Brasilia

Brasilia ( Brasília in Portuguese) is the Capitale Brésil. It is located in the area Center-Ouest, and contrary at the other cities, Brasilia does not form part of a State but of the federal District (DF, for Distrito Federal ).

Brasilia is member of the Organization of the cities of the world heritage.

Administration

Brasilia is the only city of the Brésil which is not controlled by a Maire ( prefeito in Portuguese). The city is managed by a governor and his administration, GDF ( Governo C Distrito Federal ).

History

Brasilia is one of the most recent capitals of the world. Its first infrastructures and buildings were built in only 1 000 days before its inauguration the April 21st 1960, under the impulse of President Juscelino Kubitschek. The goal of the project was to attract towards the interior of the grounds the population and the economic activity, then primarily concentrated in the coastal big cities, in order to better distribute the richnesses. Brasilia was also built to alleviate the existing confrontation between the two other “capitals” of the country, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

True political and administrative capital, it counts now a little more than two million inhabitants.

Geography

Located in the Mid-west of Brazil on a plate at 1.100 meters of altitude in full heart of the Cerrado, its climate is of tropical type of altitude, with 22°C of average temperature, marked by a very low water content in Hiver (25%).
Outdistance (by road) Rio de Janeiro: 1.148 km, São Paulo: 1.015 km, El Salvador: 1.531 km, Fortaleza: 2.285 km, Recife: 2.220 km, Manaus: 3.430 km.

Population

The inhabitants of Brasilia are called Brasilienses . The workmen, come from all the country but mainly from the Minas Gerais and especially from the Nordeste to work with the construction of the city were called Candangos (female Candangas ), term which does not have particular significance but finds its origin of words resulting from slavery. The workers of the middle class and higher (engineers, doctors, etc), them, were appointed like Pioneiros . Brazilian of the new generation born ones in Brasilia, by similarity and recreation, are called between them Calangos , term which indicates a species of lizard of the area.

Economy

Brasilia centralizes the administration: the Legislative power, the Executive power and the judicial Power, as well as the army. The private companies represent only one small portion of the local activity, more especially as heavy industries and polluting are prohibited there by law. The services represent more than 90% of the activity of the federal District.

Town planning

True chief of work of modern architecture, Brasilia was declared World heritage of humanity in 1987 by UNESCO. The Urbaniste Lúcio Costa drew the city in the shape of plane, registered in an artificial lake. The residential districts are functional and car-are enough: shopping malls, schools and parks are in the vicinity.

The principal buildings were designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer: the cathedral (4 000 places), the National congress (House of Commons and Senate), the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Supreme court and the Palate of the presidency.

The city is organized around two perpendicular axes: the monumental Eixo and the Eixāo .

Monumental Eixo, directed East-West, cut the city in two symmetrical parts. He is regarded by the Brazilian ones as the broadest avenue of the world, with 250 m separating his twice six ways at the broadest point. Seen sky, it represents the arrow, the fuselage of the plane. With its point is located the place of the three capacities as well as the esplanade of the ministries (see photo).

Eixāo, curves, crosses the Plano piloto , the residential heart of the city. Seen sky, it represents the wings of the plane. The southern wing and the northern wing, organized in Superquadras along the axis, gather approximately 300.000 inhabitants. It consists of a principal track of twice three ways, accessible starting from the secondary axes ( eixinhos in Portuguese, literally small axes ). The secondary axes are on both sides of Eixao, each one making up of twice two ways. Eixāo makes it possible to cross monumental Eixo under a tunnel.

With the crossing of the two axes is the rodoviária , station central of network bus and terminal of the subway.

Transport

Brasilia is served by a international Aéroport. Public transport is ensured by a network of drunk. The construction of the Métro began in 1992, it serves the satellite towns of Taguatinga, Guará, Ceilândia, Aguas will claras, Samambaia and part of the Plano Piloto.

Road and the space alignment of parking, which was planned in the years 1950, projected that each family would have only one vehicle. Today many families of Plano Piloto, easy, have some several, sometimes one by anybody. The axes are some congested at the rush hours, and the laybys of the Superquadras are often full.

Bonds

Official site of Federal Distrito
Brasília, forty years after
Photographs of Brasilia (in French)
Infobrasilia (in English and Portuguese)
economy of Federal Distrito (in Portuguese)
the Alliance Fran1caise of Brasilia

Beats-smg: Brazilėjė (miests) Simple: Brasília

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