1.
States of Brazil
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The Federative Republic of Brazil is a union of 27 Federative Units,26 states and one federal district, where the federal capital, Brasília, is located. The states are based on historical, conventional borders which have developed over time. The Federal District is not formally a state, but shares some characteristics of a state as well as some of a municipality, the codes given below are defined in ISO 3166-2, BR. The first administrative divisions of Brazil were the hereditary captaincies, stretches of land granted by the Portuguese Crown to noblemen or merchants with a charter to colonize the land, as the map shows, these divisions generally followed lines of latitude. Each of the holders of these captaincies was referred to as a captain donatary and these captaincies were to be passed from father to son, but the Crown retained the power to revoke them, which the King indeed did in the 16th century. In 1549, the Portuguese Crown appointed Tomé de Sousa as the first governor-general of the vast Portuguese dominion in South America and this dominion overall became known as the State of Brazil. In several periods of history, the half of the dominion was detached from the State of Brazil. Unlike Spanish America, the territory remained united under a single governor-general. This arrangement later helped to keep Brazil as a unified nation-state, in 1759, the heritability of the captaincies was totally abolished by the government of the Marquis of Pombal, with all captains becoming appointed by the Crown. The captaincies were officially renamed provinces on 28 February 1821, with independence, in 1822, the former captaincies became provinces of the Empire of Brazil. Most internal boundaries were unchanged from the colonial period, generally following natural features such as rivers. Minor changes were made to domestic politics, as well as additions resulting from diplomatic settlement of territorial disputes by the end of the 19th century. When Brazil became a republic in 1889, all provinces immediately became states, after the war, the first four territories became states, with Rio Branco and Guaporé being renamed Roraima and Rondônia, respectively, whilst Ponta Porã and Iguaçu remained as territories. In 1960, the square-shaped Distrito Federal was carved out of Goiás in preparation for the new capital, Brasília. The previous federal district became Guanabara State, but in 1975 it was merged with Rio de Janeiro State, retaining its name, in 1977, Mato Grosso was split into two states. The northern area retained the name Mato Grosso while the area became the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The new Mato Grosso do Sul incorporated the territory of Ponta Porã, central Iguaçu went to Paraná, and southern Iguaçu went to Santa Catarina. In 1988, the portion of Goiás became the state of Tocantins
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
4.
Capital (political)
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A capital city is the municipality exercising primary status in a country, state, province, or other region, usually as its seat of government. A capital is typically a city that encompasses the offices and meeting places of its respective government. In some jurisdictions, including countries, the different branches of government are located in different settlements. In some cases, a distinction is made between the capital and the seat of government, which is in another place. The word capital derives from the Latin caput, meaning head, in several English-speaking states, the terms county town, county seat, and borough seat are also used in lower subdivisions. In unitary states, subnational capitals are known as administrative centres. The capital is often, but not necessarily, the largest city of its constituent, historically, the major economic centre of a state or region often becomes the focal point of political power, and becomes a capital through conquest or federation. Examples are Ancient Babylon, Abbasid Baghdad, Ancient Athens, Rome, Constantinople, Changan, Ancient Cusco, Madrid, Paris, London, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Vienna, and Berlin. Some of these cities are or were also religious centres, e. g. Constantinople, Rome, Jerusalem, Ancient Babylon, Moscow, Belgrade, Paris, and Peking. A capital city that is also the economic, cultural. The convergence of political and economic or cultural power is by no means universal, traditional capitals may be economically eclipsed by provincial rivals, e. g. Nanking by Shanghai, Quebec City by Montreal, and numerous US state capitals. The decline of a dynasty or culture could also mean the extinction of its city, as occurred at Babylon. Although many capitals are defined by constitution or legislation, many long-time capitals have no legal designation as such, for example Bern, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London, Paris, are located in or near them. In Canada, there is a capital, while the ten provinces. The states of such countries as Mexico, Brazil, and Australia all have capital cities, for example, the six state capitals of Australia are Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. In Australia, the capital cities is regularly used, to refer to the aforementioned state capitals plus the federal capital Canberra and Darwin. Abu Dhabi is the city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. In unitary states which consist of multiple constituent countries, such as the United Kingdom or the Kingdom of Denmark, the national capitals of Germany and Russia, the Stadtstaat of Berlin and the Federal City of Moscow, are also constituent states of both countries in their own right
5.
Federal Senate
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The Federal Senate is the upper house of the National Congress of Brazil. Created by the first Constitution of the Brazilian Empire in 1824, since the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889 the Federal Senate has resembled the United States Senate. Currently, the Senate comprises 81 seats, three Senators from each of the 26 states and three Senators from the Federal District are elected on a majority basis to serve eight-year terms. Elections are staggered so that two-thirds of the house is up for election at one time. The candidate in each State and the Federal District who achieve the greatest plurality of votes are elected, the current president of the Brazilian Senate is Eunício Oliveira, from the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party of Ceará. He was elected in early 2017 for a two-year term, the Federal Senate of Brazil was established as the Senate of the Empire by the Constitution of 1824, first enacted after the Declaration of Independence. Following independence, in 1822, Emperor Pedro I ordered the convocation of a National Assembly to draft the countrys first Constitution, following several disagreements with the elected deputies, the Emperor dissolved the Assembly. In 1824, Pedro I implemented the first Constitution which established a Legislative branch with the Chamber of Deputies as the house. The first configuration of the Senate was a body to the Emperor. Membership was for life and it was a place of great prestige, members of the Senate were elected, but they had to be at least 40 years old and have an annual income of 800,000 contos-de-réis, which limited candidates to wealthy citizens. Voters also faced an income qualification, voting in an election for the Senate was limited to male citizens with an annual income of at least 200,000 contos-de-réis. Those who qualified for this did not vote directly for Senators, instead, to be a Senate elector required an annual income of 400,000 contos-de-réis. Once elected, these electors would vote for senator. The election itself would not result in a winner automatically, the three candidates receiving the most votes would make up what was called a triple list, from which the Emperor would select one individual that would be considered elected. The Emperor usually chose the candidate with the most votes, the unelected Princes of the Brazilian Imperial House were senators by right and would assume their seats in the Senate upon reaching age 25. The original Senate had 50 members, representing all of the Empires Provinces, following the adoption of the 1824 Constitution the first session of the Senate took place in May 1826. The Emperor had repeatedly delayed calling the first election, which had led to accusations that he would attempt to establish an absolutist government
6.
