"Bom dia!" an intro to Brasil

Geography Magnet: Brasil, a photo by trudeau on Flickr.

Land of a distinct culture:
- Samba music and dance

- the most highly-regarded futbol players

- an Afro-Cuban society.

- Portuguese arrived about 1500.
- African slaves imported because indigenous people decimated by disease.
- Slave ships. Rebellion on the La Amistad.

- Neighbors: Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana; Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

- 44% Brown (multiracial) or Pardo, 48% White, 7% Black.
- Sao Paulo: 11M
- Rio de Janeiro: 6M
- Portuguese language.

- Samba is dance, is music, is culture.
- Samba Schools - music club that parades at fests and esp at Carnaval.
- Bateria: orchestra of drums, incl. Surdo de primera, surdo de segunda, surdo de terceira, caixa de guerra, repinique, chocalho, tambourim, cuíca, agogô, reco-reco, and frigedeira.

- Berimbau: string and gourd instrument - w shaker - for capoeira.
- Capoeira: martial arts dance from African and indigenous sources.
- Quilombo: escaped slaves encampment - sometimes a town or even a city.
- Practice of capoeira outlawed after slave emancipation, 1888. Illegal until 1940.

- Carnaval: basically, the country stops completely for almost a week and festivities are intense, day and night, mainly in coastal cities.[2]

- Feijoada is a stew of beans with beef and pork, which is a typical dish in Portuguese and Brazilian cuisine. It is considered the national dish.[2]