The History and Beauty of Brazil

History and Introduction

The Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral arrived at present day Pôrto Seguro (Safe Harbor) in the state of Bahia on the Brazilian coast in April 1500 and named the new territory Ilha de Vera Cruz, Island of the True Cross, thinking he was on an island. A year later, Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci sailed to Brazil on a voyage commissioned by the Portuguese crown and returned home with a cargo of hard, reddish wood. The wood was similar to an East Indian variety called pau brasil, which was then popular in Europe for making cabinets and violin bows. Pau brasil (brazilwood), the first product to be exploited by the Portuguese in this new territory, is the origin of the country's name, Brazil (Ramaworldtours.com, 2014). Brazil is characterized by a diverse culture and geography, and historically it has been the source of important natural resources in its 510 years of history. It is the largest country in South America in both population (approximately199.321 million- “World Population Statistics”) and area (8.5 million square kilometers) and 5th largest country in the world. Brazil has several regional variations, and in spite of being mostly unified by a single language, some regions are so different from each other that they could have become different countries altogether. Brazil is composed by multicultural mixture: Africans, Europeans and Native Americans formed the bulk of Brazilian culture. This fact influences arts, literature, music or gastronomy, creating a heterogeneous mix of habits and patterns in society. (Noble J., Chandler G., & Clark G., 2008) Bossa Nova, Carnival and samba are some of the most popular exponents of this heterogeneous and rich culture. Brazil was colonized by the Por...

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...rtional representation, in position for a term of four years)

-Chamber of Deputies (513 members, elected by a direct ballot for a term of eight years. These ones have districts assigned by proportion to the population)

Each state in Brazil is assigned a governor and an elected legislature.

Judicial Branch: The Supreme Federal Tribunal exercises the ultimate judicial power. Each of its judges is elected by the tribunal members and their term is life-long. The judicial system is responsible for contesting and supporting any decisions made by the government that will affect the rights of Brazil’s individual residents. This gives the judicial system a huge amount of power within the legal system of Brazil. (Brazil.org.za. 2014)

Privatization is one of the initiatives taken to do away with monopolies. More than 60% of the revenue of the government is from tax payments.