Brazilian Socialist Party
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The Brazilian Socialist Party is a political party in Brazil. It was founded in 1947, before being abolished by the regime in 1965. It elected six Governors in 2010, becoming the second largest party in number of state governments, in 2014 the party went into opposition, advocating greater economic stability, low inflation, high economic growth, sustainable development, and social welfare programs. The name Brazilian Socialist Party or variants had been used by several small socialist parties of brief existence prior to the foundation of PSB on 1947. PSB has its origins at the end of the Getúlio Vargas Estado Novo regime and its goals were to combine the social changes of the period with broad civil and political liberties. EDs ideology was based on a broad left-wing concept, it advocated that socialism had to be built gradually and legally, through the defense of democracy and a national identity. On 6 August 1947, the Brazilian Socialist Party was founded, maintaining the same program, in its 1947 manifesto, the PSB sought to represent an alternative to the main left-wing parties of that period, Vargas Brazilian Labor Party and the Brazilian Communist Party. PSB opposed the centralism and authoritarianism of Vargas, as well as the labour union structure supported by PTB. They opposed PCBs cult of personality and radical Marxism, which placed the PSB in the center-left spectrum, PSB proposed to be a party of everyone who relies on their own work. Its structure brought a new experience which characterized PSBs democratic profile, through them, Socialist militants could get involved in the party project, discuss national issues and form the orientation and the target of partisan action. In the 1950 election, PSBs candidate, João Mangabeira won only 0. 12% of the vote, at the same time, the PSB approached the PCB, banned in 1947 and operating underground. A number of communists ran for office under the PSBs endorsement, in the 1955 election, the PSB endorsed the UDN candidate, Juarez Távora. In São Paulo, the PSB supported the electoral endeavors of Jânio Quadros, first in the São Paulo mayoral election in 1953 and Quadros successful bid for Governor in 1954. However, the PSBs support for Quadros, a rather middle-class reformer, split the party, in the 1960 election, won by Quadros, the PSB supported the candidacy of Teixeira Lott. The PSB had limited legislative representation between 1947 and 1964, but in 1962 it elected one Senator, Aurélio Viana defeated the UDNs candidate, Juracy Magalhães in Guanabara State. The party supported left-wing President João Goulart, who was overthrown by the military in 1964, most Socialists joined the Brazilian Democratic Movement, the only opposition party recognized by the military regime. Following the fall of the military in 1985, a number of former PSB members joined the Democratic Labour Party or the Workers Party, following re-democratization, a Brazilian Socialist Party was re-organized on the 1947 manifesto. It achieved limited success at the outset, though it elected some legislators and mayors
7.
Democrats (Brazil)
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The Democrats is a political party in Brazil, which is considered the main party within the right-wing spectrum. It was founded in 1985 under the name of Liberal Front Party from a dissidence of the defunct PDS, successor to the ARENA and it changed to its current name in 2007. The original name reflected the support of free market policies. Instead, the party affiliated itself to the federations of Christian democratic. The Democrats identification number is 25 and its colors are green, blue, at the time, Brazil was under the effervescence that put an end to the military regime. On January 10,1984, PDS rejected supporting this proposition, on April 25,1984, the Congress, besieged by Army officials, voted the amendment. It did not reach the quorum for approval, due to the absence of 112 deputies from PDS. After the attempts to have a direct election failed, discussions about the presidential succession turned to the National Congress, which would elect the President indirectly in the following year. The pro-Diretas Já faction of PDS formed the Liberal Front, and decided to support PMDBs candidate Tancredo Neves against PDSs Paulo Maluf, on January 15,1985, the Neves/Sarney presidential ticket got 480 of the 686 votes available in the Congress. Nine days later, on January 24,1985, the Liberal Front officially disbanded from PDS, with the death of Tancredo Neves on April 21,1985, Sarney took office as President. Due to the electoral law that forbade coalitions, Sarney was forced to join PMDB. PFL, however, was an ally of his government. His daughter, Roseana, was a member of PFL until 2006, pFLs Senators, however, had masterminded the candidacy of businessman and television presenter Silvio Santos, a maneuver which had been hampered by the Supreme Electoral Court. From 1994 to 1998, PFL supported Fernando Henrique Cardoso and thus secured the post of vice-president with Marco Maciel, prior to the 2002 election, an operation led by the Federal Police in Maranhão undermined the presidential candidacy of Roseana Sarney, leading to a rupture with the government. In the legislative elections, on October 6,2002, the party won 84 out of 513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 14 out of 54 seats in the Senate. After this election, which saw the rise of Lula of the PT as President, the party reorganized its alliance with Cardosos PSDB in order to form the official opposition in the National Congress. The party does not usually run presidential candidates, but does run gubernatorial candidates in several states, in the 2006 elections, the party lost several state governorships, but won the governorship of the Federal District. However, this governorship was later lost due to a scandal in which Governor José Roberto Arruda was caught on tape receiving bribery from private companies
8.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
9.
Gross domestic product
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Gross Domestic Product is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period. Nominal GDP estimates are used to determine the economic performance of a whole country or region. The OECD defines GDP as a measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident and institutional units engaged in production. ”An IMF publication states that GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services - that is. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the population of the region is the per capita GDP. William Petty came up with a concept of GDP to defend landlords against unfair taxation during warfare between the Dutch and the English between 1652 and 1674. Charles Davenant developed the method further in 1695, the modern concept of GDP was first developed by Simon Kuznets for a US Congress report in 1934. In this report, Kuznets warned against its use as a measure of welfare, after the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, GDP became the main tool for measuring a countrys economy. The switch from GNP to GDP in the US was in 1991, the history of the concept of GDP should be distinguished from the history of changes in ways of estimating it. The value added by firms is relatively easy to calculate from their accounts, but the value added by the sector, by financial industries. GDP can be determined in three ways, all of which should, in principle, give the same result and they are the production approach, the income approach, or the expenditure approach. The most direct of the three is the approach, which sums the outputs of every class of enterprise to arrive at the total. The income approach works on the principle that the incomes of the factors must be equal to the value of their product. This approach mirrors the OECD definition given above, deduct intermediate consumption from gross value to obtain the gross value added. Gross value added = gross value of output – value of intermediate consumption, value of output = value of the total sales of goods and services plus value of changes in the inventories. The sum of the value added in the various economic activities is known as GDP at factor cost. GDP at factor cost plus indirect taxes less subsidies on products = GDP at producer price, for measuring output of domestic product, economic activities are classified into various sectors. Subtracting each sectors intermediate consumption from gross output gives the GDP at factor cost, adding indirect tax minus subsidies in GDP at factor cost gives the GDP at producer prices
10.
Human Development Index
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The Human Development Index is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators, which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development. A country scores higher HDI when the lifespan is higher, the level is higher. The 2010 Human Development Report introduced an Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, while the simple HDI remains useful, it stated that the IHDI is the actual level of human development, and the HDI can be viewed as an index of potential human development. The origins of the HDI are found in the annual Human Development Reports produced by the Human Development Reports Office of the United Nations Development Programme, nobel laureate Amartya Sen, utilized Haqs work in his own work on human capabilities. The following three indices are used,1, Life Expectancy Index = LE −2085 −20 LEI is 1 when Life expectancy at birth is 85 and 0 when Life expectancy at birth is 20. Education Index = MYSI + EYSI22.1 Mean Years of Schooling Index = MYS15 Fifteen is the maximum of this indicator for 2025. 2.2 Expected Years of Schooling Index = EYS18 Eighteen is equivalent to achieving a degree in most countries. Income Index = ln − ln ln − ln II is 1 when GNI per capita is $75,000 and 0 when GNI per capita is $100. Finally, the HDI is the mean of the previous three normalized indices, HDI = LEI ⋅ EI ⋅ II3. Standard of living, as indicated by the logarithm of gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity. This methodology was used by the UNDP until their 2011 report, the formula defining the HDI is promulgated by the United Nations Development Programme. The 2016 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme was released on March 21,2017, below is the list of the very high human development countries, = increase. The number in brackets represents the number of ranks the country has climbed relative to the ranking in the 2015 report, the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index is a measure of the average level of human development of people in a society once inequality is taken into account. The rankings are not relative to the HDI list above due to the exclusion of countries which are missing IHDI data. Countries in the top quartile of HDI with a missing IHDI, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, Brunei, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Andorra, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait. The 2015 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme was released on December 14,2015, below is the list of the very high human development countries, = increase. The number in brackets represents the number of ranks the country has climbed relative to the ranking in the 2014 report, the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index is a measure of the average level of human development of people in a society once inequality is taken into account. Note, The green arrows, red arrows, and blue dashes represent changes in rank, the rankings are not relative to the HDI list above due to the exclusion of countries which are missing IHDI data
11.
