | 12 |
|
Rio Grande do Norte | RN | Natal | 1530 | 3,479,010 | 52,811.05 | 6 | 3 | |
|
Saint Catherine | SC | Desterro | Joinville | 11 August 1738 | 7,075,494 | 95,736.17 | 10 | 5 |
|
Saint Peter | SA | Porto Alegre | 19 September 1807 | 11,329,605 | 281,730.22 | 16 | 8 | |
|
|
San Paul | SP | San Paul | 2 December 1720 | 45,538,936 | 248,222.36 | 80 | 40 | |
|
Sergype | SE | Aracaju | 1590 | 2,278,308 | 21,915.12 | 3 | 1 | |
| Total | 211,054,640 | 8,637,524.00 | 304 | 149 | |||||
