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Chapter 12
Brazil
Places you should know
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Caribbean and Central America
– Caribbean Sea
– Yucatan Channel
– Lesser Antilles
– Greater Antilles
– Panama Canal
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Brazil
– Amazon Basin
– Brazilian Highlands
Brazil – Northeast Region
page 234 in book
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The Portuguese built large sugar plantations along the
fertile coastal plain in the 1500’s
– Brazil is one of the world’s major producers of sugar
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Brazil’s early colonists brought more than 3 million
enslaved Africans to do the work on plantations
– Much of the food, religion, and folktales of the area reflect
African heritage
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Inland is the interior plateau – tropical wet and dry
climate
– Often times it goes a year or more with no rain – then is
devastated because the hard soil cannot absorb the rainfall
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Poverty is severe in the area - average life expectancy is
49
Yearly income is a third of what the rest of Brazil lives on
in a year
Brazil – Southeast Region
Brazil’s economic heartland
40% of the population live in the area
The soil is fertile and many crops are grown in the area: cotton,
sugar cane, rice, cacao, and coffee
 Coffee is the largest crop in Brazil
– During the 1800s thousands of people moved to this region
to work on coffee plantations
– Supplies ¼ of the worlds coffee
 Most people live in or near the cities of Sao Palo or Rio de
Janeiro
– Many rural residents that move to the area are uneducated
and have little experience, they end of living in slum
communities call favelas
– There are favelas in every Brazilian city
 Once a year, before lent, a festival called Carnival takes place for
4 days
– There are costumes, dancing, floats, dancing competitions
– The Samba is Brazil’s national dance
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Brazil – Brazilian Highlands Region
North of the southeast region
 Brazil’s capital Brasilia is located in the area
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– For years, Rio de Janiero was the capital of Brazil
– In 1956 in the hopes of boosting development of the
interior and drawing people away from the coastal
cities, the government built a new capital city 600
miles inland
– Officially inaugurated in 1960
– Population of Brazilia is 2,220,000
Brazil – Amazon River Basin
The largest and least explored area of
Brazil
 Receives about 80 inches of rain per year
and temperature about 80 degrees
 Growing season never ends
 Home to thousands of species of plants
and animals
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Amazon River Basin - Natives
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Only 10% of Brazilians live in the area
– Most are Native to the area
– Nearly 200,000 from about 180 different tribes
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The original native population was much larger
(about 2-5 million people)
– Died due to diseases or killed by European settlers
In 1970 the Parakana tribe have 1000 members,
by 1980, after the region was developed, there
were only 300
 Traditional ways of the natives are threatened
due to government regulations, development,
etc.
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Brazil’s
Poor
Most of Brazil’s poorest people
live in the urban favelas or the
rural northeast
Many parents living in the favelas
cannot feed or house their
children
– Many children are homeless and
live on the streets – they look for
menial jobs or beg for coins to
buy food
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Agriculture is very profitable for
Brazil, but only a small portion of
wealthy families own the large
plantations
Most famers practice subsistence
farming
– Some farmers live in the area call
the sertao - there is poor soil,
scarce grazing lands, and
uncertain rainfall – many farmers
cannot afford the farm machines
that would boost productivity
Policies for Growth – industrial base
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Since the 1940’s the Brazilian government has
attempted to grow industry to help Brazil
In the late 40’s and early 50’s the government
built the country’s first steel mill and oil refinery
The government also built a number of
hydroelectric dams to produce power for the
planned industrial expansion
A bank was also made to loan money to people
who wanted to start a new business
Manufacturing started to thrive in the 1950’s
– Automobile, chemical, and steel industries
Policies for Growth – developing
the interior
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Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro were rapidly becoming
overcrowded
The government reorganized a new capital city called
Brasilia, which is 600 miles away from the coast
It is a showplace of shiny glass and gleaming steel
Brasilia represented movement
– There were few roads, except for along the coast
– The government began a road-building project and Brasilia was
at the center
– By the 1970’s the country had thousands of miles of new roads
 Including one that stretched 2700 miles
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To promote settlement in the north the government gave
away land
– New roads and free land grants drew many settlers
– More than 1 million people migrated to the region between 1970
and 1985
Development Successes
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Brazil’s development programs have had great success
Manufacturing now accounts for one third of Brazil’s
gross national product
There was also the development of an alcohol-based fuel
called gasohol (mix of gasoline and ethanol)
– This was done because of the high cost of imported oil in the
1970s
– Made from Brazil’s sugar cane and they no longer import foreign
oil
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More than ¼ of the labor force works in service
industries (hotels, restaurants, retail stores, and
government)
– These jobs usually pay more than agricultural work
Negative Effects
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Poverty has increased in cities
Favelas continue to grow
Along the Amazon, many settlers have tried to farm the
region
– After clearing the region, it is apparent that the thick forest
vegetation was keeping the soil and nutrients from washing
away
– Despite the vegetation the soil was thin and not very fertile
 After a few years of farming and erosion the soil was no longer
usable
 The soil becomes a red clay that is as hard as a brick
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The gradual destruction of the rain forest damaged the
ecology – and threatens to harm and destroy many
species of plants and animals that have not been studied
Brazil’s Future
Brazil has had much progress in the past
half-century
 The nation still has millions of acres of
fertile land outside the Amazon region that
can produce more food and better living
for the people
 The country has a rich culture and fine
climate that can draw tourists
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Colombia
Venezuela
Guyana
Suriname
French Guiana
Ecuador
Peru
Brazil
Bolivia
Paraguay
Chile
Argentina
Uruguay
Galapagos
Islands
Falkland
Islands
South Georgia
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