Time in Brazil
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Time in Brazil is calculated using standard time, and the country is divided into four standard time zones, UTC−02,00, UTC−03,00, UTC−04,00 and UTC−05,00. Only part of the country observes daylight saving time, or summer time and these areas are the Southern, Southeast and Central-Western Brazilian states. This is the time zone only on a few small offshore Atlantic islands. The only such island with a permanent population is Fernando de Noronha, the other islands either are totally uninhabited or have small seasonally rotating Brazilian Navy garrisons or teams of scientists. This zone is at UTC−02,00 and it not use daylight saving time. The main time zone of Brazil corresponds to the time at the capital city. All the other zones are given as offsets to it. In addition to the Federal District, it comprises the states in the Southeast Region, the South Region, the small islands mentioned above are excepted. Almost 94% of the Brazilian population live in time zone. Outside of summer time, it corresponds to UTC−03,00, during summer time, it changes to UTC−02,00, but this change is not followed by Northern and Northeastern states. Outside of summer time, this time zone corresponds to UTC−04,00, during time, it changes to UTC−03,00. This time zone is used in the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Rondônia, Roraima, although this time zone covers about 34% of the land area of Brazil, little more than 5% of the countrys population live there. Until 2008, the areas of the state of Pará west of the Xingu River and north of the Amazon River were also part of time zone. Although other changes to Brazilian time zones enacted at that time have since been reverted and this time zone was reinstated in 2013, after having been abolished for over five years. It is used in the tip of the country, which includes the entire state of Acre. These areas cover only about 6% of the Brazilian territory and have only about 0. 5% of the countrys population, on 24 June 2008, these areas advanced their clocks by an hour, so that they became part of the UTC−04,00 time zone. However, in a referendum held on 31 October 2010. On 30 October 2013, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff enacted Law 12876, since then, the state of Acre and 13 municipalities in the southwestern part of the state of Amazonas are again 5 hours behind UTC
12.
North Region, Brazil
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The North Region of Brazil is the largest Region of Brazil, corresponding to 45. 27% of the national territory. It is the least inhabited of the country, and contributes with a percentage in the national GDP. It comprises the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and its demographic density is the lowest in Brazil considering all the regions of the country, with only 3.8 inhabitants per km2. Most of the population is centered in urban areas, Belém International Airport and Manaus International Airport connect the North Region with many Brazilian cities and also operate some international flights. The North is home to the Federal University of Amazonas and Federal University of Pará, the Amazon represents over half of the planets remaining rainforests and comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world. Wet tropical forests are the most species-rich biome, and tropical forests in the Americas are consistently more species rich than the wet forests in Africa, as the largest tract of tropical rainforest in the Americas, the Amazonian rainforests have unparalleled biodiversity. More than 1/3 of all species in the live in the Amazon Rainforest. The region is home to about 2.5 million insect species, tens of thousands of plants, and some 2000 birds and mammals species. To date, at least 40,000 plant species,3,000 fish,1,294 birds,427 mammals,428 amphibians, scientists have described between 96,660 and 128,843 invertebrate species in Brazil alone. The diversity of plant species is the highest on earth with some estimating that one square kilometre may contain over 75,000 types of trees and 150,000 species of higher plants. One square kilometre of Amazon rainforest can contain about 90,790 tonnes of living plants and this constitutes the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world. One in five of all the birds in the live in the rainforests of the Amazon. To date, an estimated 438,000 species of plants of economic, the population of northern Brazil is largely made up of Caboclos, descendants of Indians and Europeans - mostly Portuguese, French and Spanish. North of Brazil has received and continues to receive large migration of people from South, in the 20th century, the North also received great migration from the Northeast, who were working in the rubber plantations of Amazonas and Acre. Vehicles,1,746,501, Telephones,1,805,000, Portuguese language is the official national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools. But English and Spanish are part of the high school curriculum. There are only a few highways in the North region, the most important ones are the Trans-Amazonian highway, running through Amazonas, Pará, Piauí, Maranhão, Rodovia Belém-Brasília, Federal District, Goiás, Tocantins, Maranhão. Most of the transportation on the region is done by boat or airplane, there are two major airports in the region, Belém International Airport, serving Belém, and Eduardo Gomes International Airport, serving Manaus
13.
French Guiana
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French Guiana, officially called Guiana, is an overseas department and region of France, located on the north Atlantic coast of South America in the Guyanas. It borders Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west. Its 83,534 km2 area has a low population density of only 3 inhabitants per km2, with half of its 244,118 inhabitants in 2013 living in the metropolitan area of Cayenne. By land area, it is the second largest region of France, both the region and the department have been ruled since December 2015 by a single assembly within the framework of a new territorial collectivity, the French Guiana Territorial Collectivity. This assembly, the French Guiana Assembly, has replaced the regional council and departmental council. The French Guiana Assembly is in charge of regional and departmental government, the area was originally inhabited by Native Americans. The first French establishment is recorded in 1503 but the French presence didnt really become durable until 1643, Guiana then became a slave colony and saw its population increase until the official abolition of slavery at the time of the French revolution. During World War II, the Guianan Félix Éboué was one of the first to stand behind General de Gaulle as early as June 18,1940, Guiana officially rallied Free France in 1943. It definitively abandoned its status as a colony and became again a French department in 1946, de Gaulle, who became president, decided to establish the Guiana Space Center in 1965. It is now operated by the CNES, Arianespace and the European Space Agency, several thousand Hmong refugees from Laos migrated to French Guiana in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Nowadays fully integrated in the French central state, Guiana is a part of the European Union, the region is the most prosperous territory in South America with the highest GDP per capita. A large part of Guianas economy derives from the presence of the Guiana Space Centre, as elsewhere in France, the official language is French, but each ethnic community has its own language, of which Guianan Creole is the most widely spoken. Guiana is derived from an Amerindian language and means land of many waters, French Guiana and the two larger countries to the north and west, Guyana and Suriname, are still often collectively referred to as the Guianas and constitute one large shield landmass. French Guiana was originally inhabited by people, Kalina, Arawak, Emerillon, Galibi, Palikur, Wayampi. The French attempted to create a colony there in the 18th century in conjunction with its settlement of some other Caribbean islands, in this penal colony, the convicts were sometimes used as butterfly catchers. During its existence, France transported approximately 56,000 prisoners to Devils Island, fewer than 10% survived their sentence. In addition, in the nineteenth century, France began requiring forced residencies by prisoners who survived their hard labor. A Portuguese-British naval squadron took French Guiana for the Portuguese Empire in 1809 and it was returned to France with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1814
14.
Atlantic Ocean
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The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
15.
