Brazil is the largest country in South America. When we think of Brazil, animated rhythms of samba, multicolored carnivals, and extended beaches seashores come to our mind.
Brazil is a unique country that combines incredible wildlife with extraordinary culture. Everyone knows about the famous Rio Carnival, which won the Guinness World Records for being the largest carnival celebration.
What to say about the incredible Amazon rainforest that surrounds the country and constantly amazed visitors coming from all over the world thanks to its rich biodiversity, from wild and legendary animals to ancient and unique plant species.
One thing is for sure: everyone should visit Brazil once in a lifetime!
Planning your next trip? Read our other articles for inspiration:
1- Brazil is the country with the most plant and animal species in the world
Brazil is considered the Global biodiversity champion thanks to the Amazon rainforest, the Mata Atlantica forest, the massive natural region of Pantanal, the Cerrado tropical savanna, and a wide range of aquatic ecosystems that make Brazil a unique country.
At the moment being, it hosts more than 100 thousand animal species and almost 45 thousand plant species, for a total of 70% of the global’s cataloged plant and animal species. In the country, you can find the most known amphibians, mammals, reptiles, freshwater fishes, and plants.
2- Queimada Grande Island is the deadliest place on earth
Queimada Grande Island is located in the Atlantic and it is administered by Sao Paulo Municipality. It is also known as “Snake Island”, precisely because it is crawling with snakes.
On the island, you can find 45 different species of venomous snakes with an overage length of 330 ft (100m). Queimada Grande Island has the highest concentration of deadly snakes such as the popular golden lancehead vipers, whose venom can melt human flesh with only one bite.
Whoever wants to have access to this island needs permission from the Brazilian Navy that will give you instructions and will send a doctor with you in case you will be bitten by a snake. In general, only biologists are allowed to enter the island.
3- The color Brazilian people wear on New Year’s Eve has a meaning
This is a curious and unusual tradition that characterizes Brazilian culture. Indeed, it is very popular in Brazil to match colors with the aspirations for the upcoming year, and they usually try to mix them in the same outfit. Each color symbolizes a different meaning:
- White is for peace
- Gold and yellow are for money
- Red is for love and passion
- Green is for good health and nature
- Orange is for professional achievements
- Blue is for harmony
4- The highest number of African slaves has been imported by Brazil
There is a lot of misinformation about this topic, some people know about it but prefer not to discuss it and some other people don’t know about it at all.
So far, Brazil has been the country that imported the highest number of American slaves, specifically almost 13 million slaves were sent to other countries and almost 40% of all of them were sent to Brazil – with a total of almost 5 million slaves in the country.
5- During the 5 days before an election, no one can get arrested
It might seem a bizarre Brazilian law but it is true. The Brazilian authorities should not detain or arrest anyone starting from 5 days before the elections to 2 days after closing them.
Of course, there are few cases in which a voter can be arrested regardless of the elections:
- Drug dealing
- Offense against the state
- Racism
- Torture
- Atrocious crimes
This law has been implemented to avoid unfair arrests when it comes to people from opposing parties that just want to influence election results.
6- The official language of Brazil is Portuguese
Unlike common belief, Brazilian people speak Portuguese and not Spanish.
Even though in South America the Spanish language prevails, Brazil is the only country where people speak Portuguese.
This often causes confusion among the people who visit Brazil for the first time, considering that its neighboring countries – Uruguay, Peru, Venezuela, and Argentina – all speak Spanish.
7- The largest Japanese community after Japan is in Brazil
Back in 1908, Japanese immigrants started reaching Brazil, and now this has turned to be the most significant ethnic group within the country apart from the Brazilian culture of course. At the time being, almost 1.9 million Brazilian Japanese live in Brazil! Those people are called Nipo-Brasileiros in Portuguese.
Even if the two cultures are very different from each other, this definitely is a cool fact!
