Brazil and Ceará info

Brazil is the largest and most populous country in Latin America, and the fifth largest in the world in both area and population.

Brazil was colonized by Portugal in 1500 and has been a sovereign nation since 1822. Tropical climate is predominant. In the south of the country, subtropical climate prevails. It is home to varied fauna and flora and extensive natural resources.
Brazil is characterized by the extensive low-lying Amazon Rainforest in the north and a more open terrain of hills and low mountains to the south — home to most of the Brazilian population and its agricultural base. Along the Atlantic coast are also found several mountain ranges, reaching roughly 2,900 metres (9,500 ft) high.

Brazil's immense area is subdivided into different ecosystems, which together sustain some of the world's greatest biodiversity. 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 interesting plants and animals.

Catholicism is the predominant religion, though Protestant communities have experienced significant growth in the last decades. Brazil has the largest Roman Catholic population in the world. 





The European immigration to Brazil started in the sixteenth century, the vast majority of them coming from Portugal. The original Amerindian population of Brazil (between three and five million) has in large part been exterminated or assimilated into the Portuguese population. The Mamelucos (or Caboclos, multiple-race between Whites and Indians) have always been present in many parts of Brazil.

Another important ethnic group, Africans, first arrived as slaves. At first many came from Guinea, although by the end of the eighteenth century many had been taken from Angola and Mozambique (or, in Bahia, from Nigeria).



Culture

The core culture of Brazil is rooted in the culture of Portugal. The Portuguese colonists and immigrants brought the Roman Catholic faith, the Portuguese language and many traditions and customs that still influence the modern-day Brazilian culture.
As a multiracial country, its culture also absorbed other influences. The Amerindian peoples influenced Brazil's language and cuisine and the Africans, brought as slaves, largely influenced Brazil's music, dance, cuisine, religion and language. The Yoruba traditions, from nowadays Southwest Nigeria had made its way strongly into Afro-Brazilian religion and into Brazilian religiousness as a whole. Ancient Yoruba Orishas (gods) like Shango and Oxum are largely worshipped in Brazil, while samba and capoeira (musical rhythm and martial art, respectively) were originally contributions from the Bantu peoples from Angola.

Italian, German and other European immigrants came in large numbers and their influences are felt closer to the Southeast and South of Brazil.

Brazil is a federation consisting of twenty-six states (26 estados) and one federal district (Distrito Federal), making a total of twenty-seven "federate units". One of them is Ceará.

Ceará
Ceará is located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast and it lies partly upon the northeast slope of the Brazilian Highlands, and partly upon the sandy coastal plain.

The climate is hot and humid on the coast, tempered by the cool trade winds; but in the more elevated, semi-arid regions it is very hot and dry (often above 35ºC), although the nights are cool. However, in the higher ranges (Serra da Ibiapaba, Serra do Araripe and several less larger highlands) the temperatures are colder and vary from about 14ºC to 34ºC. The year is divided into a rainy and dry season, the rains beginning in January to March and lasting until June.

The natural vegetable production includes manigoba or Ceara rubber, carnahuba wax and fibre, caju wine and ipecacuanha. The principal agricultural products were cotton, coffee, sugar, mandioca and tropical fruits. The production of cotton increased largely with the development of cotton manufactures in Brazil.

The state has several tourist attractions but is famous for its eco-tourism capabilities with hundreds of nearly deserted beaches and sand dunes. Ceará has several famous beaches such as Canoa Quebrada, Jericoacoara, Morro Branco, Taíba and Flexeiras.

Besides the famous coast, Ceará has also a big touristical potential in the countryland, with the rainforests and waterfalls of the Highlands (such as Ibiapaba, Araripe, Meruoca and Guaramiranga) and some semi-arid regions which are ideal for tourists who like sports and adventure, especially the city of Quixadá. The city of Santana do Cariri is noted for its great paleonthologic importance, being the place of major searches and discoveries (including a new specie of dinossaur, the Santanaraptor placidus).
Ceará's capital is Fortaleza


Info from Wikipedia.org