Suriname
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Suriname, officially known as the Republic of Suriname, is a sovereign state on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, at just under 165,000 square kilometers, it is the smallest country in South America. Suriname has a population of approximately 566,000, most of live on the countrys north coast, in and around the capital and largest city. Long inhabited by cultures of indigenous tribes, Suriname was explored and contested by European powers before coming under Dutch rule in the late 17th century. In 1954, the country one of the constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its indigenous peoples have been active in claiming land rights and working to preserve their traditional lands. Suriname is considered to be a culturally Caribbean country, and is a member of the Caribbean Community, while Dutch is the official language of government, business, media, and education, Sranan, an English-based creole language, is a widely used lingua franca. Suriname is the territory outside Europe where Dutch is spoken by a majority of the population. The people of Suriname are among the most diverse in the world, spanning a multitude of ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups. This area was occupied by cultures of indigenous peoples long before European contact, remnants of which can be found in petroglyph sites at Werehpai. The name Suriname may derive from a Taino indigenous people called Surinen, British settlers, who founded the first European colony at Marshalls Creek along the Suriname River, spelled the name as Surinam. When the territory was taken over by the Dutch, it part of a group of colonies known as Dutch Guiana. The official spelling of the countrys English name was changed from Surinam to Suriname in January 1978, a notable example is Surinames national airline, Surinam Airways. The older English name is reflected in the English pronunciation, /ˈsʊrᵻnæm/ or /ˈsʊrᵻnɑːm/, in Dutch, the official language of Suriname, the pronunciation is, with the main stress on the third syllable and a schwa terminal vowel. Indigenous settlement of Suriname dates back to 3,000 BC, the largest tribes were the Arawak, a nomadic coastal tribe that lived from hunting and fishing. They were the first inhabitants in the area, the Carib also settled in the area and conquered the Arawak by using their superior sailing ships. They settled in Galibi at the mouth of the Marowijne River, while the larger Arawak and Carib tribes lived along the coast and savanna, smaller groups of indigenous peoples lived in the inland rainforest, such as the Akurio, Trió, Warrau, and Wayana. Beginning in the 16th century, French, Spanish, and English explorers visited the area, a century later, Dutch and English settlers established plantation colonies along the many rivers in the fertile Guiana plains
16.
The Guianas
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Amapá is a state located in the northern region of Brazil. It is the second least populous state and the eighteenth largest by area. Located in the far part of the country, Amapá is bordered clockwise by French Guiana to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Pará to the south and west. The capital and largest city is Macapá, in the colonial period the region was called Portuguese Guiana and was part of Portugals State of Brazil. Later, the region was distinguished from the other Guianas, Amapá was once part of Pará, but became a separate territory in 1943, and a state in 1990. The dominant feature of the region, and 90 percent of its area, is the Amazon Rainforest. Unexplored forests occupy 70 percent of Amapá, and Tumucumaque Mountains National Park, the estuary of the River Oiapoque, once considered the northernmost point of Brazil, is along the Atlantic Ocean coast at the north of the state. During the colonial era from 1637 to 1654 the Amapá region was merged into the Captaincy of Para, the Amapá region had the highest population of any region of Brazil in the 16th century, with an estimated population of 7 million residents. In the early period the Amapá region was a rich source of lumber, resins, annatto, vegetable oils. The French established sugarcane plantations in this period, with the discovery of mineral deposits the Amapá region was invaded by the English and Dutch, who were ultimately repelled by the Portuguese. The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 established the boundaries between the colony of Brazil and French Guiana, but these were not respected by the French, a fort was constructed at São José de Macapá, now in present-day Macapá, as a base of Portuguese power in the region. In the 18th century, France retook control of the area and this international dispute continued until 1900. French settlers established the State of Counani, the gold rush however brought in Brazilian interests who gained control of the territory, which led to clashes with the French. The dispute was sent for arbitration and on December 1,1900 and it was incorporated it into the state of Pará, with the joint name of Araguari. It became the territory of Amapá in 1943. The discovery of manganese deposits in Serra do Navio in 1945 revolutionized the local economy. Manganese remains the largest source of revenue in the state, Amapá did not achieve statehood until October 5,1988, at the time of the promulgation of the new Brazilian Constitution. The State of Amapá possesses the lowest rate of loss of its original vegetation for any Brazilian state, most of the Amapá territory is covered with rainforest, while the remaining areas are covered with savannah and plains
17.
Portuguese Empire
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The Portuguese Empire, also known as the Portuguese Overseas, was one of the largest and longest-lived empires in world history and the first colonial empire. It existed for almost six centuries from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 to the grant of sovereignty to East Timor in 2002, the first era of the Portuguese empire originated at the beginning of the Age of Discovery. Initiated by the Kingdom of Portugal, it would eventually expand across the globe, in 1488, Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1498, Vasco da Gama reached India. In 1500, either by an accidental landfall or by the secret design. Over the following decades, Portuguese sailors continued to explore the coasts and islands of East Asia, establishing forts, by 1571, a string of naval outposts connected Lisbon to Nagasaki along the coasts of Africa, the Middle East, India and South Asia. This commercial network and the trade had a substantial positive impact on Portuguese economic growth. Though the realms continued to be administered separately, the Council of Portugal ruled the country and its empire from Madrid. As the King of Spain was also King of Portugal, Portuguese colonies became the subject of attacks by three rival European powers hostile to Spain, the Dutch Republic, England, and France. With its smaller population, Portugal was unable to defend its overstretched network of trading posts. Eventually, Brazil became the most valuable colony of the era until, as part of the wave of independence movements that swept the Americas during the early 19th century. The third era represents the stage of Portuguese colonialism after the decolonization of the Americas of the 1820s. The colonial possessions had been reduced to the African coastline, Portuguese Timor, the disastrous 1890 British Ultimatum led to the contraction of Portuguese ambitions in Africa. Macau was returned to China in 1999, the origin of the Kingdom of Portugal lay in the reconquista, the gradual reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from the Moors. There were several motives for their first attack, on the Marinid Sultanate. In 1415 an attack was made on Ceuta, a strategically located North African Muslim enclave along the Mediterranean Sea, although Ceuta proved to be a disappointment for the Portuguese, the decision was taken to hold it while exploring along the Atlantic African coast. At the time, Europeans did not know what lay beyond Cape Bojador on the African coast, under his sponsorship, soon the Atlantic islands of Madeira and Azores were reached and started to be settled producing wheat to export to Portugal. Fears of what lay beyond Cape Bojador, and whether it was possible to return once it was passed, were assuaged in 1434 when it was rounded by one of Infante Henrys captains, Gil Eanes. Once this psychological barrier had been crossed, it became easier to further along the coast
18.
Amazon rainforest
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The Amazon rainforest, also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7,000,000 square kilometres, of which 5,500,000 square kilometres are covered by the rainforest and this region includes territory belonging to nine nations. States or departments in four nations contain Amazonas in their names, the name Amazon is said to arise from a war Francisco de Orellana fought with the Tapuyas and other tribes. The women of the tribe alongside the men, as was their custom. Orellana derived the name Amazonas from the Amazons of Greek mythology, the rainforest likely formed during the Eocene era. It appeared following a reduction of tropical temperatures when the Atlantic Ocean had widened sufficiently to provide a warm. Following the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the extinction of the dinosaurs, from 66–34 Mya, the rainforest extended as far south as 45°. Climate fluctuations during the last 34 million years have allowed savanna regions to expand into the tropics, during the Oligocene, for example, the rainforest spanned a relatively narrow band. It expanded again during the Middle Miocene, then retracted to a mostly inland formation at the last glacial maximum, however, the rainforest still managed to thrive during these glacial periods, allowing for the survival and evolution of a broad diversity of species. During the mid-Eocene, it is believed that the basin of the Amazon was split along the middle of the continent by the Purus Arch. Water on the eastern side flowed toward the Atlantic, while to the west water flowed toward the Pacific across the Amazonas Basin, as the Andes Mountains rose, however, a large basin was created that enclosed a lake, now known as the Solimões Basin. Within the last 5–10 million years, this accumulating water broke through the Purus Arch, there is evidence that there have been significant changes in Amazon rainforest vegetation over the last 21,000 years through the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent deglaciation. There is debate, however, over how extensive this reduction was, more than 56% of the dust fertilizing the Amazon rainforest comes from the Bodélé depression in Northern Chad in the Sahara desert. The dust contains phosphorus, important for plant growth, the yearly Sahara dust replaces the equivalent amount of phosphorus washed away yearly in Amazon soil from rains and floods. Up to 50 million tonnes of Sahara dust per year are blown across the Atlantic Ocean, CALIPSO uses a laser range finder to scan the Earths atmosphere for the vertical distribution of dust and other aerosols. CALIPSO regularly tracks the Sahara-Amazon dust plume, CALIPSO has measured variations in the dust amounts transported— an 86 percent drop between the highest amount of dust transported in 2007 and the lowest in 2011. A possibility causing the variation is the Sahel, a strip of land on the southern border of the Sahara. When rain amounts in the Sahel are higher, the volume of dust is lower, the higher rainfall could make more vegetation grow in the Sahel, leaving less sand exposed to winds to blow away
19.
