Our Brazil Fact File will give you background information on certain areas of Brazil. We are constantly updating the Brazil Fact File with new information so you can get a great insight into Brazil before you decide to travel there.
Brazil is a country of amazing contrasts and contradictions. It is intoxicating, vibrant and breath-taking. A visit to Brazil guarantees a lifelong bank of memories and hopefully a life-changing experience.
For an introduction to these contrasts you need only look as far as the influence in different regions. In the extreme south, German and Italian immigration has left distinctive European features; São Paulo has the world's largest Japanese community outside of Japan; there's a large black population concentrated in Rio and Salvador; while the Indian influence is most visible in the people of Amazônia and Northeastern interior.
Brazil is also a land of profound economic contradictions. Rapid postwar industrialisation made Brazil one of the world's ten largest economies and put it among the most developed of Third World countries. But this has not improved the lot of the vast majority of Brazilians. The cities are dotted with favelas, shantytowns that crowd the skyscrapers, and the contrast between rich and poor is one of the most glaring anywhere.
Facts on Brazil:
Full Country Name:
República Federativa do Brasil
Area:
8.51 million km squared
Population:
175 million
Capital City:
Brasília
Language:
Portugese
Brazil's Religion:
70% Roman Catholic; also a significant proportion who either belong to various cults or practice Indian animism.
Brazil Borders:
French Guyana, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay
Work with children from the local Pavão – Pavãozinho community in the South Zone of Rio. The education centre cares for 353 children from ages 3 months to 18 years. The centre aims to deliver education and medical care, to children and their families who are living in social risk situations.
Based on the incredible island of Florianópolis, you can help to give the local wildlife a better chance of survival and standard of life. You will be focusing your efforts on injured, neglected and orphaned wildlife including river otters, weasels and stoats, helping them to flourish and preserving their environment.
Learn Portuguese and make visiting Brazil a more involved experience. Small, classes, innovative teaching methods, cultural activities and accommodation with a local family make learning quick and enjoyable.
Janet Horsley had an incredible time on her tailor-made gap year, blazing a trail through Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America, read her story here.
Gap Year for Grown Ups provides Career Break Voluntary Projects and Culture & Language programmes throughout South America and Central America. They have the best available Community voluntary projects as well as a number of Conservation Volunteer Projects to choose from. Combine these voluntary work placements abroad with learning Spanish in South America.
For useful volunteer travel advice to South America from Gap Year For Grown Ups, use the following links:
