Greetings, everyone!

My name is Bryan Rojas and I would like to take a few minutes today to talk about
Brazil.

When we talk about this country, a lot of people instantly think about soccer
matches, the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, and the Amazon. However, there is a lot
more to Brazil than this.

According to the CIA World Factbook, the Federative Republic of Brazil is the largest
country in Latin America by population and land mass, the fifth most populous
country in the world, and the eighth largest economy in the world by GDP
(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html)

Considering that country is very much an emerging power on the world stage, it
would do us all a service to learn a little more about it.

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Geographically, Brazil is a very complex and resource rich country.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Brazil, with an area compromising roughly

3.3 million square miles and coastline that stretches more than 4600 miles, is one of
South America’s most ecological diverse countries. Its northern region contains the
Guiana Highlands, a steep mountainous terrain; its central and western region is
home to the Amazon Rainforest and River Basin, marshy wetlands and tropical
rainforests that are the worlds largest source of tropical biodiversity; the eastern and
southern region contains the Brazilian Highlands, this is where the majority of the
Brazilian population live and contains mountains, plateaus, ravines, and coastal
lowlands on the very edges (https://www.britannica.com/place/Brazil#ref25058).

In addition, due to its large size on the South American continent, Brazil borders every
country in South America except Chile and Ecuador. Also, due to this geographic
diversity, Brazil is a resource rich country; the Brazilian Highlands contain much of the
country’s mineral wealth while the Guiana Highlands and Amazon regions are rich in
fertile soil, cash crops, lumber, and oil reserves according to the Encyclopedia
Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/place/Brazil/The-economy#ref25090).

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Demographically, Brazil can boast it has a population that is quite large, racially
diverse, and very urbanized.

According to the CIA World Factbook, Brazil’s population was roughly 209 million in
July of 2018. Additionally the country is very racially mixed; based on 2010
estimations, 47% of Brazilians identified as white, 43% as Mixed or Pardo, 7% as Black
or Afro-Brazilian, 1% as Asian, and less than 1% identified as Indigenous or Native
Brazilians. Additionally, due to their colonization by the Portuguese, Brazil is a
Christian majority country; based on 2010 estimates, 64% of Brazilians identify as
Catholic, 22% as protestant, 2% as Spiritualists, less than 1% practice some other
religion, and 8% identify with no religion.

Additionally, being that Brazil is the only Portuguese speaking country in Latin
America, Portuguese is the most spoken and official language of the country and a
source of national pride. Some of the minor languages that are spoken in Brazil are
Spanish (mostly taught as a second language in schools or along border towns),
English (also mostly taught in schools as a second language), German, Italian, and a
number of indigenous languages (usually among immigrant communities and
indigenous tribes in the Amazon).

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Also, Brazil is a very urban country with 86% of its residents living in Atlantic coastal
cities like Sao Paulo (the most populous city in the country), Rio de Janeiro, Belo
Horizante, and Brasilia (the capital of the country).

(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html)

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Economically, Brazil is an emerging market that is quickly becoming a key player in
global commerce.

According to the World Bank, the Brazilian economy was around $2 trillion dollars in
2017 with GDP Per Capita standing at around $15,600.. At this time, the economy
was still recovering from the global recession and series of corruption scandals
concerning the President and many national companies slowed real GDP growth to
roughly 1% whilst inflation hovered around 3.5%. Despite the sluggish growth, the
country continues to grow and is still the eighth largest economy in the world
(https://data.worldbank.org/country/brazil?view=chart)

Additionally, the economy continues to grow and diversify as the largest sectors of
the economy are services at 73%, industry and manufacturing at 20%, and agriculture
at 7%. The service sector is experiencing the most growth in tourism, financial
services, and retail. The industrial sector is experiencing the most growth in the
production of textiles, chemicals, iron ore, and motor vehicles. And the agricultural
sector is experiencing the most growth in the production of coffee, soybeans, wheat,
and sugarcane.

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While most of the growth in these sectors is a direct result of the general increase in
national wealth of Brazil that produces more consumers, a large portion of this is also
demand from global markets. In 2017, exports totaled $217 billion whilst imports
totaled $153 billion .

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Unfortunately, like many other Latin American countries, Brazil continues to suffer
from many of the problems that have been historically associated with the region-a
high rate of poverty, gross inequality, and massive corruption. Despite massive
improvements in the last couple decades, the problems persist.

According to the United Nations Development Program, Brazil does rank on the high
side of human development with an HDI of .759 due to their improvements in life
expectancy, education, and healthcare. However, this is mitigated by the fact that the
country’s Gini coefficient stands at 51.3-meaning the country has a high degree of
inequality between the rich and poor
(http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/BRA). It is improving, but it remains of
substantial concern to average citizens.

Additionally, according to the CIA World Factbook, Brazil struggles to fully implement
their labor force as unemployment hovers around 12.8%. This is further worsened by
the fact that one fifth of the country lives below the poverty line and a little over 4%
live in extreme poverty (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-
factbook/geos/br.html). Again, things are improving but very slowly.

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Also, according to Transparency International, Brazil continues to rank as one of the
most corrupt countries in Latin America. As of 2017, the corruption index ranks them
as the 96th out of 180 countries in transparency. The country also has a violent crime
problem as their homicide rate is 29 per 100,000 people, making them one of the
most violent countries in the world in general and in Latin America in particular
(https://www.transparency.org/country/BRA).

