Brazil History
Brazil's recorded history begins with the arrival of the Portuguese in 1500, although it had been discovered and settled by Indians many centuries before. The importation of millions of African slaves over the next four centuries completed the rich blend of European, Indian and African influences that formed modern Brazil and its people. Achieving independence from Portugal in 1822, Brazil's enormous wealth in land and natural resources underpinned a boom-and-bust cycle of economic development that continues to the present day. The eternal "Land of the Future" is still a prisoner of its past, as industrialization turned Brazil into the economic giant of South America, but sharpened social divisions. After a twenty-year interlude of military rule, the civilian "New Republic" has struggled, with some success, against deep-rooted economic crisis and has managed to consolidate democracy. Although social divisions remain, the current economic and political outlook is the best it has been for a generation

Early history
Very little is known about the thousands of years that Brazil was inhabited exclusively by Indians . The first chroniclers who arrived with the Portuguese - Pedro Vaz da Caminha in 1500 and Gaspar Carvajal in 1540 - saw large villages, but nothing resembling the huge Aztec and Inca cities that the Spanish encountered. The fragile material traces left by Brazil's earliest inhabitants have for the most part not survived. The few exceptions - like the exquisitely worked glazed ceramic jars unearthed on Marajó island in the Amazon - come from cultures that have vanished so completely that not even a name records their passing.

The Indians fascinated the Portuguese, and many of the first Europeans to visit Brazil sent lengthy reports back home. The most vivid account was penned by a German mercenary, Hans Staden , who spent three nervous years among the cannibal Tupi after being captured in 1552. He tells how they tied his legs together, "? and I was forced to hop through the huts, at which they made merry, saying ?Here comes our food hopping towards us.'" Understandably, his memoirs were one of the first bestsellers in European history, and contained much accurate description of an Indian culture still largely untouched by the colonists. The work of Staden and the first explorers and missionaries is a brief snapshot of Indian Brazil in the sixteenth century, a blurred photograph of a way of life soon to be horribly transformed.

It was unfortunate that the Portuguese first landed in the only part of Brazil where ritualized cannibalism was practised on a large scale; away from the Tupi areas it was rare. Nowhere was stone used for building. There was no use of metal or the wheel, and no centralized, state-like civilizations on the scale of Spanish America. There are arguments about how large the Indian population was: Carvajal described taking several days to pass through the large towns of the Omagua tribe on the Amazon in 1542 but, away from the abundant food sources on the coast and the banks of large rivers, population densities were much lower. The total number of Indians was probably around five million. Today there are two hundred thousand in Brazil.

Conquest
The Portuguese discovery of Brazil, when Pedro Alvares Cabral landed in southern Bahia on April 23, 1500, was an accident, an episode in Portugal's thrust to found a seaborne empire in the East Indies during the sixteenth century. Cabral was blown off course as he steered far to the west to avoid the African doldrums on his way to Calcutta: after a cursory week exploring the coast he continued to India, where he drowned in a shipwreck a few months later. King Manuel I sent Amerigo Vespucci to explore further in 1501. Reserving the name of the continent for himself, he spent several months sailing along the coast, calendar in hand, baptizing places after the names of saints' days: entering Guanabara Bay on New Year's Day 1502, he called it Rio de Janeiro. The land was called Terra do Brasil, after a tropical redwood that was its first export; the scarlet dye it yielded was called brasa, "a glowing coal".

Portugal, preoccupied with Africa and the lucrative Far East spice trade, neglected this new addition to its empire for the first few decades. Apart from a few lumber camps and scattered stockades, the Portuguese made no attempt at settlement. Consequently, other European countries were not slow to move in, with French and English privateers using the coast as a base to raid the spice ships. Finally, in 1532, João III was provoked into action. He divided up the coastline into sesmarias , captaincies fifty leagues wide and extending indefinitely inland, distributing them to aristocrats and courtiers in return for undertakings to found settlements. It was hardly a roaring success: Pernambuco, where sugar took hold, and São Vicente, gateway to the Jesuit mission station of São Paulo, were the only securely held areas.

