Brazilian Federal District
Encyclopedia
The Federal District is set apart for Brasília
, the capital of Brazil
. Located in a region called Planalto Central, or Central Plateau, the Federal District is divided in 29 administrative regions. Brasilia - place where the three branches of the Federal Government are located - is the main attraction of this dry area and climate
with only two seasons. During the dry
season (winter), the humidity
can reach critical levels, mainly in the peak hours of the hottest days. The artificial lake
of Paranoá, with almost 40 km² (15.4 sq mi) and 500000000 cubic metre of water, was built exactly to minimize the severe dry climatic conditions of winter in the cerrado—savannah-like vegetation. Besides businessmen and politicians, the region also attracts mystics and there are several syncretic or spiritualistic temple
s mainly near nature here.
to Brasília on April 21, 1960, which was then split off from Goiás
(major part) and Minas Gerais
. After the transfer, the municipality of Rio de Janeiro became the Estado da Guanabara
(State of Guanabara), which existed from 1960 until 1975 when the State of Guanabara and the State of Rio de Janeiro merged and assumed the name of Rio de Janeiro
State, having as capital the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Originally, the majority of the population consisted of "Candango" workers from other states who built the capital and federal government employees who were transferred to the new capital. The capital is a thoroughly planned city with designated areas for residence, businesses, schools, churches, etc. No streets have names, but are identified instead by letters and numbers arranged in a geographical system according to blocs (Q-Quadras) and sectors (S-Setor e.g.: SB - Setor Bancario or "Bank Section"). Originally built for up to one million inhabitants, the city now has more than twice that number. Due to its complex organization, the growth of the city itself has been slow. This has forced many to settle in neighboring cities around Brasília, which now house a significant percentage of the whole population.
of 2007, there were 2,393,000 people residing in the Brazilian Federal District. The population density was 410.9 PD/km2.
The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 1,253,000 Brown (Multiracial) people (49.60%), 1,045,000 White
people (41.37%), 206,000 Black
people (8.14%), 11,000 Asian
people (0.44%), 8,000 Amerindian
people (0.33%).
The "Parque da Cidade"
Located in Brasília, the "Parque da Cidade" ("City Park"), which is named after the wife of Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek, extends over four million square meters. It includes landscape works of Burle Marx, and wall tiles that decorate restrooms in the Park designed by Athos Bulcão. Equipped with sport
s courts, a horse
track, a racing kart track, skate
tracks, playgrounds for child
ren, bicycle
tracks and trails for walks and jogging, the City Park attracts hundreds of people everyday, specially on weekends. The Park
's main entrance is located in the Monumental Axle South, but there are secondary exits that lead to other areas in the city's South Wing.
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasilia
Designed by Oscar Niemeyer
, it was inaugurated in 1970. Its shape is circular horizontally and structured around 16 curved pillars, forming a crown filled with futuristic and/or spatial stained-glass works in a triangular shape. The pillars evoke reversed praying hands that deconstruct the gothic traditional church window pattern, but conserves the triangular vaginal shape of the stained-glasses. The curves present in many of Niemeyer's works pay homage to the beautifully-built bodies of Brazilian women.
The stained-glasses were designed by Marianne Peretti. Their disposition ensures natural lighting into the aisle, which was built below street level. Around the church, in the outside area, visitors can see Alfredo Ceschiatti's sculptures – the four evangelists – and inside, suspended angels. There are also paintings by Di Cavalcanti, representing the stages of the Passion of Christ
, and paintings by Athos Bulcão. The Cathedral is located in the Eixo Monumental mall, at the entry to the Esplanada dos Ministerios, or Ministries Sector.
The "Three Powers Square"
Praça dos Três Poderes concentrates some of the most important and significant building
s in the work and career of Oscar Niemeyer
– the Planalto Palace, headquarters of Brazilian Presidency; the National Congress, hosting the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate; and the Higher Courts of Justice. The Square also hosts: the "Panteão da Pátria" (the Motherland Pantheon), the Lúcio Costa Space and three important sculptures – "Pombal", by Niemeyer; "Justice
", by Alfredo Ceschiatti; and "Os Candangos", by Bruno Giorgi. In the central plaza, a giant Brazilian national flag 286 square metres (3,078.5 sq ft) is supported by a triangular black 100 metres (328.1 ft) and high pole. It is located at the end of the Esplanada dos Ministerios.
represents 0.4% of GDP (2004). Brazilian Federal District exports: soybean
77.1% and gold
16.4% (2002). The Brazilian Federal District's share of the Brazilian economy is 3.7% as of 2005.
is the third largest in Brazil
in terms of passenger movement. Because of its strategic location it is considered a civil aviation hub for the rest of the country. This makes for a large number of takeoffs and landings and it is not unusual for flights to have to wait in the holding pattern to land. Following the airport
's master plan, Infraero
built a second runway in 2005. In 2003, the fourth phase of the passenger terminal expansion was completed. It raised its capacity to 7.4 million passengers a year. The third floor of the main building, with 12 thousand square meters, has a panoramic deck, a food court
, shops
, four movie theater
s with total capacity of 500 people, and space for exhibitions. There are a total of 136 shop spots at the Brasília Airport.
