DonaTeresa Cristina (14 March 1822 – 28 December 1889), nicknamed "the Mother of the Brazilians", was Empress of Brazil as the consort of Emperor Dom Pedro II from their marriage on 30 May 1843 until 15 November 1889, when the monarchy was abolished. Born a princess of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in present-day southern Italy, Teresa Cristina was the daughter of King Don Francesco I (Francis I) of the Italian branch of the House of Bourbon and his wife Maria Isabel (Maria Isabella). It was long believed by historians that the Princess was raised in an ultra-conservative, intolerant atmosphere which resulted in a timid and unassertive character in public and an ability to be contented with very little materially or emotionally. Recent studies revealed a more complex character, who despite having respected the social norms of the era, was able to assert a limited independence due to her strongly opinionated personality as well as her interest in learning, sciences and culture.
The Princess was married by proxy to Pedro II in 1843. Her spouse's expectations had been raised when a portrait was presented that depicted Teresa Cristina as an idealized beauty, but he was displeased by his bride's appearance upon their first meeting later that year. Despite a cold beginning on the part of Pedro, the couple's relationship improved as time passed, due primarily to Teresa Cristina's patience, kindness and generosity. These traits also helped her win the hearts of the Brazilian people, and her distance from political controversies shielded her from criticism. She also sponsored archaeological studies in Italy and Italian immigration to Brazil. (Full article...)
Massa started the race alongside Toyota driver Jarno Trulli. Massa's teammate Räikkönen began from third next to McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton. Rain fell minutes before the race, delaying the start, and as the track dried Massa established a lead of several seconds. More rain late in the race made the last few laps treacherous for the drivers, but could not prevent Massa from winning the Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso finished in fourth place behind Alonso and Räikkönen. Hamilton passed Toyota's Timo Glock in the final corners of the race to finish fifth, securing him the points needed to take the Drivers' Championship. (Full article...)
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Transgender history in Brazil comprises the history of transgender (transsexual, third gender, and travesti) people in Brazil and their struggles and organization from the pre-colonial period to the modern day. Before Brazil's colonization, indigenous peoples respected various transmasculine and transfeminine third genders; colonization included public executions of trans people and the systematic imposition of the Western gender binary. In the late 1800s, there were repeated arrests of black travestis and occasional sensationalized news reports of travestis. By the 1920s there were popular drag queens and in the 1950s travestis became popular stars in the theater and revue shows. From the 1960s onward, LGBT periodicals publicly discussed the issues facing travestis and transsexuals.
The military dictatorship in Brazil (1964–1985) carried out mass targeted arrests and media censorship of travestis. Many emigrated to Paris and the majority who remained were pressured into sex work. In the latter half of the dictatorship, censorship loosened and travestis began to re-enter the theatre and organize openly. After the dictatorship, mass arrests continued along with extrajudicial killings by the military and vigilante groups. The homosexual rights movement distanced itself from travestis for respectability. In 1992, the first political travesti organization was created and began advocating for HIV care and against police brutality. Over the next decade, more trans organizations were created and began to partner with gay and lesbian organizations. (Full article...)
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Lectotype partial cranium of L. molitor. The illustrated mandible represents a different species.
Its distribution is now restricted to Uruguay and nearby Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, but it previously ranged northward into Minas Gerais, Brazil, and southward into eastern Argentina. The Argentine form may have been distinct from the living form from Brazil and Uruguay. L. molitor is a large rodent, with the head and body length averaging 193 mm (7.6 in), characterized by a long tail, large hindfeet, and long and dense fur. It builds nests above the water, supported by reeds, and it is not currently threatened. (Full article...)
Rosberg won the pole position by setting the fastest lap in qualifying and maintained the lead until his first pit stop at the end of lap seven. Nico Hülkenberg led after Hamilton's lap eight pit stop and held it until Rosberg overtook him six laps later. Hamilton returned to the lead when Rosberg made a second pit stop 12 laps later but a spin at turn four during the extra lap he was on the track lost him the position. On blistered front tyres, Hamilton remained close by Rosberg by the time of the third cycle of pit stops but Rosberg held off his teammate to win the race. (Full article...)
