Facts about Brazil and Facts about Carnival

This week in Reading, we have been writing about Brazil and the Carnival. We needed to make notes. I found it challenging when you need to research some stuff and add it to your notes. Whatsoever, I found it easy on making the facts/notes.

Facts About Brazil

Official Name: Federal Republic of Brazil

Area:  3,286,470 square miles (8,511,965 square kilometres)

Population: 183, 888, 841

Official Language: Portuguese

Capital: Brasilia

Brazil is the largest country in South America and it’s the fifth largest nation in the world. Brazil is the only country in South America that speaks Portuguese. Brazil covers 3 time zones.

The Brazilian landscape is very varied. It is most well known for its dense forests, including the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, in the north. The Amazon is not one river but a network of many hundreds of waterways. Its total length stretches 6,840km, making it the longest river on Earth. Thousands of species live in the river, including the infamous piranha and the boto, or pink river dolphin.

Brazil is also home to the world’s largest carnival – Rio Carnival

Most Brazilians are descended from three ethnic groups: Amerindians, European settlers (mainly from Portugal) and Africans. Brazilians are crazy about football, and their country has produced some of the most popular players in the world! Brazil has won the FIFA World Cup finals five times, more than any other nation.

Portugal established its first colony in Brazil in 1530. Colonists created sugarcane plantations along the coast and sent diamonds and gold back to Europe. Soon, people from West Africa were brought to Brazil to work as slaves. The discovery of large inland gold reserves brought thousands of people from the coasts and abroad to the interior of the country.

Facts about Carnival

1.  Carnival is celebrated in 50 countries.

2. Carnival means Carne Vale in Italy;

3. Carne=Meat Vale=Farewell (Which you are saying goodbye to meat)

4. It is also held on Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent (Easter).

5. It’s a Christian Celebration

6. You have to give up something you like/love for 40 days.

7. They dance with music & go on & on

8. It is the most important festival in Brazil

9. There is over 2 million people there.

10.Rio Carnival starts on Friday and ends on Wednesday so it lasts for six days

11. People wear masks to hide their face so they won’t be recognized because some people aren’t Catholic. And in many years, this became a tradition

12. There were 1.1M people that went to the Carnival on 2016.