Brazil is a federal republic. The country is located in South America and covers more than 8 million square kilometers. Almost 205 million inhabitants live in the country. The state ranks sixth among other countries in terms of population. The capital is called Brasilia. The monetary unit is real.
Geography and nature
The country is located in two natural areas:
- tropics;
- forest plains of the Amazon.
About 4 thousand species of vegetation are found in equatorial forests. There are many representatives of the fauna in the country: ocelots, monkeys, sloths, jaguars, and many reptiles, birds.
There are many inland waters in the state, these are the Amazon, Parana, Uruguay. In the northeastern or eastern part of the country are shorter rivers that flow into the Atlantic Ocean.
Climate
Brazil is known for its hot climate. On average, the temperature ranges from +16 to +29 degrees. Frosts can occur exclusively in the eastern mountain ranges.
In the center of the country (Brazilian plateau), there is a subequatorial climate, where the temperature can rise to +50 degrees. In the east, the climate is tropical, with a little dry seasons.
Population
The country's population is predominantly a mixture of Portuguese and European immigrants who mixed with local Aborigines. This is approximately 95% of the total population. The country is predominantly white-skinned - 54%, mulattos are slightly less - 38.5%, and blacks no more than 6%.
The official language is Portuguese. Most of the population professes the Catholic faith - 72%, although not a single faith is officially recognized. But the rest of the inhabitants, especially the ancestors of which fell into these lands as slaves, are Protestants or have preserved their African cults.
Brazil has a lot of young people, more than half of the population is represented by people under the age of 20 years. Persons who have crossed the age of 50 are only 10%.
Administrative and state structure
Brazil is represented by a federal model. The state has 26 states and 1 metropolitan area. The country is also divided into five regions.
Management functions are assigned to the governor of the state, who is elected by direct voting. The states have fairly broad powers, they even have their own legislative council. Such councils carry out their functions autonomously and are not dependent on the federal government.
According to the Brazilian government, there are municipalities in the states that are headed by mayors. In turn, municipalities operate autonomously and are independent of either state or federal government. Some municipalities are constituencies, but they do not have such broad powers and are completely dependent on local authorities.
History reference
Brazil has been moving towards a modern state system for more than a century. Before the conquest of these territories by the Portuguese, primitive tribes lived here. Conquistadors acted rather harshly with the local population, destroying most of the tribes. All this happened in the 16th century.
The struggle for liberation began in 1822, when the country was proclaimed an independent empire. After 7 years, the country became a federal republic. However, all these changes still badly affected the local population, slavery persisted until 1888, and the extermination of local tribes lasted until the 30s of the last century.
Since the end of the XIX century, the United States has strengthened its influence in the country, and during the Second World War, Germany began to intervene in politics. And all this is connected with the extraction and refining of oil. In turn, the government is resisting. The result is a military coup. The military held power from 1964 to 1985.
In 1993, a referendum was held in the country, and people voted for a federal presidential republic.
The basic Law
The latest edition of the fundamental law of any country was adopted in 1988. This is the eighth constitution. It took about 3 years to develop the guidelines.
It all started after the military dictatorship, which lasted about 20 years in the country. The country demanded global political change. In 1985, then acting president Jose Sarney created a whole commission that worked in eight directions, with the creation of special subcommissions. In general, before the adoption of the Brazilian Constitution, more than 50 thousand amendments and proposals were considered.
The modern fundamental law has 250 articles, divided into 9 sections and the preamble.
The basic law is a reflection of the state-political structure of Brazil. Amendments require a minimum of one third of the members of the Chamber of Deputies. The largest number of amendments made in 2011. There were 67 of them, they concerned the reduction of the term of the guarantor of the country (the term was reduced from 8 to 4 years), the reduction of the Petrobras monopoly, and so on.
An interesting fact is that at the level of the Constitution, the right to free travel for all residents of the country who have reached the age of 65 is enshrined. The text of the Constitution even contains a separate chapter on the Indians, where they recognize their original rights to land, the right to traditions and customs, and social organization are preserved.