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Cielo after winning the 50 m freestyle at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
César Augusto Cielo Filho (Portuguese pronunciation:[ˈsɛzɐʁsiˈeluˈfiʎu], born 10 January 1987) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer who specializes in sprint events. He is the most successful Brazilian swimmer in history, having obtained three Olympic medals, winning six individual World Championship gold medals and breaking two world records.
Cielo is the current world record holder in the 50-metre freestyle (long course). He received induction into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, with a ceremony organized for September 29 and 30, 2023. César Cielo is the third Brazilian to enter the International Swimming Hall of Fame, after Maria Lenk and Gustavo Borges. (Full article...)
Andrade was a member of the teams that won silver at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships; gold at the 2021 Pan American Championships, silver at the 2018 Pan American Championships, and has won a total of six gold medals on the FIG World Cup circuit. She is the 2012 Junior Pan American champion in the all-around and on vault and floor exercise. Additionally, she is the 2014 Junior Pan American champion on the vault, uneven bars, and balance beam. After a successful junior career, Andrade's senior debut in 2015 was cut short by the first of three ACL tears. She returned to competition and represented Brazil at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she placed eleventh in the all-around final. She tore her ACL for the second time in 2017 but made her World Championships debut in 2018. After her third ACL tear in 2019, Andrade represented Brazil at the 2020 Summer Olympics and at the 2021 World Championships, where she won the vault gold medal at both events. She is the most decorated Brazilian gymnast of all time with a total of eleven Olympic and World Championship medals and is considered to be the greatest Latin American gymnast in history. (Full article...)
Afonso died from epilepsy at the age of two, devastating the emperor. The following year, Pedro and Teresa Cristina had another son, Pedro Afonso, but he too died in infancy. After the loss of his second son, doubts grew in Pedro II's mind that the imperial system could be viable. He still had an heir in his daughter Isabel, but he was unconvinced that a female would prove to be a suitable successor. He showed less concern about the effects his policies had on the monarchy, provided his daughter Isabel with no training for her role as potential empress, and failed to cultivate her acceptance within the country's political class. Pedro II's lack of interest in protecting the imperial system ultimately led to its downfall. (Full article...)
The Noronha skink (Trachylepis atlantica) is a species of skink from the island of Fernando de Noronha off northeastern Brazil. It is covered with dark and light spots on the upperparts and is usually about 7 to 10 cm (3 to 4 in) in length. The tail is long and muscular, but breaks off easily. Very common throughout Fernando de Noronha, it is an opportunistic feeder, eating both insects and plant material, including nectar from the Erythrina velutina tree, as well as other material ranging from cookie crumbs to eggs of its own species. Introducedpredators such as feral cats prey on it and several parasitic worms infect it.
Perhaps seen by Amerigo Vespucci in 1503, it was first formally described in 1839. Its subsequent taxonomic history has been complex, riddled with confusion with Trachylepis maculata and other species, homonyms, and other problems. The species is classified in the otherwise mostly African genus Trachylepis and is thought to have reached its island from Africa by rafting. The enigmatic Trachylepis tschudii, supposedly from Peru, may well be the same species. (Full article...)
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The Revolution of the Ganhadores, also known as the 1857 African porters' strike, was a labor strike that involved African porters, known as ganhadores, in the Brazilian city of Salvador, Bahia. The strike began following the passage of a city ordinance that changed the way the ganhadores operated in the city. The strike ended in a partial victory for the strikers, as the city council replaced the ordinance with another one that did away with some of the more unpopular provisions.
During the 1800s, ganhadores were crucial to the transportation of goods through Salvador. The trade was dominated by both enslaved and free people of African descent who worked together in self-governing groups known as cantos. While the ganhadores were given a great deal of freedom to move through the city, fears of a slave revolt, in the vein of the Malê revolt of 1835, prompted the government to try to exert more control over the ganhadores. In 1836, the provincial government of Bahia enacted a law that required ganhadores to register with the government, wear identification tags, and operate under the direct supervision of captains, which replaced the canto system. The law proved extremely unpopular, not just with the ganhadores, but with the general public as well, and by the following year, the canto system was restored, and the law became unenforced. In 1857, the city council of Salvador enacted a new law modeled after the 1836 act which again required ganhadores to register and wear metal identification tags around their necks. Ganhadores were required to pay a fee for the tags, while freedmen also had to provide a guarantor who would take responsibility for the ganhador. To protest the new law, ganhadores in the city went on strike on 1 June, the same date that the law went into effect. (Full article...)
