*SUPER long post ahead!*
Brazil (pronounced /brəˈzɪl/ (
listen), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population. It is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas and the largest lusophone country in the world.
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The Brazilian economy is the world's eighth largest economy by nominal GDP and the ninth largest by purchasing power parity. Brazil is one of the world's fastest growing major economies. Brazil is also home to a diversity of wildlife, natural environments, and extensive natural resources in a variety of protected habitats.
About the name:
How the name ‘Brazil’ came about is unclear but it is commonly believed to be derived from the Brazilwood. A species of timber tree that has a dense, orange-red heartwood that takes a high shine. The wood also yields a red dye called brazilin, which oxidizes to brazilein. Historically, this timber is also traded by many sailors in the 15th century.
Due to excessive exploitation in the 18th Century, the Brazilwood species is currently considered an endangered species by IUCN.
The brazilwood is also a prized wood for the making of many string instrument’s bow.
The capital of Brazil is called, Brasilia. that should be easy to remember huh XD?
The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 (3,599,000 in the metropolitan area) as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the fourth largest city in Brazil. It is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Brasília hosts 119 foreign embassies.[1]
Climate
The climate of Brazil comprises a wide range of weather conditions across a large area and varied topography, but most of the country is tropical.
Brazil hosts five major climatic subtypes: equatorial, tropical, semiarid, highland tropical, temperate, and subtropical. The different climatic conditions produce environments ranging from equatorial rainforests in the north and semiarid deserts in the northeast, to temperate coniferous forests in the south and tropical savannas in central Brazil. Many regions have starkly different microclimates.
Its seems like big countries like Brazil and Mexico all enjoyed the benefits of having multiple climates at different parts of its country. Does that mean those who live in the tropical region of Brazil have the habit of running towards the temperate region for summer getaways?
Culture & Food
Brazil has a wide diversity of race and culture. Though according to Wikipedia, the core culture of Brazil is derived from Portuguese culture because of its strong colonial ties with the Portuguese empire.
Among other influences, the Portuguese introduced the Portuguese language, Roman Catholicism and colonial architectural styles. The culture was, however, also strongly influenced by African, indigenous and non-Portuguese European cultures and traditions. Some aspects of Brazilian culture were influenced by the contributions of Italian, German and other European immigrants who arrived in large numbers in the South and Southeast of Brazil. The indigenous Amerindians influenced Brazil's language and cuisine; and the Africans influenced language, cuisine, music, dance and religion.
Brazilian cuisine varies greatly by region, reflecting the country's mix of native and immigrant populations. This has created a national cuisine marked by the preservation of regional differences.
Examples are Feijoada, considered the country's national dish; and regional foods such as vatapá, moqueca, polenta and acarajé. Brazil has a variety of candies such as brigadeiros ("brigadiers") and beijinhos ("kissies").
The national beverage is coffee and cachaça is Brazil's native liquor. Cachaça is distilled from sugar cane and is the main ingredient in the national cocktail, Caipirinha.
Brazil is also very well known for their massive carnivals and festival celebrations. Check out this website for a list of festivals celebrated! The video makes me wanna be right there singing with them!
Also love how insightful yet simple the video explains about the carnival and its relationship with the very people of Brazil.
Amazon Rainforest
A place where all modern humans should know of. Because its a freakin awesome giant.
The Amazon Rainforest also known as Amazonia or Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America. This basin encompasses seven million square kilometers (1.7 billion acres), of which five and a half million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres) are covered by the rainforest.
This region includes territory belonging to nine nations. The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil (60%). The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and it comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world. The Amazon Rainforest accounts for approximately one-tenth of all species in the world.
Of course, the gigantic Amazonian Rainforest is also home to the 2nd largest river in the world; the Amazon river.
Brazil has a dense and complex system of rivers, one of the world's most extensive, with eight major drainage basins, all of which drain into the Atlantic.[Major rivers include the Amazon (the world's second-longest river and the largest in terms of volume of water), the Paraná and its major tributary the Iguaçu (which includes the Iguazu Falls), the Negro, São Francisco, Xingu, Madeira and Tapajós rivers.