Brasília's Subway is the rail system of Distrito Federal. It is operated by Metrô-DF (Companhia do Metropolitano do Distrito Federal). and opened in 2001. The system has ten stations on two lines in operation from 6:00 AM to 11:30 PM, Monday through Friday. It covers most of the metropolitan area. Its main problem is the sheer distance between stations, making it a small component in the Federal District transit system, where a dysfunctional bus network is still predominant. The city of Águas Claras is well-served by the subway, making it one of the fastest-growing areas in Brasilia.
Brasília
is known as a departing point for the practice of free flying sport
s, a sport that may be practiced with Hang Gliding or Paragliding wings. Practitioners of such sports reveal that, because of the city's dry weather, the city offers strong thermal winds and great "cloud-streets" – which is also the name for a manoeuvre quite appreciated by practitioners. The national capital hosted the 14th Hang Gliding World Championship – one of the categories of free flying – in 2003. In August 2005, it hosted the 2nd stage of the Brazilian Hang Gliding Championship.
Brasília is one of the 12 cities to host games of the 2014 FIFA World Cup
, to take place in the country.
The white background of the flag stands for peace, and gives the idea of infinity, or the vast Brazilian territory. The green and yellow colours in the middle refer to the most commonly used of the four colours of the national flag to represent Brazil. The four yellow arrows symbolize the native nations of Brazil, whereas their pointing into the four cardinal directions of the compass stands for the centralized emanating political power of Brasilia, as the capital of the country. The yellow arrows also form a cross, which symbolizes both the Southern Cross, a constellation seen only in the Southern Hemisphere and the Roman Catholic or Christian symbol of redemption brought by Pedro Álvares Cabral
and under whose shadow the first Mass in Brazil was celebrated in 1500 in Bahia. With their feathers, the arrows form a lozange in the middle, a reference to yellow lozange of the national flag, that stands for Brazil's mineral riches.
The flag was created by the poet and herald Guilherme de Almeida
, and was adopted by decree n.o 1090 on August 25, 1969.
The highest judicial
body is the Supreme Tribunal of Justice.
Brasília
Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. 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 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...
, the capital of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , 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 with over 192 million people...
. Located in a region called Planalto Central, or Central Plateau, the Federal District is divided in 29 administrative regions. Brasilia - place where the three branches of the Federal Government are located - is the main attraction of this dry area and climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
with only two seasons. During the dry
Dry
Dry or dryness may refer to:* Lack of water* Prohibiting alcohol * Dryness , the lack of sugar in a drink, especially an alcoholic one * Dryness * Dryness...
season (winter), the humidity
Humidity
Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...
can reach critical levels, mainly in the peak hours of the hottest days. The artificial lake
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
of Paranoá, with almost 40 km² (15.4 sq mi) and 500000000 cubic metre of water, was built exactly to minimize the severe dry climatic conditions of winter in the cerrado—savannah-like vegetation. Besides businessmen and politicians, the region also attracts mystics and there are several syncretic or spiritualistic temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
s mainly near nature here.
History
The civil government was transferred from Rio de Janeiro's Catete PalaceCatete Palace
The Catete Palace is an urban mansion in Rio de Janeiro's Flamengo neighborhood. The property stretches from Rua do Catete to Praia do Flamengo. From 1894 to 1960, it was Brazil's presidential palace and the site of Getulio Vargas' suicide. It now houses the Museu da República and a theatre...
to Brasília on April 21, 1960, which was then split off from Goiás
Goiás
Goiás is a state of Brazil, located in the central part of the country. The name Goiás comes from the name of an indigenous community...
(major part) and Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
. After the transfer, the municipality of Rio de Janeiro became the Estado da Guanabara
Guanabara State
The State of Guanabara was a former Brazilian state that existed from 1960 to 1975. It comprised the city of Rio de Janeiro, after the national capital was moved to Brasília in 1960...
(State of Guanabara), which existed from 1960 until 1975 when the State of Guanabara and the State of Rio de Janeiro merged and assumed the name of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro (state)
Rio de Janeiro is one of the 27 states of Brazil.Rio de Janeiro has the second largest economy of Brazil behind only São Paulo state.The state of Rio de Janeiro is located within the Brazilian geopolitical region classified as the Southeast...