8- The popular Rio’s Christ the Redeemer was originally supposed to be different
The Christ of Redeemer is one of Jesus Christ’s most famous statues and the fourth largest one in the world. It is 2,310 feet (almost 705 meters) tall and in 2007 it was nominated one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
By the way, it is a cool fact that the original design of the statue was different from the one that we can admire today. Originally, it was supposed to depict Christ holding a cross in one hand and a globe in the other, instead of having wide-open arms.
9- Rio’s Carnival blocos are essential during the celebration
Of course, official parades are the most attractive and significant part of the Rio Carnival. Nonetheless, after the formal celebration, almost 600 street parties, called ‘blocos’, start every year during the Carnival days.
They are considered the true soul and heart of Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival since everyone from every age, ethnic group, and sexual orientation can join them. There are family-friendly blocos, gay-friendly blocos, and many others.
10- About 250 languages are spoken in Brazil
Even though Portuguese is the official language and most of the population uses it, there are at least 250 other languages in the country, spoken by more than 200 hundred indigenous people. The most common indigenous languages in Brazil are Tucano, Apalaí, Kaingang, and Kaiwá Guarani, among others.
11- Guaraná fruit contains more caffeine than coffee beans
This fruit comes from an Amazon plant and it may contain up to six times the quantity of one coffee bean.
This fruit helps improve memorization, learning skills, and concentration thanks to its high percentage of stimulating substances. For this reason, Brazilians are used to producing a Guaraná extract syrup that provides the basis for the Brazilian most popular soda called Guaraná.
12- If you commit an environmental crime during holidays or on Sunday the punishment will be harder
There is nothing wrong with punishing people when they commit crimes against the environment. The weird fact is that the punishment can depend on the day it is committed. Indeed, committing environmental crimes on Sundays, during the night, or holidays represents an aggravating factor.
The explanation behind this is that during those days or hours inspectors are not working, and the Brazilian government wants to prevent criminals from breaking the law when inspectors don’t work.
13- Originally São Paulo State’s flag should have been the national Brazilian flag
When the Brazilian Constitution was promulgated in 1988 Brazil officially became a republic. This event pushed the government to find a new flag that could represent its new beginning.
The authorities received many projects at that time and still São Paulo’s flag continues to be the most known rejected project.
The São Paulo flag has a very strong meaning: the black color represents the African slaves that give birth to the country, the white represents all European immigrants, and the red represents the Indigenous people that live in the country.
14- João Pessoa is the first city in the Americas where it is possible to see the sunrise throughout the year
Yes, it can be difficult to imagine but it is true. The first mainland in all the American continent from where it is possible to see the sunrise every single day is the capital city of the Paraíba State since it is the easternmost place on the American continent.
15- Brazil features 60% of the entire Amazon forest
The northern part of South America is surrounded by the Amazon rainforest and crossed by the Amazon River, but ⅔ of the rainforest is located in Brazil. The latter is the most extended rainforest in the whole world, while the river inside of it is the largest in terms of water volume and holds the second position in the world’s longest-river classification.
It has been hypothesized that almost 400 billion trees belonging to more than 15 thousand different tree species can be found in the Amazon rainforest.
Travel to Brazil
If you are planning to visit Brazil or it is your secret wish, you need to know that you will be requested to submit a Brazil Visa, even if you are traveling as a tourist.
Indeed, if you are a Canadian, Australian, or US national you will surely need a Brazil Visa to enter the country; on the contrary, this document will not be required if you are traveling from the UK or a UE country.
For this reason, it is important to know the official requirements your Visa Photo has to meet. It may be quite confusing, hence we strongly advise you to use this Brazil Visa Photo Tool. This tool is based on Artificial Intelligence and it will transform your photo into a professional Brazil Visa Photo!
Michal Jonca is an experienced author of articles concerning biometric photography. He is a travel, food, and trail running passionate who visited 40+ countries on four continents. He is a Travel Leader for the adventurous travel company Solisci and the Community Manager at Passport-Photo.Online. Only this year, he enjoyed his workation in Thailand, Turkey, and the Caucasus mountains.