Head of state
Since January 1, 2019, the presidency has been held by Jair Bolsonaru. He was born in 1955, was married three times and has five children. An interesting fact is that Jair arranged his third wife as a secretary while working in Congress. During her work, he tripled her salary and raised her position. However, after the accusation of the illegality of nepotism, Michelle was fired.
Jair Bolsonaru, a former military man, graduated from the Military Academy in 1977 and retired after 17 years of service. During the military regime, he served as an artilleryman and paratrooper, after which he began to actively engage in politics. By the way, he is an ardent supporter of the military dictatorship.
Jair held the post of deputy in the National Parliament 8 times. Despite a long career in politics, he changed several parties, was a member of the Social-Christian Party, the Progressive Party and so on.
The main slogan of the current president’s election campaign is “Brazil above all, and the Lord above all.” In the first round, 46.06% of the population voted for Jair; in the second round, he wrested a victory from Fernando Addadom.
The second person of the state
An interesting fact is that the President and Vice President of Brazil register together for the elections, which are held simultaneously. The vice president is the second most important person in the country. If the president cannot perform his functions for any reason, then he will be replaced by the vice president.
The inauguration of both officials takes place simultaneously. Today, Antonio Hamilton Moarau is the Vice President.
Legislature
The National Congress of Brazil consists of two houses:
- Upper, or Federal Senate;
- Lower, or the Chamber of Deputies.
In the first chamber, 81 seats, in the second - 513 deputies.
From each territorial subject, 3 senators are nominated to the Federal Senate. Together with the senator, deputies in the amount of 2 people are immediately elected. The term of office is 8 years.
Deputies of the Lower House are elected for a term of 4 years. Voting is carried out on the basis of a majoritarian electoral system, and the seats are allocated depending on the number of people in the village from which representatives of the government are elected. The smaller the settlement, the fewer deputies from it in the Lower House.
There are even age restrictions: a person under the age of 21 cannot become a deputy, and a senator can only become after reaching the age of 35.
The Brazilian state system provides that senators and deputies deal with the following issues:
- draw up development plans;
- exercise control over the distribution and receipt of taxes;
- announce amnesty;
- deal with issues of national borders and so on.
The exclusive competence of the Federal Senate includes the conviction of the first persons of the state: the president, vice president, conducting trials of the Federal Supreme Judge, the Attorney General. The Chamber of Deputies has the right to initiate a process in respect of the head of state and in respect of top officials with further transfer of the case to the Upper Senate.
Economy
Of all the Latin American countries, Brazil has the greatest economic potential. A huge problem of the country is a high degree of economic closure. This is manifested in the fact that the population has low incomes, and the cost of goods is very high, this phenomenon is also called the “Brazilian price”.
In terms of agricultural exports, the country is in third place worldwide. First of all, it is the supply of coffee; Brazil is a leader in the production of this product. Sugarcane, corn, wheat, rice, soybeans are grown in the country. Livestock is developed, but mainly goes to meet the needs of the local population.
The country is rich in minerals, about 40 of their species are mined here. Brazil has huge reserves of manganese and iron ore. Copper, zinc and nickel are mined for domestic consumption. There are also deposits of coal, gold, zirconium, tungsten, mica and so on. Oil is not produced in sufficient quantities, so the country brings 50% of this fuel from abroad.
Some interesting facts about the country
The name of the country in translation means one of the varieties of mahogany. Although previously the state was called as Terra de Santa Cruz, that is, the Land of the Holy Cross.
The Savior statue in Rio de Janeiro is one of the seven wonders of the world.
There are a lot of favelas in the country - these are the poorest areas that are formed around large cities. Policemen who are considered the most severe and harsh among law enforcement agencies of other countries are even afraid to go to such places.
And, of course, Brazil is associated with football. More than 75% of the total population of the state of both sexes is interested in football. And the national team participated absolutely in all world championships and won 5 times.