Vargas had risen to power in 1930 with the backing of the military, following a revolution that ended a decades-old oligarchy. Vargas ruled as provisional president until the National Constituent Assembly election in 1934. Under a new constitution, Vargas became the constitutional president of Brazil, but following a 1935 communist insurrection, speculation grew over a potential self-coup. Candidates for the 1938 presidential election appeared as early as late 1936. Vargas could not seek re-election, but he and his allies were unwilling to abandon power. Despite loosening political repression after the communist revolt, strong sentiment for a dictatorial government remained, and increasing federal intervention in state governments would pave the way for a coup to take place. (Full article...)
In 1904, Brazil began a major naval building program that included three small battleships. Designing and ordering the ships took two years, but these plans were scrapped after the revolutionary dreadnought concept rendered the Brazilian design obsolete. Two dreadnoughts were instead ordered from the United Kingdom, making Brazil the third country to have ships of this type under construction, before traditional powers like Germany, France, or Russia. As such, the ships created much uncertainty among the major countries in the world, many of whom incorrectly speculated the ships were actually destined for a rival nation. Similarly, they also caused much consternation in Argentina and, consequently, Chile. (Full article...)
As a development of 1960s música popular brasileira, the genre was pioneered by recording acts such as Jorge Ben, Tim Maia, and Trio Mocotó. It gained a wider popularity in the following decades after breaking through into discotheques. By the 2000s, samba rock had grown into a broader cultural movement involving dancers, disc jockeys, scholars, and musicians, who reinvented the genre in a modernized form. (Full article...)
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Brazilian professional football club Santa Cruz Futebol Clube toured the North Region of Brazil from 2 January 1943 to 29 April 1943, looking to raise funds in friendly matches. Over the course of almost four months, Santa Cruz played over 25 matches in six different cities, in what became known as the Suicidal Tour (Brazilian Portuguese: Excursão Suicída) and the Death Tour (Brazilian Portuguese: Excursão da Morte), due to several problems faced by the club, such as deaths, the threat of Nazi attacks, and a lack of funding. (Full article...)
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USS Orizaba (ID–1536) departing New York via the North River for France in World War I (1918)
Orizaba made 15 transatlantic voyages for the navy carrying troops to and from Europe in World War I with the second-shortest average in-port turnaround time of all navy transports. The ship was turned over to the War Department in 1919 for use as army transport USAT Orizaba. After her service in World War I ended, Orizaba reverted to the Ward Line, her previous owners. The ship was briefly engaged in transatlantic service to Spain and then engaged in New York–Cuba–Mexico service until 1939, when the ship was chartered to United States Lines. While Orizaba was in her Ward Line service, American poet Hart Crane leapt to his death from the rear deck of the liner off Florida in April 1932. (Full article...)
The giant otter or giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) is a South Americancarnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the weasel family, Mustelidae, a globally successful group of predators, reaching up to 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in). Atypical of mustelids, the giant otter is a social species, with family groups typically supporting three to eight members. The groups are centered on a dominant breeding pair and are extremely cohesive and cooperative. Although generally peaceful, the species is territorial, and aggression has been observed between groups. The giant otter is diurnal, being active exclusively during daylight hours. It is the noisiest otter species, and distinct vocalizations have been documented that indicate alarm, aggression, and reassurance.
The giant otter ranges across north-central South America; it lives mostly in and along the Amazon River and in the Pantanal. Its distribution has been greatly reduced and is now discontinuous. Decades of poaching for its velvety pelt, peaking in the 1950s and 1960s, considerably diminished population numbers. The species was listed as endangered in 1999 and wild population estimates are typically below 5,000. The Guianas are one of the last real strongholds for the species, which also enjoys modest numbers – and significant protection – in the Peruvian Amazonian basin. It is one of the most endangered mammal species in the Neotropics. Habitat degradation and loss is the greatest current threat. They are also rare in captivity; in 2003, only 60 giant otters were being held. (Full article...)