Irritated by the lack of progress, King João repossessed the captaincies in 1548 and brought Brazil under direct royal control, sending out the first governor-general, Tomé da Sousa , to the newly designated capital at Salvador in 1549. The first few governors successfully rooted out the European privateers, and - where sugar could grow - wiped out Indian resistance. By the closing decades of the century increasing numbers of Portuguese settlers were flowing in. Slaves began to be imported from the Portuguese outposts on the African coast, as sugar plantations sprang up around Salvador and Olinda. Brazil, no longer seen merely as a possible staging point on the way to the Far East, became an increasingly important piece of the far-flung Portuguese Empire. When Europe's taste for sugar took off in the early seventeenth century, the Northeast of Brazil quickly became very valuable real estate - and a tempting target for the expanding maritime powers of northern Europe, jealous of the Iberian monopoly in the New World. Portuguese Language
Of the languages with a European origin, Portuguese possesses one of the more fascinating histories. Because of the Portuguese naval expeditions in the XV and XVI centuries, the language has become one of the very few spoken across Africa, South Africa, Asia and Europe.

It has been estimated that between 190 and 230 million people speak Portuguese throughout the world. Portuguese is the eighth most spoken language on the planet, and after English and Spanish (or Castilian), the third most spoken language of the West.

Portuguese is the official language of the following eight countries spread across four continents:

• Angola (10.9 million inhabitants)
• Brazil (185 million)
• Cape Verde (415,000)
• East Timor (800,000)
• Guinea-Bissau (1.4 million)
• Mozambique (18.8 million)
• Portugal (10.5 million)
• Sao Tome and Principe (182,000)

Since Portugal joined the organisation in 1986, Portuguese has been one of the official languages of the European Union, or EU (which was formerly known as the European Economic Community, or EEC). Furthermore, in the countries that form a part of Mercosul, although with the exception of Brazil where it is the official language, Portuguese is taught as a foreign language in accordance with the agreement that was signed by the member nations to create the Common Market of Southern Latin America. In 1996, the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (with the acronym of CPLP in Portuguese) was formed with the aim of increasing co-operation and cultural interchange between members, as well as standardising and diffusing the Portuguese language itself.

Average temperatures (°C) and rainfall

The first figure is the average maximum temperature; the second the average minimum ; and the third the average number of rainy days per month.

Getting Around Brazi l
Local travel in Brazil is always easy. Public transport outside of the Amazon is generally by bus or plane, though there are a few passenger trains, too. However you travel, services will be crowded, plentiful and, apart from planes, cheap.

Car rental is also possible, but driving in Brazil is not for the faint-hearted. Some international car rental companies have local agencies and there are quite a few reliable Brazilian ones as well. Hitchhiking, over any distance, is not recommended

Buses
The bus system in Brazil is excellent, as good as anywhere in the Americas, and makes travelling around the country easy, comfortable and economical, despite the distances involved. Intercity buses leave from a station called a Rodoviária , usually built on city outskirts.

Buses are operated by hundreds of private companies, but prices are standardized, even when more than one firm plies the same route, and are very reasonable: Rio to São Paulo is around $20, Rio to Belo Horizonte $35, Rio to Foz do Iguaçu $35, São Paulo to Brasília $50, Recife to Salvador $35 and Fortaleza to Belém $55. Long-distance buses are comfortable enough to sleep in, and have on-board toilets (which can get smelly on long journeys): the lower your seat number, the further away from them you'll be. Buses stop every two or three hours at well-supplied postos, but as prices are high it's not a bad idea to bring along water and some food to last the journey. Some bus companies will supply meal vouchers for use at the postos on long journeys.

There are luxury buses, too, called leitos , which do nocturnal runs between the major cities - worth taking once for the experience, with fully reclining seats in curtained partitions, freshly ironed sheets and an attendant plying insomniacs with coffee and conversation. They cost about a third of the price of an air ticket, and between two and three times as much as a normal long-distance bus; they're also less frequent and need to be booked a few days in advance. No matter what kind of bus, it's a good idea to have a light sweater or blanket during night journeys as the air-conditioning is always uncomfortably cold.
Planes
It's hardly surprising that a country the size of Brazil relies on air travel a good deal; in some parts of Amazonia air links are more important than either the roads or rivers. Any town has at least an airstrip, and all cities have airports, usually some distance from the city but not always: Santos Dumont in Rio, Guarulhos in São Paulo and Guararapes in Recife are all pretty central. The main domestic carriers are VASP ( www.vasp.com.br), Varig ( www.varig.com.br), Transbrasil ( www.transbrasil.com.br) and TAM ( www.tam.com.br); important regional airlines include the Varig subsidiaries RioSul (mainly serving the south) and RioNordeste (covering the Amazon region), together with Viabrasil , which connects São Paulo with Fortaleza, Natal, João Pessoa and Recife in the Northeast.

Flying to the Northeast or Amazonia from southern Brazil can be tiresome, as many of these long-distance routes are no more than glorified bus runs, stopping everywhere before heading north again. In planning your itinerary, it's a good idea to check carefully how many times a plane stops - for example, between São Paulo and Fortaleza a flight may stop as many as four times or as few as one. On scheduled domestic flights you should check in an hour before take-off, but expect delays if the plane you're catching is arriving from elsewhere.

A word of warning : in many parts of Amazonia air travel in small planes, or aerotaxis , is very common - the regional word for these flights is teco-teco. Before taking one, you should be aware that the airstrips are often dangerous, the planes routinely fly overloaded and are not reliably maintained, and no checks are made on the qualifications of pilots - some don't have any.

Trains, ferries and boats
You probably won't be taking many trains in Brazil. Although there's an extensive rail network, much of it is for cargo only, and even where there are passenger trains they're almost invariably slower and less convenient than the buses. Exceptions are a few tourist journeys worth making for themselves, in the South and Minas Gerais especially.

Water travel and ferries are also important forms of transport in parts of Brazil. Specific details are included in the relevant parts of the Guide, but look out for the ferry to Niterói, without which no journey to Rio would be complete; Salvador , where there are regular services to islands and towns in the huge bay on which the city is built; in the South between the islands of the Bay of Paranaguá and most of all in Amazonia.

City transport
Shoals of local buses clog city streets: you enter at the back - where route details are posted - and move through a turnstile as you pay your fare. Fares are all flat-rate, and rarely more than 50¢. Buses often get unbelievably crowded, and in large cities are favourite targets for pickpockets. It's safer to go immediately through the turnstile even when there are seats at the rear, as assaltantes prefer the backs of buses where they can make a quick getaway through the rear door. There are also good modern metrô systems in Rio, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre and Recife. Again, they're cheap and efficient, and they're also relatively safe - but, since they weren't built with tourism in mind, their routes are not always the most useful.


Driving and car rental
Driving standards in Brazil hover between the abysmal and the appalling. Brazil has one of the highest death tolls from driving-related accidents in the world, and on any journey you can see why, with thundering trucks and drivers treating the road as if it were a Grand Prix racetrack. City driving would make even an Italian blanch, and takes a lot of getting used to. Fortunately, inter-city bus drivers are the exception to the rule: they are usually very good, and many buses have devices fitted that make it impossible for them to exceed the speed limit.

Road quality varies according to region: the South and Southeast have a good paved network; the Northeast has a good network on the coast but is poor in the interior; and roads in Amazonia are by far the worst, with even major highways closed for weeks or months at a time as they are washed away by the rains. Around half of Brazilian cars now run on álcool - a mixture of petroleum-based fuel and alcohol - which is half the price of gasolina, but which works less efficiently. Outside of the towns and cities, service stations can be few and far between, so keep a careful eye on the fuel gauge. Service stations do not accept international credit cards, so make sure you always have sufficient cash.
  Red Tape And Visas
Citizens of most Western European nations, including the UK and Ireland, only need a valid passport and either a return or onward ticket, or evidence of funds to pay for one, to enter Brazil. You fill in an entry card on arrival and get a tourist visa allowing you to stay for ninety days. Australian, New Zealand, US and Canadian citizens need visas in advance, available from Brazilian consulates abroad; a return or onward ticket is usually a requirement.

