Brazil and Fortaleza

Brasil

Introduction: A little about Brazil and Fortaleza, my hometown.

Fortaleza: Personal photos of my hometown.

Links: Selected links about Brazil and Brazilian music.

	Introduction	Back to front page
	Brazil is known for many things, most notably for soccer, coffee, samba, Bossa Nova and Carnaval. What a lot of people do not know is that Portuguese is its official language (not Spanish), and that the country land area is larger than the 48 U.S. contiguous states (8,547,404 sq km or 3,300,171 sq mi) with a population of over 160 million people. The capital city is Brasília. Oh, we spell the country name with an "S."
		I grew up on the northeast coast of Brazil in Fortaleza, state of Ceará. The city is a thriving metropolis of nearly two million people - the fifth largest city in Brazil. Azorean explorer Pero Coelho de Souza was the first colonizer to reach Ceará. In 1603, by the river Siriá, he founded the fortress of São Thiago. However, the 1606 draught prevented the city from developing. Then, in 1612, Martins Soares Moreno came back and built the fortress of São Sebastião (St. Sebastian) on the same location of the previous fortress. Although Moreno is considered the conqueror of Ceará, Dutchman Mathias Beck is indeed the founder of Fortaleza. Beck built the fortress of Shoonenborch in 1654. That same year, Shoonenborch was renamed Forte de Nossa Senhora da Assunção (Fortress of Our Lady of Assumption). In 1712, it was elevated to the category of Vila de Nossa Senhora de Assunção. The village that grew around that fortress gave birth to the city of Fortaleza de Pequena Bragança, or simply Fortaleza, by a Royal Decree in 1725. The state's nickname of Terra da Luz (Land of Light) was given to Ceará because it was the first state to abolish slavery in Brazil on March 25, 1884. The rest of the country would follow Ceará's lead on May 13, 1888.

	Fortaleza		Back to front page
	Fortaleza is well known for its handicraft, beaches and seafood. Tourism is a strong business, especially during the month of July, when Fortal (a Carnaval-like celebration) hits the streets of Fortaleza for 4 days. Below you will see some photos I have taken of Fortaleza as well as some postcard shots. Click on the thumbnails for a larger image.
	Iracema beach and pier Iracema beach Náutico beach Cumbuco beach	Estoril boardwalk Fortaleza at night Centro Cultural Dragão do Mar Cumbuco beach	Shoreline highrises Náutico beach Lagoinha beach Morro Branco beach

	Links	Back to front page
	Here are some links about Brazil and Brazilian music. You can virtually take a trip in Brazil by visiting some of these sites.
	Brazil	The Institute of Latin American Studies at The University of Texas has gathered a long list of resources, including academic topics, discussion groups, economics and finance, news media, science and technology, travel and tourism, and more.
	Brazilian Music Links	List of artists' home pages (official and non-official) and other Brazilian music related sites.
	Ceará Turismo	Just about everything related to tourism in Ceará.
	Fortaleza Travel Guide	A wonderful resource for those planning to visit my hometown, Fortaleza. Author Philip Blazdell describes Fortaleza and surrounding areas in vivid detail -- and often with superb humor!
	Meu Brasil	Sergio Koreisha has assembled a great site with information on news and weather, economic and business development, culture, history, sports,references, and social issues among other topics.
	MúsicaBrasileira.org	Brazilian music reviews and interviews.
	Niedja's Bookmarks	Niedja Fedrigo's site is also well organized by categories: from Anthropology to Work. She manages to keep her links updated often.
	Resource Guide for Brazil	A guide with various links about history, people, food, arts & culture, government, etc.
	Viva Brazil	Walter Morales's Brazil site is awesome. Not only is it comprehensive, but it is also very well designed.
	Yahoo Brazil	What to expect from a Yahoo site? Here are Yahoo links on Brazil.
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		REVISED OCtober 7, 2010