Oyapock
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The Oyapock or Oiapoque River is a 370-km –long river in South America that forms most of the border between French Guiana and the Brazilian state of Amapá. The Oyapock runs through the Guianan moist forests ecoregion and it rises in the Tumuk Humak mountain range and flows into the Atlantic Ocean, where its estuary forms a large bay bordering on Cape Orange. In Brazil, both the cape and the mouth of the Oyapock are often mistaken for the countrys northernmost point. Yet the true northernmost point in Brazil is actually far inland, on Monte Caburaí, in the state of Roraima, hundreds of kilometers from the Oyapock and almost a full degree more to the north. Vicente Yáñez Pinzón was said to be the first European person to see the Oiapoque River in the first years of the 16th century and it has been rendered Japoc, Yapoc, Iapoco, Wiapoco, and even called the Vicente Pinzón River. Early European colonists referred to the river as the Wiapoco, and it was the site of early settlements by Briton Robert Harcourt in 1608, the name Oiapoque has been officially used from 1900, when a territorial dispute between Brazil and France was resolved through Swiss diplomatic arbitration. In addition to the towns of Oiapoque and Saint-Georges de lOyapock, there are some small villages scattered along the bank of the Oyapock. The Oyapock River Bridge has been built across the river to connect the Brazilian town of Oiapoque, a 24-hour test opening was scheduled for 16 January 2017. Thus, the saying is used in the way as Americans use the expression from coast to coast
20.
Wood
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Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees, and other woody plants. It is a material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers which are strong in tension embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression. Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees, in a living tree it performs a support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up by themselves. It also conveys water and nutrients between the leaves, other growing tissues, and the roots, Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, or wood chips or fiber. In 2005, the stock of forests worldwide was about 434 billion cubic meters. As an abundant, carbon-neutral renewable resource, woody materials have been of intense interest as a source of renewable energy, in 1991 approximately 3.5 billion cubic meters of wood were harvested. Dominant uses were for furniture and building construction, a 2011 discovery in the Canadian province of New Brunswick discovered the earliest known plants to have grown wood, approximately 395 to 400 million years ago. Wood can be dated by carbon dating and in species by dendrochronology to make inferences about when a wooden object was created. People have used wood for millennia for many purposes, primarily as a fuel or as a material for making houses, tools, weapons, furniture, packaging, artworks. Constructions using wood date back ten thousand years, buildings like the European Neolithic long house were made primarily of wood. Recent use of wood has changed by the addition of steel. The year-to-year variation in tree-ring widths and isotopic abundances gives clues to the climate at that time. This process is known as growth, it is the result of cell division in the vascular cambium, a lateral meristem. These cells then go on to form thickened secondary cell walls, composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose, if the distinctiveness between seasons is annual, these growth rings are referred to as annual rings. Where there is little seasonal difference growth rings are likely to be indistinct or absent, if the bark of the tree has been removed in a particular area, the rings will likely be deformed as the plant overgrows the scar. It is usually lighter in color than that near the portion of the ring. The outer portion formed later in the season is known as the latewood or summerwood. However, there are differences, depending on the kind of wood
21.
Resin
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In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. They are often mixtures of compounds, principally terpenes. Many plants, particularly woody plants, produce resin in response to injury, the resin acts as a bandage protecting the plant from invading insects and pathogens. Plants secrete resins and rosins for their protective benefits, the resin produced by most plants is composed mainly of terpenes and derivatives. Some resins also contain a proportion of resin acids. The individual components of resin can be separated by fractional distillation, rosins on the other hand are less volatile and consist, inter alia, of diterpenes. Amber is fossil resin from coniferous and other tree species, copal, kauri gum, dammar and other resins may also be found as subfossil deposits. Subfossil copal can be distinguished from genuine fossil amber because it becomes tacky when a drop of a solvent such as acetone or chloroform is placed on it, african copal and the kauri gum of New Zealand are also procured in a semi-fossil condition. Solidified resin from which the volatile terpene components have been removed by distillation is known as rosin, typical rosin is a transparent or translucent mass, with a vitreous fracture and a faintly yellow or brown colour, non-odorous or having only a slight turpentine odor and taste. Rosin is insoluble in water, mostly soluble in alcohol, essential oils, ether and hot fatty oils, and softens and melts under the influence of heat, rosin consists of a complex mixture of different substances including organic acids named the resin acids. These are closely related to the terpenes, and derive from them through partial oxidation, Resin acids can be dissolved in alkalis to form resin soaps, from which the purified resin acids are regenerated by treatment with acids. Examples of resin acids are abietic acid, C20H30O2, plicatic acid contained in cedar, and pimaric acid, C20H30O2, a constituent of galipot resin. Abietic acid can also be extracted from rosin by means of hot alcohol, it crystallizes in leaflets, pimaric acid closely resembles abietic acid into which it passes when distilled in a vacuum, it has been supposed to consist of three isomers. Rosin is obtained from pines and some plants, mostly conifers. Propolis, consisting largely of resins collected from such as poplars and conifers, is used by honey bees to seal gaps in their hives. Shellac and lacquer are examples of insect-derived resins, asphaltite and Utah resin are petroleum bitumens, not a product secreted by plants, although it was ultimately derived from plants. These were highly prized substances, and required as incense in religious rites. The word resin has been applied in the world to nearly any component of a liquid that will set into a hard lacquer or enamel-like finish
22.
Annatto
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Annatto is an orange-red condiment and food coloring derived from the seeds of the achiote tree. It is often used to impart a yellow or orange color to foods and its scent is described as slightly peppery with a hint of nutmeg and flavor as slightly nutty, sweet and peppery. The color of annatto comes from carotenoid pigments, mainly bixin and norbixin. The condiment is typically prepared by grinding the seeds to a powder or paste, similar effects can be obtained by extracting some of the color and flavor principles from the seeds with hot water, oil, or lard, which are then added to the food. In these uses, annatto is an alternative to synthetic food coloring compounds. Annatto is of commercial value in the United States because the Food. The annatto tree B. orellana is believed to originate from Brazil and it was probably not initially used as a food additive, but for other purposes such as ritual and decorative body painting, sunscreen, and insect repellent, and for medical purposes. It was used for Mexican manuscript painting in the 16th century and it is also called by local names such as achiote, bija, roucou, koesoewe or kusuwe, onoto, atsuete, or colorau. Its use has spread in times to other parts of the world. Ground annatto seeds, often mixed with seeds or spices, are used in form of paste or powder for culinary use, especially in Latin American, Jamaican, Chamorro. Many cuisines traditionally use annatto in recipes of Spanish origin that originally call for saffron, for example, in arroz con pollo, in Venezuela, annatto is used in the preparation of hallacas, perico, and other traditional dishes. Annatto seeds are also a component of some local sauces and condiments, such as recado rojo in Yucatán, Annatto paste is an important ingredient of cochinita pibil, the spicy pork dish popular in Mexico. It is also a key ingredient in the drink tascalate from Chiapas, in the Philippines it is used for the sauce of pancit. Annatto is used currently to impart a yellow or orange color to many industrialized and semi-industrialized foods, in the European Union, it is identified by the E number E160b. Annatto has been a traditional colorant for Gloucester cheese since the 16th century, during the summer, the high levels of carotene in the grass would have given the milk an orange tint which was carried through into the cheese. This orange hue came to be regarded as an indicator of the best cheese, the custom of adding annatto then spread to other parts of the UK, for cheeses such as Chesire and Red Leicester, as well as colored cheddar made in Scotland. Many cheddars are produced in white and red varieties, with the latter being more popular despite the only difference between the two being the presence of annatto as a coloring. That practice has extended to many modern processed cheese products, such as American cheese, the yellow to orange color is produced by the chemical compounds bixin and norbixin, which are classified as carotenoids
23.
