Description

The national flag of Brazil (Portuguese: Bandeira do Brasil), oftencolloquially called the Auriverde (The Gold and Green), is a bluedisc depicting a starry sky spanned by a curved band inscribed withthe national motto, within a gold rhombus, on a green field. Brazilofficially adopted this design for its national flag on November19, 1888, replacing the flag of the Empire of Brazil. The conceptwas the work of Raimundo Teixeira Mendes, with the collaboration ofMiguel Lemos, Manuel Pereira Reis and Décio Villares. The greenfield and the gold rhombus from the previous imperial flag werepreserved — the green represented the House of Braganza of Pedro I,the first Emperor of Brazil, while the gold represented the Houseof Habsburg of his wife, Empress Maria Leopoldina. A blue circlewith 27 white five-pointed stars replaced the arms of the Empire ofBrazil. The stars, whose position in the flag reflect the sky overRio de Janeiro on November 15, 1889, represent the union'sfederated units - each star representing a specific state, plus onefor the Federal District. Brazil was inhabited solely by indigenouspeople, mainly of the Tupi and Guarani ethnic groups. Settling bythe Portuguese began late in the 16th century, with the extractionof valuable wood from the pau brasil tree, from which the countrydraws its name. Brazil was settled by the Portuguese and not theSpanish, as were the rest of Central, South and parts of NorthAmerica in the New World. Despite Portuguese rule, some parts ofBrazil formed a Dutch colony between 1630 and 1654. They foundedseveral cities, such as Mauritsville (actually Recife, capital ofthe state of Pernambuco, at the edge of North-East of the country),and many sugar cane plantations. The Dutch fought a grim jungle warwith the Portuguese, and without the support of the Republic oftheir homeland due to a war with England, the Dutch surrendered tothe Portuguese, though they did not officially recognize Portugueserule, which led to an all-out war with Portugal off the coast ofPortugal in 1656. In 1665 the Peace Treaty of The Hague was signed,Portugal lost its Asian colonies and had to pay 63 tons of gold tocompensate the Dutch Republic for the loss of its colony. Brazilbecame the centre of the Portuguese Empire by 1808, when the KingDom João VI (John VI) fled from Napoleon's invasion of Portugal andestablished himself and his government in the city of Rio deJaneiro. The following centuries saw further exploitation of thecountry's natural riches such as gold and rubber, alongside therise of an economy based largely on sugar, coffee and African slavelabour. Meanwhile, extermination and Christianizing of natives keptits pace, and in the 19th and 20th centuries a second wave ofimmigration took place, mainly Italian, German (in southernBrazil), Spanish, Japanese (in São Paulo and Paraná states) andPortuguese, making Brazilian culture and society complex andunique. Following three centuries under the rule of Portugal,Brazil became an independent nation on September 7th, 1822. Until1889 Brazil was an Empire under the rule of Dom Pedro I and his sonDom Pedro II. By this time, it became an emerging internationalpower. But during these three and a half centuries, Brazil was thenation in the Americas with the most widespread slavery, the firstto bring African people to work by force, and the last to set themfree. Due to English laws against slavery (some argue more foreconomic contests than humanity reasons) and fighting between whiteand black people, slaves and free, for abolition, slavery ended in1888. But freedom didn't mean equality to the now-free black peopleand their descendants.