Brazil is by far South America's largest country, and with over 150 million people, it is also the world's sixth most populous nation. In a way, though, Brazil is like half a dozen different countries, and more, ranging from African-influenced Salvador de Bahia, the tropical Amazon delta, the New-York-esque megalopolis of São Paulo, the desert expanses of Brazil's Northeast, the European-influenced south, and more. A country famous for its samba, bossa nova, and lambada, Brazil boasts more than 100 distinct styles, as well as an equally lengthy history.

Brazil's indigenous population dates back some 20,000 years. By the time the Portuguese arrived in South America 500 years ago, there were between 2 and 5 million Indians living in the land that is now Brazil. Today, Brazil's indigenous population is fewer than 200,000. Brazil's first capital was Salvador de Bahia (from 1549 to 1763), which quickly became the center of the Portugese slave trade in Brazil and the home to what the Portuguese called "white gold": sugar cane. By the 17th century, there were 3 and ½ million African slaves in Brazil, a period that would forever shape Brazil. You can see the African presence throughout the region, from the spicy palm-oil-drenched seafood dishes to the Yoruba-based Candomblé religion to the unmistakeable beat of Afro-Brazilian drumming from groups like Ilê Aiyé and Olodum.

In 1807, as Napoleon's army approached Lisbon, the entire Portuguese monarchy (a court of 15,000) fled Portugal and set sail for Brazil, where Dom João VI established Rio as a capital of the Portuguese Empire (until Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815). A decade later, Brazil gained its "peaceful" independence as Dom João's son, Prince Dom Pedro, declared "Independencia ou morte" (Independence or Death). However, it wasn't until 1888 (more than two decades after the end of slavery in the United States, and 80 years after it was abolished in Britain) that slavery in Brazil was finally abolished. It was that event which eventually led to the creation of Brazil's most famous musical form, the samba, as countless black Brazilians (primarily from Bahia) arrived in the favelas surrounding Rio following the abolition of slavery in Brazil, blending a variety of African, Caribbean and European musical styles to create the infectious samba. Today, the samba is synonymous with another truly Brazilian event, CARNAVAL.

20th Century

In the last century, Brazil has been plagued by a string of military dictatorships and hyper-inflation, as well as the changing of the national currency from the cruzado to the cruziero and now the semi-stable "real". Although not as brutal as the dictatorships of Chile and Argentina, Brazil's did have its repressive periods that reached their height in the late 1960s, a period of mass censorship. It was the dawn of "Tropicália," in which singers like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil began incorporating all sorts of foreign influences, from the Beatles to classical music to jazz and funk, into Brazilian music. The two were jailed and then exiled to Europe, only to return in the early 70's as newly crowned heroes. Today, democratic rule has returned to Brazil, a country (still) deeply divided with a large gap between rich and poor; here the "haves" live in fenced in fortresses that protect their homes and BMWs while just a kilometer away, the countless thousands of "have-nots" live in little more than shacks made of corrogated metal. Both escape the daily grind with their passions for music and futebol (soccer). Despite the marked social problems of Brazil it is still almost impossible not to fall in love with this country, a place of remarkable beauty and some of the world's most infectious music. -Dan Rosenberg