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Before the year 1500, Brazil was populated with a large number of Amerindian tribes
that had large variations in their languages, cultures, traditions, and social structures
that caused frequent clashes and large scale military engagements among these
tribes.

On April 22nd, 1500, Pedro Alvares Cabral (whose portrait is shown in this slide)
discovered the land that would become Brazil and declared that territory in the name
of the Portuguese Empire. For the next 322 years, the Portuguese would colonize the
Brazilian territory and set up lucrative commercial enterprises that exploited the
territory’s material wealth for the profit of the Portuguese Empire. Sugarcane, coffee,
tobacco, timber, gold and silver mining, and commercial fishing were all profitable
endeavors that the colonial power pursued; by the 16th century, the Portuguese were
importing African slaves to meet the commercial demands of the empire.

However, by the beginning of the 19th century, the Napoleonic Wars had forced the
Portuguese royal family to move their court to Brazil. This enabled the territory to
become a burgeoning financial and economic power in the world as the court sought
to improve their colony by developing financial institutions, a national bank, and
joint-stock companies. When the Napoleonic Wars ended, however, the other

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European powers demanded the royal family return to Portugal; While most of the
court returned to Portugal to prevent the fragmentation of the empire, some refused
and tensions between Brazil and Portugal quickly formed. In 1822, Prince Pedro de
Alcantara, a member of the royal family who remained in Brazil, declared the territory
independence and declared himself the emperor of the Brazilian Empire
(https://www.britannica.com/place/Brazil/Independence#ref25041).

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After the declaration of independence in 1822, the Brazilian War for Independence
would rage on for 2 years with Portugal formally recognizing the independence in
1825.

The initial years of the Brazilian Empire were tumultuous as the war devastated much
of the country and produced political instability. In 1831, Pedro I abdicated the throne
in order to return to Portugal and deal with political turmoil there. His 5 year old son,
Pedro II, is declared Dom.

Unlike his father, Dom Pedro II (who is pictured in this slide) had a remarkably stable
reign. His reign was defined by a period of political stability as he presided over a
functioning parliamentary democracy that led 3 successful military campaigns,
experienced steady economic growth, and had a profound respect for civil liberties.

Unfortunately, Dom Pedro II did make political enemies. A small group of landed
elites and military officers decided to depose him and on November 15 th 1889, a
military coup successfully overthrew the Dom at the height of his popularity and
established a republic (https://www.britannica.com/place/Brazil/The-collapse-of-the-
empire).

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The early Republic of Brazil was a republic in name only. From 1889 to 1930, the
military dominated all of the country’s political and economic matters with only the
façade of a republic.

In 1930, after years of mismanagement and corruption by the republic’s leaders,

Getulio Vargas (who is pictured here), a young military officer, acquired the support
of the military’s rank and file members and average citizens and led a successful
military coup that overthrew the republic. The idea for the coup was to be a
provincial government that would see the democratic transfer of power; however,
upon taking power, Vargas suspended civil liberties, suspended the constitution,
permanently suspended the national assembly, and replaced the assembly with his
own creation that was staffed with supporters.

From 1930 to 1945, Vargas ruled over Brazil through his own military dictatorship
until he was overthrown by his own military because he lost their support. However,
he was popular enough with commoners and poor people in Brazil that he was
elected president in 1950. Though, by 1954, as the country was going through
another period of political instability, Vargas committed suicide
(https://www.britannica.com/place/Brazil/The-Vargas-era).

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After Vargas’s suicide in 1954, the next 10 years were marked by a series of short-
lived elected governments whose grasps on power were tenuous because of political
instability and a military prone to revolt.

In 1964, with help from the United State’s Central Intelligence Agency, another
military coup led by Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco (pictured here) successfully
established a military government that would last until 1985. The military
government would become notorious across the world as one of Latin America’s
most brutal dictatorships, responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands and
implementing Operation Condor-a US sponsored campaign of terror and political
suppression that targeted communists and left-wing activists. Despite the rampant
human rights abuses, the regime reached its most popular period in the 1970s for
their development of the Brazilian Miracle-a period of extensive economic growth
that set the foundation of the modern Brazilian economy. To this day, some look at
this period with a certain degree of fondness and justification for the regime.

By the early 1980s, decades of human rights abuses and repressive government
policies, soured the people against the regime. By 1985, popular demonstrations
forced the regime to end its rule and reintroduce democratic practices to Brazil. Since

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1985, the country is experiencing its second longest period of democratic traditions
that has seen the democratic transfer of power between ruling parties and
opposition parties. However, many of these democratically elected politicians have
been ruined by allegations and charges of corruption. Brazil’s last two presidents, Luis
Lula De Silva and Dilma Rouseff, were both impeached because of corruption charges
and Lula De Silva currently serving a prison term for money laundering and corruption
(https://www.britannica.com/place/Brazil/Brazil-since-1990)

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On January 1st 2019, Jair Bolsonaro was inaugurated into office as Brazil’s 38th
President.
He has gained international infamy for his comments about the LGBT community in
Brazil, his views on women and sexual assault, his hostility towards indigenous
communities and poor people, and his praise for the Military Government
Some see his victory as another example of the rise of far-right politics across the
western world with some calling him the “Donald Trump of South America”.
Others fear his presidency will usher in another period of political instability and
suppression of civil liberties.

Unfortunately, only time will tell

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