State, having as capital the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Originally, the majority of the population consisted of "Candango" workers from other states who built the capital and federal government employees who were transferred to the new capital. The capital is a thoroughly planned city with designated areas for residence, businesses, schools, churches, etc. No streets have names, but are identified instead by letters and numbers arranged in a geographical system according to blocs (Q-Quadras) and sectors (S-Setor e.g.: SB - Setor Bancario or "Bank Section"). Originally built for up to one million inhabitants, the city now has more than twice that number. Due to its complex organization, the growth of the city itself has been slow. This has forced many to settle in neighboring cities around Brasília, which now house a significant percentage of the whole population.
Demographics
According to the IBGEIBGE
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics or IBGE , is the agency responsible for statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil...
of 2007, there were 2,393,000 people residing in the Brazilian Federal District. The population density was 410.9 PD/km2.
- UrbanizationUrbanizationUrbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....
: 94% (2006) - Population growthPopulation growthPopulation growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement....
: 2.8% (1991–2000) - HouseHouseA house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
s: 697,000 (2006).
The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 1,253,000 Brown (Multiracial) people (49.60%), 1,045,000 White
White Brazilian
White Brazilians make up 48.4% of Brazil's population, or around 92 million people, according to the IBGE's 2008 PNAD . Whites are present in the entire territory of Brazil, although the main concentrations are found in the South and Southeastern parts of the country...
people (41.37%), 206,000 Black
Afro-Brazilian
In Brazil, the term "preto" is one of the five categories used by the Brazilian Census, along with "branco" , "pardo" , "amarelo" and "indígena"...
people (8.14%), 11,000 Asian
Asian Brazilian
An Asian Brazilian is is a Brazilian citizen of full or partial Asian ancestry, who remains culturally connected to Asia, or an Asian-born person permanently residing in Brazil. Brazil received many immigrants from Asia, both from Middle East and East Asia...
people (0.44%), 8,000 Amerindian
Indigenous peoples in Brazil
The Indigenous peoples in Brazil comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who inhabited the country prior to the European invasion around 1500...
people (0.33%).
Geography
The Brazilian Federal District is more than double the size of: Tokyo (Japan) and island of Maui (Hawaii, USA). It is slightly larger than the French Polynesia, the US State of Rhode Island, and Cape Verde. It is slightly smaller than: Bali (Indonesia) and Trinidad and Tobago.Tourism and recreation
Located in Brasília, the "Parque da Cidade" ("City Park"), which is named after the wife of Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek, extends over four million square meters. It includes landscape works of Burle Marx, and wall tiles that decorate restrooms in the Park designed by Athos Bulcão. Equipped with sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
s courts, a horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
track, a racing kart track, skate
Skate
Skates are cartilaginous fish belonging to the family Rajidae in the superorder Batoidea of rays. There are more than 200 described species in 27 genera. There are two subfamilies, Rajinae and Arhynchobatinae ....
tracks, playgrounds for child
Child
Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...
ren, bicycle
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
tracks and trails for walks and jogging, the City Park attracts hundreds of people everyday, specially on weekends. The Park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
's main entrance is located in the Monumental Axle South, but there are secondary exits that lead to other areas in the city's South Wing.
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasilia
Designed by Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho is a Brazilian architect specializing in international modern architecture...
, it was inaugurated in 1970. Its shape is circular horizontally and structured around 16 curved pillars, forming a crown filled with futuristic and/or spatial stained-glass works in a triangular shape. The pillars evoke reversed praying hands that deconstruct the gothic traditional church window pattern, but conserves the triangular vaginal shape of the stained-glasses. The curves present in many of Niemeyer's works pay homage to the beautifully-built bodies of Brazilian women.
The stained-glasses were designed by Marianne Peretti. Their disposition ensures natural lighting into the aisle, which was built below street level. Around the church, in the outside area, visitors can see Alfredo Ceschiatti's sculptures – the four evangelists – and inside, suspended angels. There are also paintings by Di Cavalcanti, representing the stages of the Passion of Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
, and paintings by Athos Bulcão. The Cathedral is located in the Eixo Monumental mall, at the entry to the Esplanada dos Ministerios, or Ministries Sector.
The "Three Powers Square"
Praça dos Três Poderes concentrates some of the most important and significant building
Building
In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...
s in the work and career of Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho is a Brazilian architect specializing in international modern architecture...
– the Planalto Palace, headquarters of Brazilian Presidency; the National Congress, hosting the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate; and the Higher Courts of Justice. The Square also hosts: the "Panteão da Pátria" (the Motherland Pantheon), the Lúcio Costa Space and three important sculptures – "Pombal", by Niemeyer; "Justice
Justice
Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...
