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 km², 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.

 

 

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.