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Brazil in Focus
This
huge country of amazing complexity and beauty has a
great many surprises in store for the foreigner. For
some, it is the land of relaxation and spontaneity
with football and carnival all year round, whilst
for others it is a country of sun, sand and forest.
It is also a nation with a vigorous economy offering
great opportunities as well as boasting some of the
world�s richest and most luxuriant ecosystems. There
are those who marvel at its size: 8,547,403.5 km�,
almost a continent in itself and the world�s fifth
largest country in area. And there are those who
experience its power of self-expression in music,
architecture, cinema, theatre and the plastic arts.
There are also those who see in Brazil the major
social problems inherited from the past, such as the
high concentration of income and poverty. |
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Brazil has many different aspects. But there is one
aspect that offers the best surprise of all: the
cultural soup formed by the 172 million Brazilians
who make the country just a little European, a
little African, a little Asian and a little
aboriginal, all born in this land that was
"discovered" by the Portuguese in 1500. Perhaps
because it contains a little of the whole world,
there are those who see in it one of its
predominating features: a people who are
particularly welcoming and receptive.
This vast territory, comprising more than 5,000
local authorities and where Portuguese is spoken
from North to South, is the subject of this CD-Rom
and Internet site. Developed under the general
co-ordination of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, it
is an attempt to present the world with the pieces
of an enormous jigsaw puzzle that anyone can put
together any way they wish: the document is a great
panorama showing the construction and political
organization of Brazil - the economy, social
policies, foreign relations, political divisions,
the environment, tourism, art, culture and
communications - brought together for the first time
in a single medium by means of text, photographs,
maps, music, illustrations, graphics, tables, video
and audio clips.
For the building of this picture, respected
specialists and researchers were invited to write on
selected topics, resulting in a double advantage: on
one hand, original material has been grouped
together on the various subjects, whilst on the
other, it is a document that, although financed by
the Federal Government of Brazil, does not put
forward an official point of view but is the result
of investigations and reflections that are
fundamental to understanding the country.
The communicating of information about Brazil by
means of a CD-Rom and an Internet site has special
significance at this time when the country is going
through a process of constant and wide-reaching
change, sharpening the curiosity and stimulating the
search for information on its most varied aspects.
Certainly, all the issues covered may be considered
in greater depth but the aim here, by using the
seamless technique permitted by this advanced
technology, is for the site to be a gateway for
those who really want to get to know Brazil. This is
an enormous box full of surprises and it is a
pleasure to make it accessible and allow out a
little of what is inside this fascinating country,
which on its course through history has always
awakened the curiosity and interest of the whole
world. |
