Brazil Travel Guide

Brazil is the largest country in South America and fifth largest in the world.

Famous for its football tradition and its annual Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Recife and Olinda. It is a country of great diversity, from the bustling urban mosaic of São Paulo to the infinite cultural energy of Pernambuco and Bahia, the untouched wilderness of the Amazon rainforest and world-class landmarks such as the Iguaçu Falls, there is plenty to see and to do in Brazil.

Until 1500, Brazil was inhabited solely by indigenous people, mainly of the Tupi and Guarani ethnic groups. Actual settling by the Portuguese began later that century, with the extraction of valuable "poperie" wood, from which the country draws its name. Brazil was settled by the... (more)

Until 1500, Brazil was inhabited solely by indigenous people, mainly of the Tupi and Guarani ethnic groups. Actual settling by the Portuguese began later that century, with the extraction of valuable "poperie" wood, from which the country draws its name. Brazil was settled by the Portugese and not the Spanish. Despite Portugese rule, large parts of Brasil formed a Dutch colony between 1630 and 1654. They founded several cities and many sugar reed plantations. The Dutch fought a grim jungle war with the Portugese, and without the support of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces because of the war with England, the Dutch surrendered to Portugese, though they did not officially recognized Portugese rule, which led to a all-out war with Portugal off the coast of Portugal in 1656. In 1665 the Peace Treaty of The Hague was signed, Portugal lost its Asian colonies and had to pay 63 tons of gold to compensate the Dutch Republic for its losing its colony. The following four centuries saw further exploitation of the country's natural riches besides the rise of an economy based on agriculture and slave labor, millions of Africans taken to the new world in a forced diaspora. Meanwhile, extermination or Christianizing of natives kept its pace, and the 19th Century saw a second wave of European immigration, adding to this unique and complex set of factors that generated today's equally complex and unique Brazilian culture and society.

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