Work in Brazil
Brazil in its splendour, diversity and complexity is the home of the Amazon Rainforest, of the Samba, Capoeira and of the Christ the Redeemer statue. Brazil has a total surface area of 8 514 877 square kilometres of which 8 459 417 square kilometres is land and 55 460 square kilometres is water. It’s the 5th largest country in the world (both in terms of area and population) and occupies almost half of the entire South American continent. Brasília is the capital. It is also the only Portuguese speaking country in both North and South America continent.
In 1500 Pedro Álvares Cabral, a Portuguese explorer, reached the coast of Brazil, at Porto Seguro, in Bahia, where they met the first tribe ever contacted by Europeans in South America, the Pataxos Indians. With the colonisation, slaves were brought to South America from Africa.
African slaves have been brought to Brazil in large numbers, from the 17th century onwards, to work in the sugar plantations. At the time of independence, in the 1822, the slaves comprise half the population. Therefore, many of the modern-day people of Brazil have African genes too. Brazil is a multicultural country which offspring come from Portuguese settlers, indigenous Indian and African slaves.
The most densely populated parts of Brazil are in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Because of the rapid growth experienced by this country in terms of urban development, industrialisation and population at the beginning of the 21st century, Brazil is facing a number of social, environmental and political challenges. It is because of this growth that Brazil is doing so well in terms of its economy. In fact, it is one of the world’s largest and most significant economies. Its currency is the Brazilian Real.
Brazil is also a natural beauty, it boasts a rich array of fauna and flora like dense rain forests and jungles, expanses of coastline, towering mountains, oceanic archipelagos, rivers, coral reefs, scrublands and rolling plains and is the home to about four million different species.
In terms of the local culture, Brazil continues to be influenced by the traditions and customs of the Portuguese. This is evident in the architecture, music, literature, cuisine, dance, religion and theatre of the country.