Do not lose the carbon copy of the entry card the police staple into your passport on arrival, as you may be fined when you leave if you don't present it. A sensible precaution is to photocopy it and also keep a record of your passport number in case it is lost or stolen. If you do lose your passport, report to the Polícia Federal and then obtain a replacement travel document from your nearest consulate. You'll then have to return to the Polícia Federal who will put an endorsement in your passport giving you 72 hours either to return to your original point of entry into Brazil for a replacement entry card or to leave the country altogether. So, for example, if you lose your documents in Rio and entered Brazil here, the formalities don't present too much of a problem. However, you may be hundreds of kilometres from your point of entry and far from a land border, in which case you'll have to decide whether to remain in Brazil illegally or leave the country earlier than planned.

A tourist visa can be extended for another ninety days if you apply at least fifteen days before it expires, but it will only be extended once; if you want to stay longer you'll have to leave the country and re-enter. There's nothing in the rule book to stop you re-entering immediately, but it's advisable to wait at least a day. For anything to do with visas you deal with the federal police, the Polícia Federal. Every state capital has a federal police station with a visa section: ask for the delegacia federal. A $10 charge, payable in local currency, is made on tourist visa extensions.

Consulates
Foreign countries are represented at embassy level in Brasília and most also maintain consulates in Rio and São Paulo. Elsewhere in this vast country, consulates, vice-consulates or honorary consulates are found in many major cities, from Manaus to Porto Alegre. Levels of service will vary depending on the nature of the particular post, but at the very least you can count on some immediate advice. Addresses and telephone numbers of embassies and consulates can be found in the "Listings" section of the cities in the guide. Where their country doesn't have a representative, a Commonwealth national can seek help at a British mission, and a European Union citizen at another EU mission.

Longer stays: Academic visits
Academic visitors and researchers making a short trip or attending a conference are best advised to enter on a tourist visa, which cuts down on the bureaucracy. If you're staying for a longer period, or intend to do research, you need to get a special visa, known as an " Item IV " before you leave home. To obtain this, you'll need to present a letter from a Brazilian institution of higher education saying it knows about, and approves, your research, and you will be formally affiliated to the institution while you do it. Visas are issued for six months, a year or two years; if in any doubt about exactly how long you're going to stay, apply for the two-year visa. One-year visas can be extended for a further year inside Brazil, but only after months of chasing up the police, and often involving a trip to the Ministry of Justice in Brasília.
  Communications in Brazil
Postal services within Brazil are cheap, though sending airmail abroad is expensive. The phone network, too, is impressive, especially considering the size of the country: public phones are everywhere, most places can be dialled direct and rates are low. Brazil is fast hooking up to the Internet, and you'll come across cybercafés and Internet cabins in the most unlikely of small towns


Post offices and letters
A post office is called a correio : they have bright yellow postboxes and signs. An imposing Correios e Telégrafos building will always be found in the centre of a city of any size, and from here you can send telegrams as well; but there are also small offices and kiosks scattered around which only deal with mail. Because post offices in Brazil deal with other things besides post, queues are often a problem. Save time by using a franking machine for stamps; the lines move much more quickly. Stamps ( selos) are most commonly simply available in two varieties - either for mailing within Brazil or abroad. A foreign postage stamp costs around 60¢ for either a postcard or a letter up to 10 grammes. It is very expensive to send parcels abroad - if you plan to cross into Paraguay consider sending packages from there, as it has much lower postal rates.

Mail within Brazil takes three or four days, longer in the North and Northeast, while airmail letters to Europe and North America usually take about a week or sometimes even less. Surface mail takes about a month to North America, and three to Europe. Although the postal system is generally very reliable, it is not advisable to send valuables through the mail.