Salted fish
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Salted fish, such as kippered herring or dried and salted cod, is fish cured with dry salt and thus preserved for later eating. Drying or salting, either dry salt or with brine, was the only widely available method of preserving fish until the 19th century. Dried fish and salted fish are a staple of diets in the Caribbean, North Africa, Southeast Asia, Southern China, Scandinavia, coastal Russia, like other salt-cured meats, it provides preserved animal protein even in the absence of electrically powered refrigeration. Salting is the preservation of food with dry edible salt and it is related to pickling, and is one of the oldest methods of preserving food. Salt inhibits the growth of microorganisms by drawing out of microbial cells through osmosis. Concentrations of salt up to 20% are required to kill most species of unwanted bacteria, smoking, often used in the process of curing meat, adds chemicals to the surface of meat that reduce the concentration of salt required. Salting is used because most bacteria, fungi and other pathogenic organisms cannot survive in a highly salty environment. Any living cell in such an environment will become dehydrated through osmosis, the water activity, aw, in a fish is defined as the ratio of the water vapour pressure in the flesh of the fish to the vapour pressure of pure water at the same temperature and pressure. It ranges between 0 and 1, and is a parameter that measures how available the water is in the flesh of the fish, available water is necessary for the microbial and enzymatic reactions involved in spoilage. There are a number of techniques that have been or are used to tie up the water or remove it by reducing the aw. Traditionally, techniques such as drying, salting and smoking have been used, in more recent times, freeze-drying, water binding humectants, and fully automated equipment with temperature and humidity control have been added. Often a combination of techniques is used
24.
Sugarcane
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It has stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in the sugar sucrose, which accumulates in the stalk internodes. The plant is two to six meters tall, all sugar cane species interbreed and the major commercial cultivars are complex hybrids. Sugarcane belongs to the grass family Poaceae, an important seed plant family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum. Sucrose, extracted and purified in specialized factories, is used as raw material in the food industry or is fermented to produce ethanol. Ethanol is produced on a large scale by the Brazilian sugarcane industry, sugarcane is the worlds largest crop by production quantity. In 2012, The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates it was cultivated on about 26×106 hectares, in more than 90 countries, Brazil was the largest producer of sugar cane in the world. The next five major producers, in decreasing amounts of production, were India, China, Thailand, Pakistan, the world demand for sugar is the primary driver of sugarcane agriculture. Cane accounts for 80% of sugar produced, most of the rest is made from sugar beets, sugarcane predominantly grows in the tropical and subtropical regions. Other than sugar, products derived from sugarcane include falernum, molasses, rum, cachaça, bagasse, in some regions, people use sugarcane reeds to make pens, mats, screens, and thatch. The young, unexpanded inflorescence of tebu telor is eaten raw, steamed, or toasted, the Persians, followed by the Greeks, discovered the famous reeds that produce honey without bees in India between the 6th and 4th centuries BC. They adopted and then spread sugarcane agriculture, merchants began to trade in sugar from India, which was considered a luxury and an expensive spice. Sugarcane is a tropical, perennial grass that forms lateral shoots at the base to produce multiple stems, the stems grow into cane stalk, which when mature constitutes around 75% of the entire plant. A mature stalk is composed of 11–16% fiber, 12–16% soluble sugars, 2–3% nonsugars. A sugarcane crop is sensitive to the climate, soil type, irrigation, fertilizers, insects, disease control, varieties, the average yield of cane stalk is 60–70 tonnes per hectare per year. However, this figure can vary between 30 and 180 tonnes per hectare depending on knowledge and crop management approach used in sugarcane cultivation, sugarcane is a cash crop, but it is also used as livestock fodder. Sugarcane is indigenous to tropical South and Southeast Asia, different species likely originated in different locations, with Saccharum barberi originating in India and S. edule and S. officinarum in New Guinea. It is theorized that sugarcane was first domesticated as a crop in New Guinea around 6000 BC, New Guinean farmers and other early cultivators of sugarcane chewed the plant for its sweet juice. The exact date of the first cane sugar production is unclear, the earliest evidence of sugar production comes from ancient Sanskrit and Pali texts
25.
British colonization of the Americas
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British colonization of the Americas began in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia and reached its peak when colonies had been established throughout the Americas. The British were among the most important colonizers of the Americas, three types of colonies existed in the British Empire in America during the height of its power in the 18th Century. These were charter colonies, proprietary colonies and royal colonies, a group of 13 British American colonies collectively broke from the British Empire in the 1770s through a successful revolution, establishing the modern United States. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, British territories in the Americas were slowly granted more responsible government, in 1838 the Durham Report recommended full responsible government for Canada, but this was not fully implemented for another decade. Eventually, with the Confederation of Canada, the Canadian colonies were granted significant autonomy, other colonies in the Americas followed at a much slower pace. In this way, two countries in North America, ten in the Caribbean, and one in South America have received their independence from the United Kingdom, all of these are members of the Commonwealth of Nations and nine are Commonwealth realms. The eight current British overseas territories in the Americas have varying degrees of self-government, a number of English colonies were established under a system of Proprietary Governors, who were appointed under mercantile charters to English joint stock companies to found and run settlements. In 1607, Jamestown, Virginia was founded by the London Company, in Newfoundland, a chartered company known as the Society of Merchant Venturers established a permanent settlement at Cupers Cove, from 1610. St. Georges, Bermuda was founded by the Virginia Company, in 1664, England took over the Dutch colony of New Netherland which England renamed the Province of New York. With New Netherland, the English also came to control the former New Sweden and this later became part of Pennsylvania after that was established in 1680. The Kingdom of Scotland tried unsuccessfully to establish a colony at Darién, thousands of Scotsmen also participated in English colonization before the two countries were united in 1707. The Kingdom of Great Britain acquired the French colony of Acadia in 1713 and then Canada, in the north, the Hudsons Bay Company actively traded for fur with the indigenous peoples, and had competed with French, Aboriginal, and Metis fur traders. The company came to control the entire basin of Hudson Bay. The small part of the Hudson Bay drainage south of the 49th parallel went to the United States in the Anglo-American Convention of 1818. Great Britain also colonised the west coast of North America, indirectly via the Hudsons Bay Company licenses west of the Rocky Mountains, the Columbia District and New Caledonia fur district. British Columbia was expanded with the inclusion of the Stikine Territory in 1863, in 1867, the colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Province of Canada combined to form a self-governing dominion, named Canada, within the British Empire. Quebec and Nova Scotia had been ceded to Britain by the French, the colonies of Prince Edward Island and British Columbia joined over the next six years, and Newfoundland joined in 1949. Ruperts Land and the North-Western Territory were ceded to Canada in 1870 and this area now consists of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, as well as the Northwest Territories, the Yukon Territory, and Nunavut
26.
