People

Ethnic Groups

There are three basic ethnic sources for the Brazilian people. To the original inhabitants (Indians) were added successive waves of Europeans (mainly Portuguese) and Africans (mostly from the sub Saharan west coast).

In the 16th century, the area which is now Brazil was inhabited by several hundred indigenous tribes which spoke different languages and had different cultures. Groups speaking the Tupi and Guarani languages hued along the coast and in the adjoining hinterland and were the ones to first interact with the Portuguese settlers. Many tribes speaking other languages ( Gê, Arwak , and Karib ) lived in the interior and took longer to establish contact with the “outsiders”. Today Brazil's native Indians number about 345,000. They are divided into roughly 215 groups and they speak some 180 different languages. The Indians live in vast areas, which amount to more than eleven percent of Brazil's total territory, set aside for them by the Federal Government. In these areas, which total more than twice the size of the state of California, the Indians are free to preserve their traditions.

Starting in the middle of the 16th century, Africans belonging to the Bantu and to the Sudanic ethnic groups were brought to Brazil to work as slaves in the sugarcane production, and later, in the gold and diamond mines and the coffee plantations. It is estimated that between 1550 and 1855 approximately 4 million slaves arrived in Brazil, the great majority of them young men.

From the end of the 19th century onwards, Brazil received increasing numbers of immigrants from all over the world. Portugal remained the single most important source of Migrants to Brazil, followed by Italy, Spain and Lebanon. In the first half of the 20th century, as a consequence of war or economic pressures, sizable contingents of immigrants came to Brazil from western, central, and eastern Europe. In 1908, 640 immigrants came to Brazil from Japan. Because of the welcoming social environment, a Japanese migration trend was established. By 1969 a total of 247,312 Japanese had migrated to Brazil. Today Brazilians of Japanese descent are the largest group outside of Japan.

Language

Portuguese is the official language of Brazil. Except for the languages spoken by Indian tribes living in reservations, Portuguese is the only language of daily life. There are no regional dialects. Brazil is the only Portuguese speaking country in South America.

Religion

The Brazilian Constitution guarantees religion freedom. With the proclamation of the Republic in 1889, Brazil ceased to have an official religion, although in 2000 over 70 percent of the population declared themselves to be Roman Catholic. Recently Protestant groups in Brazil have been growing in number. Today there are sizable memberships in independent Pentecostal churches. There are also followers of mainstream Protestant denominations from Europe and the United States such as Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, and Baptist. There are over a million and a half Spiritists or Kardecists who follow the doctrines of the 19th century French psychic researcher, Allan Kardec. Brazil's religious diversity includes converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) small minorities of Jews, Muslims and Buddhists, and numerous adherents of Afro-Brazilian religions, the most important of which being candomblé and umbanda .

Religious life in Brazil is in practice marked by syncretism. Beginning in the colonial era, the cult of Catholic saints opened itself up to a series of syncretic links. In Amazonia, where indigenous traditions are stronger, Catholic saints of transatlantic origin form a counterpoint with spirits who inhabit forests and rivers. Afro-Brazilian religions such as candomblé , which was brought to Brazil from Nigeria and Benin, adopted the observances of Lent and Easter as a sign of respect for the great drama of Christ's death and resurrection, and combined the feasts of the orixás with the feasts of the saints. orixás , a male god of procreation and harvest, for instance, was identified with Jesus. Iemanjá , goddess of the sea, was associated with “Our Lady of Conception.” Umbanda , a religion derived from a syncretism among elements of Catholicism, Kardecist spiritualism and African traditions (from Angola, specially), is also widely practiced.

In Brazil, religion does not imply an exclusive cultural identity. Blacks and whites share rituals by day and night, and some beliefs handed down by the slaves are widely held today among the middle class.

Educational System

The Brazilian educational system includes both public (federal, state, and municipal) and private institutions, ranging from pre-school to university and post-graduate levels. Education is compulsory for ages 7 through 14, and public education is free at all levels. Significant advances have been made in the Brazilian educational structure in the last 30 years. The 1988 Brazilian Constitution as amended allocates at least 25 percent of state and local tax revenues to education. In 1964, there were ten million students attending school at all levels. In 2000, this number had multiplied by five: over 7 million children in pre-school; 33.9 million at the elementary level; 8.7 million at the secondary; and almost 3 million students in college and graduate schools. Most importantly, in 2001 around 97 percent of children between the ages of 7 and 14 had access to the elementary level, in comparison with 86 percent in 1990. Despite this progress, in 2001 12.4 percent of the population was illiterate, a problem that is greatest among the poorest segments of the population.

Beginning in the 1990s, various public programs have been launched to enhance equal access to education. The Bolsa Escola (School Grant) program provides cash grants to poor families that maintain children between the ages of 7 and 14 in school. It links four objectives: to increase education attainment and subsequently reduce poverty in the long term; to reduce short-term poverty; to reduce child labor; and to act as a potential safety net in times of economic downturn.

At the university level, some institutions have introduced affirmative action programs in the form of quotas reserved for black students who achieve at least the minimum grade in the entrance exam (the vestibular), and the implementation of this measure for the whole undergraduate system was being discussed in 2004. The federal government maintains at least one public university in each state. Upon completion of a full academic course of study, university students may obtain the bacharel degree or, with an additional year spent in teacher training, the licenciado degree. Thirty years ago there were few graduate programs in Brazil. In 2001 there were a total of 1,637 tertiary institutions in the country, which, in 2004, offered almost 3,000 graduate-level courses.