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The Viscount of Inhaúma around the age of 56, c. 1864
Throughout the chaos that characterized the years when Emperor DomPedro II was a minor, Inhaúma remained loyal to the government. He helped quell a military mutiny in 1831 and was involved in suppressing some of the other rebellions that erupted during that troubled period. He saw action in the Sabinada between 1837 and 1838, followed by the Ragamuffin War from 1840 until 1844. In 1849, after spending two years in Great Britain, Inhaúma was given command of the fleet that was instrumental in subduing the Praieira revolt, the last rebellion in imperial Brazil. (Full article...)
Costing R$1.8 billion, it was funded by the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (Brazil) and the São Paulo Research Foundation. Discussion started in 2008, and initial funding of R$2 million was granted in 2009. Construction started in 2015, and was finished in 2018. The first electron loop around the storage ring was achieved in November 2019. Its first experiments were made during COVID-19 pandemic at MANACÁ beamline, dedicated to macromolecular crystallography. (Full article...)
Photograph credit: unknown; restored by Adam Cuerden
Bertha Lutz (August 2, 1894 – September 16, 1976) was a Brazilian zoologist, politician, and diplomat. She became a leading figure in the Pan-American feminist and human rights movements, and was instrumental in gaining women's suffrage in Brazil. In addition to her political work, she was a naturalist at the National Museum of Brazil, specializing in poison dart frogs. Her collections were destroyed in September 2018, when a fire devastated most of the museum's collections.
Leblon is an affluent neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, just west of Ipanema, another neighborhood in that city. In the north it is bordered by Gávea, and in the west by a towering hill called "Dois Irmãos", which translates as "two brothers", because of its split peak.
Parodia tenuicylindrica is a small species of cactus native to the Rio Grande do Sul region of Brazil. It grows 4–8 cm (1.6–3.1 in) in height and 2–3 cm (0.8–1.2 in) in width. It has yellow and red-brown spines, white wool and yellow flowers. It produces yellow-green fruit and black seeds.
Emperor of Brazil Pedro II was the second and last ruler of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. Born in Rio de Janeiro, his father Pedro I's abrupt abdication and flight to Europe in 1831 left him as Emperor at the age of five. Inheriting an Empire on the verge of disintegration, Pedro II turned Brazil into an emerging power in the international arena. On November 15, 1889, he was overthrown in a coup d'état by a clique of military leaders who declared Brazil a republic. However, he had become weary of emperorship and despaired over the monarchy's future prospects, despite its overwhelming popular support, and did not support any attempt to restore the monarchy.
Maria I (17 December 1734 – 20 March 1816) was Queen of Portugal from 1777 until her death in 1816 and the country's first undisputed queen regnant.
This picture is an oil-on-canvas portrait, painted in 1783, showing the queen in her boudoir. It is usually attributed to Giuseppe Troni, the Italian court painter to the House of Braganza, and now hangs in the Palace of Queluz, which became the official and full-time residence of the queen and her court from 1794. At that time, the queen was becoming increasingly deranged. In 1807, after Napoleon's conquests in Europe, under the direction of her son, Prince Regent João, her court moved to Brazil. The Portuguese colony was then elevated to the rank of kingdom, with the consequent formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, of which she was the first monarch.
A preparatory study for Discovery of the Land, a mural in the United States Library of Congress Hispanic Reading Room, by Candido Portinari. Portinari was a Brazilianpainter who was a prominent and influential practitioner of the neorealism style. The mural depicts two sailors who might have been found in either the fleets of Christopher Columbus or Pedro Álvares Cabral, and is part of a series of four that show the colonization of the Americas by Europeans.
An 1868 photo of an Argentinegaucho. The term "gaucho" is used to describe residents of the South Americanpampas, chacos or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile and Southern Region, Brazil. It is a loose equivalent to the North American "cowboy" and often connotes the 19th century more than the present day. In those days, gauchos made up the majority of the rural population, herding cows on the vast estancias, and practicing hunting as their main economic activities.