Dutch colonization of the Americas
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Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. While the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600, actual colonization, with Dutch settling in the new lands, was not as common as with other European nations. Hudson entered the Upper New York Bay by sailboat, heading up the Hudson River, Block Island and Block Island Sound are befittingly named in his honor. Block quickly ascended and became Manhattans first monopolist, after some early trading expeditions, the first Dutch settlement in the Americas was founded in 1615, Fort Nassau, on Castle Island along the Hudson, near present-day Albany. The settlement served mostly as an outpost for trading in fur with the native Lenape tribespeople, both forts were named in honor of the House of Orange-Nassau. By 1621, the United Provinces had charted a new company, a monopoly in the Americas and West Africa. The WIC sought recognition as founders of the New World – which they ultimately did as founders of a new Province in 1623 and that year, another Fort Nassau was built on the Delaware River near Gloucester City, New Jersey. The colony expanded to outlying areas at Pavonia, Brooklyn, Bronx, on the Connecticut River, Fort Huys de Goede Hoop was completed in 1633 at present day Hartford. By 1636, the English from Newtown settled on the side of the Little River. In the Treaty of Hartford, the border of New Netherland was retracted to western Connecticut and by 1653, settlements at Fort Nassau and the short-lived Fort Beversreede were abandoned and consolidated at Fort Casimir. By 1655 Fort Christina, sitting in what is today Wilmington, had already been renamed Fort Altena, not all inhabitants of New Netherlands, Manahattas first European colonizers, were ethnically Dutch, but in reality came from many European countries. In 1664, an English naval expedition ordered by Prince James, Duke of York and of Albany sailed in the harbor at New Amsterdam, being greatly outnumbered, Director-General Peter Stuyvesant surrendered after negotiating favorable articles of capitulation. The Province then took a new name, New York, Fort Orange was renamed Fort Albany. The region between the lower Hudson and the Delaware was deeded to proprietors and called New Jersey, the loss of New Netherland led to the Second Anglo–Dutch War during 1665–1667. This conflict ended with the Treaty of Breda, which stipulated that the Dutch give up their claim to New Netherlands in exchange for Suriname. From 1673 to 1674, the territories were once again captured by the Dutch in the Third Anglo–Dutch War. In 1674, Dutch navy captain Jurriaen Aernoutsz also briefly captured two forts in the French colony of Acadia, which he claimed as Dutch territory the new colony of New Holland. Dutch colonization in the Caribbean started in the 1634 on St. Croix and Tobago, followed in 1631 with settlements on Tortuga, when the Dutch lost Sint Maarten to the Spanish, they settled Curaçao and Sint Eustatius
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Portuguese colonization of the Americas
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Portugal was the leading country in the European exploration of the world in the 15th century. The Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 divided the Earth outside Europe into Castilian and Portuguese global territorial hemispheres for exclusive conquest, Portugal colonized parts of South America, but also made some unsuccessful attempts to colonize North America in present-day Canada. Fragmentary evidence also suggests an expedition in 1473 by João Vaz Corte-Real, their father, with other Europeans. Their existence is based on brief or fragmentary historical documents that are unclear concerning the destinations of voyages, in 1506, King Manuel I of Portugal created taxes for the cod fisheries in Newfoundland waters. João Álvares Fagundes and Pêro de Barcelos established fishing outposts in Newfoundland and these were later abandoned, however, when Portuguese colonizers began to focus their efforts mainly on South America. Nonetheless, the Portuguese-founded town of Portugal Cove-St. Philips, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada remains important as a cultural center, even today. On 21 April 1500, a mountain was seen that was named Monte Pascoal, believing the land to be an island, he named it Ilha de Vera Cruz. The previous expedition of Vasco da Gama to India already recorded several signs of land near its western open Atlantic Ocean route, from the east coast, the fleet then turned eastward to resume the journey to the southern tip of Africa and India. Landing in the New World and reaching Asia, the expedition connected four continents for the first time in history, in 1501–1502, an expedition led by Gonçalo Coelho, sailed south along the coast of South America to the bay of present-day Rio de Janeiro. Among his crew was the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci, according to Vespucci, the expedition reached the latitude South Pole elevation 52° S in the cold latitudes of what is now Patagonia, near the Strait of Magellan, before turning back. Vespucci wrote that they headed toward the southwest-south, following a long, unbending coastline and this seems controversial, since he changed part of his description in the subsequent letter, maintaining, however, that they reached a similar 50° S latitude. Amerigo Vespucci participated as observer in four Spanish and Portuguese exploratory voyages, the expeditions became widely known in Europe after two accounts attributed to him, published between 1502 and 1504. The explorers also reported that after going by the 40th parallel to south, along the coast, they found a land or point extending into the sea, and further south, a Gulf. São Vicente, by its democratic municipal prerogatives and by the elections to its first Câmara on August 22,1532, is symbolically considered the birthplace of democracy in the Americas. From 1534 to 1536,15 Captaincy colonies were created in Portuguese America, the captaincies were autonomous, and mostly private, colonies of the Portuguese Empire, each owned and run by a Captain-major. In 1549, due to their failure and limited success, the Captaincy Colonies of Brazil were united into the Governorate General of Brazil, the captaincy colonies were reorganized as provincial districts to the Governorate. The captaincies continued to be ruled by their hereditary captain-majors but they now reported to the Governor-General of Brazil, the new system was implemented so that Portuguese America could be managed correctly and provide a steady and wealthy income for the Portuguese Empire. The capital of the new governorate established its capital at São Salvador, with permanent settlement came the establishment of the sugar cane industry and its intensive labor demands which were met with Native and later African slaves
28.
Treaty of Utrecht
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The treaties between several European states, including Spain, Great Britain, France, Portugal, Savoy and the Dutch Republic, helped end the war. They marked the end of French ambitions of hegemony in Europe expressed in the wars of Louis XIV, the War of the Spanish Succession was occasioned by the failure of the Habsburg king, Charles II of Spain, to produce an heir. Dispute followed the death of Charles II in 1700, and fourteen years of war were the result, France and Great Britain had come to terms in October 1711, when the preliminaries of peace had been signed in London. The preliminaries were based on an acceptance of the partition of Spains European possessions. Following this, the Congress of Utrecht opened on 29 January 1712, with the British representatives being John Robinson, Bishop of Bristol, and Thomas Wentworth, Lord Strafford. Reluctantly the United Provinces accepted the preliminaries and sent representatives, and this assurance was given, and so in February the Imperial representatives made their appearance. As Philip was not yet recognized as its king, Spain did not at first send plenipotentiaries, but the Duke of Savoy sent one, and the Kingdom of Portugal was represented by Luís da Cunha. With Great Britain and France having agreed upon a truce, the pace of negotiation now quickened, and the main treaties were finally signed on 11 April 1713. The treaty recognised Louis XIVs grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou, as King of Spain, however, Philip was compelled to renounce for himself and his descendants any right to the French throne. In similar fashion various French princelings, including most notably the Duke of Berry, Utrecht marked the rise of Great Britain under Anne and later the House of Hanover, her exploits martial were due to Marlborough. Portugal had its sovereignty recognised over the lands between the Amazon and Oyapock rivers, in Brazil, in 1715, the Portuguese also recovered Colónia do Sacramento, previously taken by Spain in Uruguay. In North America, France ceded to Great Britain its claims to Newfoundland and they also ceded the Acadian colony of Nova Scotia. The formerly partitioned island of Saint Kitts was also ceded in its entirety to Britain, France was required to recognise British suzerainty over the Iroquois and commerce with the Far Indians was to be open to traders of all nations. France retained its other pre-war North American possessions, including Île-Saint-Jean, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, as well as Île Royale, a series of commercial treaties were also signed. The treatys territorial provisions did not go as far as the Whigs in Britain would have liked, considering that the French had made overtures for peace in 1706, the Whigs considered themselves the heirs of the staunch anti-French policies of William III and the Duke of Marlborough. However, in the Parliament of 1710 the Tories had gained control of the House of Commons, Queen Anne and her advisors had also come to agree. The French negotiator Melchior de Polignac taunted the Dutch with the scathing remark de vous, chez vous, sans vous, meaning that negotiations would be held about you, around you, without you. In any case, the Dutch achieved their condominium in the Austrian Netherlands with the Austro-Dutch Barrier Treaty of 1715
29.
