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Brazilia
which is the capital of Brazil since 21st April
1960, and its suburbs has a population of one
million seven hundred thousand inhabitants.
Rio de
Janeiro
relinquished
its title of capital to Brazilia, but remains the
second biggest and splendid town of Brazil with its
6 million inhabitants.
Rio continues to be the capital of the legendary
Brazil of beaches, carnival, football and samba,
and is its cultural centre, its brand image, its
synthesis, its sounding box.
The town oscillates between
luxury and misery, the population is easy going and
full of the joy of living.
Over the last 10 years the
GDP of the State of Rio has quadrupled, the average
salary has tripled, consumption has boomed. 59% of
the population are middle class.
The mayor, Luiz Paulo Condo,
who is an urban architect, has made it safe and
pleasant for the population to be out on the
streets again by cleaning up the centre of the old
town and the public squares, and by improving the
lighting on the beaches of Copacabana and
Ipanema.
The rebirth of the town is attracting crowds of
investors.
Since a few years, thanks to the dynamism of the
new administration, Rio can brag of really having
one of the most beautiful sea fronts in the
world.
Promenades have been re-designed for the comfort of
pedestrians and an amazing cycle lane goes all the
way around the beaches, from Leblon to Flamengo,
passing via Ipanema, Copacabana, Botafogo and up to
the Santos Dumont airport.
During the day the beaches are everybody's meeting
place, with no distinction of age or class. At
night the beaches are lit and people play
volleyball or football.
(see page
Tourism - Carnival)
Sao
Paulo
Is the financial centre of Brazil and boasts 10
million inhabitants. It is the privileged target of
private investors (43% of 1999's industrial
investment ).
It is Brazil's locomotive, the third biggest city
in the world, it is a town of superlatives, here
everything is bigger than anywhere else, the
agglomeration of Sao Paulo has a higher population
than the whole of Chile! Here, people work more,
there is more building going on and more pollution
!
This impossible megapolis is also the most
cosmopolitan agglomeration in Latin America, the
town is home to 600,000 Japanese, a million
Italians, as many Spanish, 100,000 Germans.
The best restaurants in Latin America are to be
found here.
Salvador
de Bahia
is the capital of the State of Bahia.
It is a town with a strong African influence and
2.3 million inhabitants.
Belo
Horizonte
Is the third highest populated town in Brazil with
3 million inhabitants.
It has succeeded in becoming an important economic
centre while at the same time offering an
exceptional quality of life and a wide range of
cultural activities.
It is a large town with
high-rise buildings which are little by little
taking the place of colonial style houses. Its
thirty parks keep it a very attractive place to
live, two million trees brush their leaves against
the frieze and sculptures of palaces designed in a
pure neo-classical style.
Curitiba
i
Is a town where agriculture and stock breeding are
rapidly expanding.
Recife
Is a port, called the Brazilian Venice.
Porto
Alegre
Is the biggest town in southern Brazil and also a
very important port.
Guarapuava
Guaratinguetá Irati Itaitubá
João Pessoa Joinville Juazeiro Juazeiro do
NorteLagoa de Jacarepagua Lavras Londrina
Macapá Maceió Manaus Maraba
Marília Montes Claros Mossoró
Natal
Palmas Peixe Pelotas Pirassununga Poços de
Caldas Ponta Porã Porto Alegre Porto
Seguro
Porto Velho Praiado Rosa Presidente Prudente
Recife Ribeirão Preto Rio Branco Rio de
Janeiro
Salvador Santa Maria Santarém Santos
São José do Rio Preto São
José dos Campos
São Luís São Paulo
Sorocaba
Tabatinga Teresina Torres Três Logoas
Tucuruí
Uberaba Vilhena
Vitória.
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