", by Alfredo Ceschiatti; and "Os Candangos", by Bruno Giorgi. In the central plaza, a giant Brazilian national flag 286 square metres (3,078.5 sq ft) is supported by a triangular black 100 metres (328.1 ft) and high pole. It is located at the end of the Esplanada dos Ministerios.
Infrastructure
- Vehicles: 910,502 (March/2007)
- Mobile phoneMobile phoneA mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
s: 2.7 million (April/2007) - TelephoneTelephoneThe telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
s: 884 thousand (April/2007) - Cities: 1 (2007).
Economy
The service sector is the largest component of GDP at 92.5%, followed by the industrial sector at 7.1%. AgricultureAgriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
represents 0.4% of GDP (2004). Brazilian Federal District exports: soybean
Soybean
The soybean or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses...
77.1% and gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
16.4% (2002). The Brazilian Federal District's share of the Brazilian economy is 3.7% as of 2005.
Educational institutions
- Universidade de Brasília (UnB) (University of Brasília);
- Universidade Católica de BrasíliaUniversidade Católica de BrasíliaThe Universidade Católica de Brasília is a private and non-profit Catholic university, located in Brasília, the federal capital of Brazil. It is one of the largest and most prestigious Brazilian universities...
(UCB) (Catholic University of Brasília); - Centro Universitário de Brasília (UniCEUB);
- Centro Universitário do Distrito Federal (UniDF);
- Centro Universitário Euroamericano (UNIEURO);
- Instituto de Educação Superior de Brasília (IESB);
- União Pioneira da Integração Social (UPIS);
- Universidade Paulista (UniP) (Paulista University)
International Airport
Brasília International AirportBrasília International Airport
Brasília-Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport is the airport serving Brasília, Brazil. Since April 22, 1999 the airport is named after Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira , the 21st President of Brazil....
is the third largest in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , 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 with over 192 million people...
in terms of passenger movement. Because of its strategic location it is considered a civil aviation hub for the rest of the country. This makes for a large number of takeoffs and landings and it is not unusual for flights to have to wait in the holding pattern to land. Following the airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
's master plan, Infraero
Infraero
Empresa Brasileira de Infraestrutura Aeroportuária, Infraero in short, is a Brazilian government corporation created in 1972 and responsible for operating the main Brazilian commercial airports. In 2009, Infraero's airports carried 128,135,616 passengers and 1,114,754 tons of cargo and operated...
built a second runway in 2005. In 2003, the fourth phase of the passenger terminal expansion was completed. It raised its capacity to 7.4 million passengers a year. The third floor of the main building, with 12 thousand square meters, has a panoramic deck, a food court
Food court
A food court is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dining. Food courts may be found in shopping malls and airports, and in various regions may be a standalone development...
, shops
Retailing
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
, four movie theater
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
s with total capacity of 500 people, and space for exhibitions. There are a total of 136 shop spots at the Brasília Airport.
Subway
Sports
Free FlyingBrasília
Brasília
Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. 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 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...
is known as a departing point for the practice of free flying sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
s, a sport that may be practiced with Hang Gliding or Paragliding wings. Practitioners of such sports reveal that, because of the city's dry weather, the city offers strong thermal winds and great "cloud-streets" – which is also the name for a manoeuvre quite appreciated by practitioners. The national capital hosted the 14th Hang Gliding World Championship – one of the categories of free flying – in 2003. In August 2005, it hosted the 2nd stage of the Brazilian Hang Gliding Championship.
Brasília is one of the 12 cities to host games of the 2014 FIFA World Cup
2014 FIFA World Cup
The 2014 FIFA World Cup will be the 20th FIFA World Cup, an international association football tournament that will take place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014....
, to take place in the country.
Flag
Pedro Álvares Cabral
Pedro Álvares Cabral was a Portuguese noble, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the discoverer of Brazil. Cabral conducted the first substantial exploration of the northeast coast of South America and claimed it for Portugal. While details of Cabral's early life are sketchy, it...
and under whose shadow the first Mass in Brazil was celebrated in 1500 in Bahia. With their feathers, the arrows form a lozange in the middle, a reference to yellow lozange of the national flag, that stands for Brazil's mineral riches.
The flag was created by the poet and herald Guilherme de Almeida
Guilherme de Almeida
Guilherme de Andrade e Almeida was a lawyer, journalist, film critic, poet, essayist and Brazilian translator...
, and was adopted by decree n.o 1090 on August 25, 1969.
Voting rights
Residents of the Federal District elect eight representatives to the Chamber of Deputies and three senators.Judicial system
Judiciary
The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
body is the Supreme Tribunal of Justice.