Brazil

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Brazil

• By Jennifer McKenzie

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History of Brazil

• Pedro Cabral led the Portuguese to Brazil
• When they arrived in Brazil there were many
  tribes and a rich cultural life
• The only valuable that they found was the Pau do
  Brasil which is a brazil wood tree.
• They used this to create red dye
• When sugar was found, slaves came along to help
  with the crop.
• Most Brazliians had interracial relationships
  between the indians, the slaves, the Africans and
  the settlers.
• Due to this, most Brazilians are a mixture of
  European, African, Ameridian, Asian and Middle
  Eastern.
• In the 1690s Gold was found in Brazil

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History continued

• In 1807, as Napoleon Bonaparte closed in on
  Portugal's capital city of Lisbon, the Prince
  Regent shipped himself off to Brazil. Once there,
  Dom Joao established the colony as the capital of
  his empire. By 1821 things in Europe had cooled
  down sufficiently that Dom Joao could return  to
  Lisbon, and  he left his son Dom Pedro I in
  charge of Brazil. When the king attempted the
  following year to return Brazil to subordinate
  status as a colony, Dom Pedro flourished his
  sword and declared the country's independence
  from Portugal - http//www.geographia.com/brazil/
  brazihistory.htm
• In the 19th century, coffee replaced sugar as
  Brazils most important product
• In 1989 Brazil had its first democratic election

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General Information

• Brazil has the 6th largest population in the
  world ( 148 million )
• There are 15 people per square kilometer
• Portuguese is the dominant language in Brazil
• Brazil is located in Eastern South America
• It is slightly smaller than the United States

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General info. Continued

• Brazils Natural resources are bauxite, gold,
  iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates,
  platinum, tin, uranium, petroleum, hydropower,
  timber
• Environmental issues deforestation in the Amazon
  Basin.
• Illegal wildlife trade
• Air / Water pollution
• Land / wetland degradation
• Oil spills
• Independence day is Sept. 7, 1822
• Their constitution was written October 5, 1988

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A Hot story today

• Today in Brazil, the news is swarmed with the
  name Marcus Pontes.
• Marcus Pontes is the first man from Brazil to go
  into outer space.
• Marcus plans to go launch in March, 2006.
• Lt. Col. Marcus Pontes is part of the Brazilian
  Air Force

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• He will be traveling in a Russian built Soyuz
  spacecraft.
• Marcus is 42 years old and has been training for
  this journey in Houston, Texas for about 8 years.
  
• This will be Expedition 13.
• Marcus flight will cost 20 million.

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• In Brazilian news, many papers and international
  sources are giving information on this Expedition
  13.
• For example, there are articles about Marcus in
  Brazilian news, Russian news and even Australian
  news.
• Obviously even with the information in other
  countries, Brazil still goes into the most detail
  of this mans journey and the large step he is
  taking for Brazil.

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• In the Brazilian papers we learn that Marcus
  speaks Portuguese, the Brazilian dominant
  language.
• Marcus is also able to speak decent English and
  is going into space even though he cannot speak
  Russian fluently.
• He is merely able to communicate with the
  Russians.
• We also learned that Marcus went to Russia for a
  winter and began to like the cold weather.

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Oddly enough

• Oddly enough, there is no information mentioned
  in American news papers or television shows about
  this excursion.
• There are some common websites that mention the
  trip however none are really American based.
• This could mean only a few things

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• This could mean that either our Journalism and
  story coverage is so booming right now that we
  are unable to make space to inform Americans
  about a journey into space and a huge step for
  Brazil.
• OR
• This could mean that perhaps this story is not
  important enough to cover in American papers.

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• With either possibility, and Im sure there are
  more, there is one underlying point.
• There are many flaws to not only our, but many
  journalism techniques.
• It is important to stay cultured and informed
  about the world as a whole, even though this is
  true, many papers cover only stories happening in
  their country and/or only extremely large stories
  happening in other countries or stories that
  might possibly effect us.

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• This brings up the question Who is responsible
  for decided what story from another country is
  important and what story isnt important enough
  to put in an international newspaper?
• And, are these people taking the entire
  populations ideas or needs into consideration as
  they foil through stories happening all over the
  world, deciding which is important and which is
  not.

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• There is no comparison between Brazilian
  journalism and American journalism.
• American journalism is so dominating that very
  few can actually compete or compare.
• The only comparison that I felt that was
  extremely important is the fact that these
  newspapers focus so much on what is happening in
  their country that they have to filter out
  important things going on in other countries.

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• This excursion into space is a big deal for
  Brazil.
• It shows their development and puts them in a
  category with few others, and yet, it is not
  celebrated or given credit in American
  newspapers.
• This neglect is not only an American problem, but
  a problem as a whole that the world should
  seriously consider and attempt to develop a
  solution for.

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Bibliography

• http//www.geographia.com/brazil/brazihistory.htm
• http//www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos
  /br.html
• http//jang.com.pk/thenews/feb2006-daily/09-02-200
  6/world/w9.htm
• http//www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/02/09/0
  16.html
• http//www.space.com/missionlaunches/051018_pontes
  _brazil_iss.html