Brazil’s Best Beaches & Boardwalks Copacabana Boardwalk in Rio de Janeiro: This four-kilometer stretch of beach is one of the most densely populated areas in the world and is famous for its beautiful women in provocative bikinis, professional athletes playing volleyball in the sand, and celebrities walking or jogging up and...
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As thousands of Italian immigrants were arriving in São Paulo to work in the coffee trade (mostly as a labor class), nobody imagined that they would change the face of the city to such a degree. But that’s not all; they also changed the face of the typical Paulista. It’s now a challenge to find a native Paulista who is not...
read moreMost foreigners who have had some exposure to Spanish are left completely dumbfounded when they hear Portuguese. Although based on the Spanish language and structurally very similar, the differences in pronunciation are vastly different. In addition, Portuguese has far more accents and contractions than Spanish has. Interestingly,...
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When aboriginal slaves were not enough to maintain the growing sugar business, African slaves were brought into the colony by the tens of thousands. The Portuguese crown divided the administration of the country into two parts: the sugar business and everything else. Those responsible for everything else were given permission to...
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Captain Duarte Coelho was not thrilled when he finally came to settle onto his Brazilian lands, given to him by King João III to govern and populate for the Portuguese crown. Fourteen other Portuguese captains were given lands in Brazil. Coelho’s particular slice–the part that would become the state of Pernambuco–was...
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Everything changed with the discovery and cultivation sugar cane, Brazil’s most important cash crop to this day. The Portuguese invested in the colonization of this wild land and created fifteen separate territories which were given to fifteen sea captains to govern and populate. They had varying degrees of success. João de...
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Not only were the Portuguese well positioned geographically to reach out across the great Atlantic, but they also posessed one of the greatest schools of marine navigation in Europe at the time, the Sagres school. Replete with naval maps and navigational devices, the school trained many of Europe’s finest navigators in the 15th...
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Clothes Outside of São Paulo and Rio, Brazilians generally dress casually. Typical social attire for men includes some type of jeans and a new, white tee-shirt. Short sleeve button-down shirts are also popular and considered acceptable for business dress and dinner occasions. It’s common to see bank officials wearing these types...
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When gold starting pouring out of Minas Gerais in the early 1700s, the small and innocuous town of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro turned into the most important port town on the Brazilian coast, even surpassing Salvador in importance. It wasn’t long before the Portuguese Crown took the capital of the colony away from Salvador...
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Take a visual vacation to Brazil with this photo e-book. See just how blue the water is along the extensive coastline of the Northeast Region. Get a glimpse of the people and the culture that is Brazil. This promotional e-book is free and we encourage you to copy and distribute it as much as you can. 
Heading to Rio de Janeiro? Take this handy 3-day itinerary with you to get the most out of your journey in the least amount of time. Download and take it with you on your laptop or on CD, or use the printable pages in your notebook or day planner. Available for FREE from this site.