A video about how the Amazon river got it’s current name.
The amazingly aggressive gigant waterlilies of teh Amazon. Their growth rate is alarming O_O
Amazon Indigenous tribe.
Flora & Fauna
Brazil is considered to have the greatest biodiversity of any country on the planet. Brazil also has the highest number of both terrestrial [vertebrate]s and invertebrates of any country in the world. The high diversity of fauna can be explained in part by the sheer size of Brazil and the great variation in ecosystems such as Amazon Rainforest, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado.
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It also ranks third on the list of countries with the most number of bird species (1622) and fifth with the most reptile species (468). Brazil is second only to Indonesia as the country with the most endemic species.[3]
Brazil houses many thousands of species, with many (if not most) of them still undiscovered. Due to the relatively explosive economic and demographic rise of the country in the last century, Brazil's ability to protect its environmental habitats has increasingly come under threat. Extensive logging in the nation's forests, particularly the Amazon, both official and unofficial, destroys areas the size of a small country each year, and potentially a diverse variety of plants and animals.
Of course, the Amazon river is also home to the world famous Piranhas, flesh eating fish.
Cosplay
Of course, not forgetting our favourite hobby, Cosplay!
According to Laurie, one of the biggest cosplay conventions in Brazil is Anime friends. Anime Friends is held in São Paulo, Brazil during the month of July. Found a very comprehensive English event report of Anime friends 2010 here !!
I have no qualms about their magnitude. Look at their past list of invited guest!! Masami Okui , Jam Project, Minami Kuribayashi Yoshiki Fukuyami !!!!
and omg omg they got Chihiro Yonekuro as one of their guest celebrities this year. And she performed “Will” from houshin Engi !!!! *fangirl screams*
Photo from Shikinami
And here comes some awesome Cosplay photographs i gathered from the amazing Brazilian-Cosplay DA page
Pokemon by =SuicunOSDH
Android 18 VS Mr. Satan by ~absolutequeen
l
blue dream by *brunolaiho
tatoo by ~pandorynha
Golden light of guidance by ~Piobaireachd
Nordic5 by ~xxsafexbet
www.cosplaybr.com.br
Paths by *OsirisMaru
Me as Lavi Second Uniform by ~LipeMurasame
Riza Hawkeye - Fire Alchemist by ~Nefzinha
love by ~flyaguilera
Usui no aho I by ~TeaMazaki
Red Rose Queen by ~LazAthaska
Demon Lord by ~LazAthaska
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All right, finally I’m coming to my own comments.
I must say, again I am ashamed to have to once again admit, my knowledge of Brazil prior to WWCPJ was just ………
.
.
.
.
…yes, you guessed it. Soccer.
I’m glad I know more about this massive and beautiful country now. I really hope to one day be able to visit the Amazonian Forest myself, and be some David Attenborourgh wannabe xD.
Okay, who am I kidding?! I’ll probably die of car sick before I even reach the jungle, that’s how pathetic I am. On a more realistic note, I do hope to attend Anime Friends one day and jump to the beats of the Anisong concerts! And of course, meet the many awesome cosplayers there!
Much thanks to Laura from Brazil for providing me with links and names about the cosplay/Anime community in Brazil. Also many loves and hugs to Laura for taking part in this project, taking the time and effort to send the parcel out plus giving me a chance to learn more about Brazil. Thanks for reading, I shall end my entry here. Remember to leave a comment =)!
Bibliography
http://travel.ezinemark.com/impressive-tour-around-amazon-river-7736667252cf.html
http://www.braziltour.com/site/en/home/index.php
http://brazilian-cosplays.deviantart.com/
http://www.cosplaybr.com.br/site/
http://www.centralcosplay.com/wordpress/
http://www.youtube.com/user/visitbrasil
http://www.2camels.com/festivals/brazil.php
http://gobrazil.about.com/od/festivalsevents/Festivals_Events_Special_Holidays_in_Brazil.htm