ENTERTAINING FACTS ABOUT BRAZIL

BRAZIL BOASTS THE LARGEST POPULATION OF

CATHOLICS IN THE WORLD AT SIXTY-SIX PERCENT

OF ITS POPULATION, ABOUT 130 MILLION OF THE

COUNTRY’S TOTAL POPULATION

BRAZIL HAS BEEN THE WORLD’S LARGEST EXPORTER

OF COFFEE FOR 150 YEARS. IT SUPPLIED AROUND

EIGHTY PERCENT OF THE WORLD’S COFFEE IN THE

1920’S BUT THAT FIGURE HAS CURRENTLY

FALLEN TO AROUND A THIRD

BELIEVE IT OR NOT BUT OSAMA BIN LADEN THEMED

BARS ARE QUITE POPULAR IN BRAZIL. FOR THE RECORD,

THERE’S ONE NAMED BAR DO BIN LADEN IN

SAO PAULO, RUN BY AN OSAMA LOOK ALIKE AND

CAVERNA DO BIN LADEN, OR BIN LADEN’S CAVE, WHICH

CAN BE FOUND A FEW MILES OUTSIDE RIO DE JANEIRO

BACK IN 1959 THE CITY COUNCIL ELECTION IN SAO PAULO

HAD A SURPRISE WINNER, CACARECO, A FIVE YEAR

OLD FEMALE RHINOCEROS FROM THE LOCAL ZOO.

NOT ONLY DID SHE WIN BUT SHE DID SO BY A

LANDSLIDE, GARNERING 100,000 VOTES (FIFTEEN

PERCENT OF THE TOTAL). THIS WAS ONE OF THE

HIGHEST TOTALS FOR A LOCAL CANDIDATE IN

BRAZIL'S HISTORY TO DATE

ON JANUARY 27, 1763, THE COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION

IN PORTUGUESE AMERICA WAS MOVED FROM

SALVADOR TO RIO DE JANEIRO. THE CITY REMAINED

PRIMARILY A COLONIAL CAPITAL UNTIL 1808 WHEN

THE PORTUGUESE ROYAL FAMILY AND MOST OF THE

ASSOCIATED LISBON NOBLES, FLEEING FROM

NAPOLEON’S INVASION OF PORTUGAL, MOVED TO

RIO DE JANEIRO. THIS MAKES RIO DE JANEIRO THE

ONLY EUROPEAN CAPITAL IN HISTORY THAT WAS

LOCATED OUTSIDE EUROPE

BRAZIL WAS THE ONLY INDEPENDENT SOUTH

AMERICAN COUNTRY TO SEND GROUND TROOPS

TO FIGHT IN WORLD WAR II, WITH OVER 25,000 SOLDIERS

BRAZIL DISTRIBUTES BREAST MILK AROUND THE

COUNTRY TO BABIES WHOSE MOTHERS CAN’T

PROVIDE IT FOR THEM

BRAZILIAN PRISONERS CAN REDUCE THEIR SENTENCE

BY FOUR DAYS FOR EVERY BOOK THEY READ AND

WRITE A REPORT ON. IN OTHER WORDS, BRAZIL’S

PENITENTIARY SYSTEM IS TRYING HARD TO

EDUCATE ITS PRISONERS