Brazil: São Paulo

Brazil: São Paulo

Brazil is the largest country in South America, bordering every other country on the continent except Ecuador and Chile, and the fifth-largest in the world. Its population is estimated to be nearing 200 million. Students of Portuguese, as well as those interested in economic, environmental, and social issues of the developing world, will benefit from time spent in Brazil. While the country still faces considerable challenges, it has enjoyed a period of growth in the last decade and has been grouped with Russia, China, and India as one of the world’s emerging powerhouses. As if to confirm that prognosis, Brazil was chosen to host both the next soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. As you might expect from its size, Brazil brings together a variety of landscapes, from the imperiled tropical rainforests of the Amazon to the savannas of central Brazil and the Atlantic beaches of Rio. And the people of Brazil are an equally fascinating ethnic and cultural mix.

São Paulo is Brazil’s largest city, with a population in excess of 20 million. Established by the Jesuits when Brazil was still a Portuguese colony, the city only developed in the late nineteenth century when a wave of immigrants moved here. Today, São Paulo is the country’s most diverse city, including the largest Japanese population outside Japan, and is considered to be Brazil’s cultural capital. Major museums include the Immigration Museum, São Paulo Art Museum, and Museum of Image and Sound. And with its diverse neighborhoods—Italian next to Arabian, Israeli side by side with Japanese—the city is an attraction worth visiting in its own right. Annual city events include Gay Pride, festivals of fashion and film, and of course Carnival. And when classes are over, the weekend arrives, and the beach beckons, the golden sands of the Atlantic shore are only half an hour’s train-ride away.