Colonial Brazil
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Slaves, especially those brought from Africa, provided most of the working force of the Brazilian export economy after a brief period of Indian slavery to cut brazilwood. The boom and bust economic cycles were linked to export products, gold and diamonds were discovered and mined in southern Brazil through the end of the colonial era. Brazilian cities were largely port cities and the administrative capital was moved several times in response to the rise. Unlike Spanish America that fragmented in many republics, Brazil remained as an administrative unit with a monarch. Like Spanish America with European Spanish, Brazil had linguistic integrity of Portuguese, both Spanish America and Brazil were Roman Catholic. The Portuguese identified brazilwood as a red dye and an exploitable product. Its maritime exploration then proceeded down the coast of West Africa and they sought the sources of gold, ivory, and African slaves that were high value goods of the African trade. The Portuguese set up fortified trading factories, whereby permanent, fairly small commercial settlements anchored trade in a region, the initial costs of setting up these commercial posts was borne by private investors, who in turn received hereditary titles and commercial advantages. From the Portuguese crowns point of view, its realm was expanded with relatively little cost to itself, the most decisive of these treaties was the Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in 1494, that created the Tordesillas Meridian, dividing the world between those two kingdoms. All land discovered or to be discovered east of that meridian was to be the property of Portugal, the Tordesillas Meridian divided South America into two parts, leaving a large chunk of land to be exploited by the Spaniards. The Treaty of Tordesillas was arguably the most decisive event in all Brazilian history, the present extent of Brazils coastline is almost exactly that defined by the treaty of Madrid, which was approved in 1750. On April 22,1500, during the reign of King Manuel I, although it is debated whether previous Portuguese explorers had already been in Brazil, this date is widely and politically accepted as the day of the discovery of Brazil by Europeans. Álvares Cabral was leading a fleet of 13 ships and more than 1000 men following Vasco da Gamas way to India. The place where Álvares Cabral arrived is now known as Porto Seguro, after the voyage of Álvares Cabral, the Portuguese concentrated their efforts on the lucrative possessions in Africa and India and showed little interest in Brazil. Between 1500 and 1530, relatively few Portuguese expeditions came to the new land to chart the coast, in Europe, this wood was used to produce a valuable dye to give color to luxury textiles. Over time, the Portuguese realized that some European countries, especially France, were also sending excursions to the land to extract brazilwood. Worried about foreign incursions and hoping to find riches, the Portuguese crown decided to send large missions to take possession of the land. In 1530, an expedition led by Martim Afonso de Sousa arrived in Brazil to patrol the entire coast, ban the French, at first, Brazil was set up as fifteen private, hereditary captaincies
30.
Gold
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Gold is a chemical element with symbol Au and atomic number 79. In its purest form, it is a bright, slightly yellow, dense, soft, malleable. Chemically, gold is a metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements and is solid under standard conditions, Gold often occurs in free elemental form, as nuggets or grains, in rocks, in veins, and in alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the element silver and also naturally alloyed with copper. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium, golds atomic number of 79 makes it one of the higher numbered, naturally occurring elements. It is thought to have produced in supernova nucleosynthesis, from the collision of neutron stars. Because the Earth was molten when it was formed, almost all of the present in the early Earth probably sank into the planetary core. Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia, a mixture of acid and hydrochloric acid. Gold also dissolves in solutions of cyanide, which are used in mining and electroplating. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but this is not a chemical reaction, as a precious metal, gold has been used for coinage, jewelry, and other arts throughout recorded history. A total of 186,700 tonnes of gold is in existence above ground, the world consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments, and 10% in industry. Gold is also used in infrared shielding, colored-glass production, gold leafing, certain gold salts are still used as anti-inflammatories in medicine. As of 2014, the worlds largest gold producer by far was China with 450 tonnes, Gold is cognate with similar words in many Germanic languages, deriving via Proto-Germanic *gulþą from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-. The symbol Au is from the Latin, aurum, the Latin word for gold, the Proto-Indo-European ancestor of aurum was *h₂é-h₂us-o-, meaning glow. This word is derived from the root as *h₂éu̯sōs, the ancestor of the Latin word Aurora. This etymological relationship is presumably behind the frequent claim in scientific publications that aurum meant shining dawn, Gold is the most malleable of all metals, a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of 1 square meter, and an avoirdupois ounce into 300 square feet. Gold leaf can be thin enough to become semi-transparent
31.
Natural rubber
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Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds, plus water. Malaysia and Indonesia are two of the leading rubber producers, forms of polyisoprene that are used as natural rubbers are classified as elastomers. Currently, rubber is harvested mainly in the form of the latex from the tree or others. The latex is a sticky, milky colloid drawn off by making incisions in the bark, the latex then is refined into rubber ready for commercial processing. In major areas, latex is allowed to coagulate in the collection cup, the coagulated lumps are collected and processed into dry forms for marketing. Natural rubber is used extensively in many applications and products, either alone or in combination with other materials, in most of its useful forms, it has a large stretch ratio and high resilience, and is extremely waterproof. The major commercial source of rubber latex is the Pará rubber tree. This species is preferred because it grows well under cultivation, a properly managed tree responds to wounding by producing more latex for several years. Congo rubber, formerly a source of rubber, came from vines in the genus Landolphia. These cannot be cultivated, and the drive to collect latex from wild plants was responsible for many of the atrocities committed under the Congo Free State. The latex exhibits the quality as the natural rubber from rubber trees. In the wild types of dandelion, latex content is low, in Nazi Germany, research projects tried to use dandelions as a base for rubber production, but failed. In collaboration with Continental Tires, IME began a pilot facility, many other plants produce forms of latex rich in isoprene polymers, though not all produce usable forms of polymer as easily as the Pará. Some of them require more processing to produce anything like usable rubber. Some produce other desirable materials, for example gutta-percha and chicle from Manilkara species, the term gum rubber is sometimes applied to the tree-obtained version of natural rubber in order to distinguish it from the synthetic version. The first use of rubber was by the cultures of Mesoamerica. The earliest archeological evidence of the use of latex from the Hevea tree comes the Olmec culture. The Pará rubber tree is indigenous to South America, charles Marie de La Condamine is credited with introducing samples of rubber to the Académie Royale des Sciences of France in 1736
32.
Republic of Independent Guyana
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The Republic of Independent Guyana commonly referred to by the name of the capital Counani, was a short-lived independent state in South America. Counani was created on 23 July 1886 in the area that was disputed by France, the state was founded by French settlers and existed from 1886 to 1891. The territory of the state of Counani is now located in the Brazilian state of Amapá. Some years after, in 1904 a French named Adolphe Brezet self-proclaimed himself Président de lÉtat libre de Counani and this special State had a constitution, a flag and issued some stamps. It was never recognized by Brazil or France, but the South African Boer Republics opened diplomatic relations with Brezet during the Boer wars
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