A series of rock formations, with the Dedo de Deus (God's Finger) peak in the background, at the Serra dos Órgãos National Park in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. Established in 1939 as the country's third national park, Serra dos Órgãos National Park contains the Serra dos Órgãos mountain range as well as several water sources.
The Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida is a Catholic basilica located in the Brazilian city of Aparecida. According to local tradition, a group of fishermen caught a statue of the Virgin Mary in their nets in 1717, a find which considerably improved their subsequent catches. One of the fishermen kept the statue at his home, which became a popular site for pilgrims. A small chapel was built to house it, but was replaced by successively larger churches as the statue's popularity grew. The present building was built from 1955, and houses 45,000 people.
Beberibe is a municipality in the state of Ceará in Brazil. It's estimated population in 2006 is 46,439. The current mayor (Prefeito) of Beberibe is Marcos de Queiroz Ferreira. His term ends in 2008. The municipality was created on June 5, 1892, and incorporated July 18, 1892. The name 'Beberibe' means "where the sugar cane grows".
A portrait of a female bare-faced curassow (Crax fasciolata), taken at the Pantanal in Brazil. This species of bird in the family Cracidae is found in eastern-central and southern Brazil, Paraguay, eastern Bolivia, and extreme northeast Argentina. Its natural habitats are tropical and subtropical dry and moist broadleaf forests.
The Municipal Theatre of São Paulo is a theatre and landmark in São Paulo, Brazil. It is significant both for its architectural value as well as its historical importance; the theatre was the venue for the Modern Art Week in 1922, which revolutionised the arts in Brazil. The building now houses the São Paulo Municipal Symphonic Orchestra, the Coral Lírico (Lyric Choir), and the City Ballet of São Paulo.
The yacare caiman (Caiman yacare) is a species of caiman found in central South America. About ten million individuals, such as this one, exist within the Brazilian pantanal, representing what may be the largest single crocodilian population on Earth. This small-to-medium sized species feeds mainly on fish (especially piranha), but also eats birds, reptiles, and small mammals.
A ripe passionfruit and the cross-section of another. Passionfruits are the fruit of the passion flowervine species Passiflora edulis, which is native to Brazil and northeastern Argentina, but is now cultivated commercially in frost-free areas in many countries for its fruit. Passionfruit comes in two varieties: purple (seen here), which is usually smaller than a lemon, and yellow, which is about the size of a grapefruit.
Itajaí is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina in Brazil and is located in the Southern part of the country, about 94 km norther of Florianópolis. It's estimated population in 2009 is 172.081. The current mayor (Prefeito) of Itajaí is Jandir Bellini. The municipality was created on Juny 15, 1860.
Sugarloaf Mountain is a peak situated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rising 396 metres (1,299 ft) above sea-level, its name is said to refer to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar.
Brazil has rediscovered itself, and this rediscovery is being expressed in its people's enthusiasm and their desire to mobilize to face the huge problems that lie ahead of us.
The storm developed out of a stationary cold-core upper-level trough on 12 March. Almost a week later, on 19 March, a disturbance developed along the trough and traveled towards the west-southwest until 22 March when a ridge stopped the forward motion of the disturbance. The disturbance was in an unusually favorable environment with a slightly below-average wind shear and above-average sea surface temperatures. The combination of the two led to a slow transition from an extratropical cyclone to a subtropical cyclone by 24 March. The storm continued to obtain tropical characteristics and became a tropical storm the next day while the winds steadily increased. The storm attained wind speeds of 121 km/h (75 mph)—equivalent to a low-end Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale—on 26 March. At that time, it was unofficially named Catarina and was also the first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. Abnormally favorable conditions persisted, resulting in Catarina intensifying further, and it would peak with 1-minute sustained winds of 160 km/h (100 mph) on 28 March. The center of the storm made landfall between the cities of Passo de Torres and Balneário Gaivota, Santa Catarina soon after. Catarina rapidly weakened upon landfall and dissipated later that day. (Full article...)
Pereira with 200 m medley gold medal at 2007 Pan American Games
Thiago Machado Vilela Pereira (born 26 January 1986) is a retired Brazilian international competition swimmer. One of the greatest swimmers in the history of Brazil, Pereira won the silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, beating the then-current Olympic champion Michael Phelps. He also broke a world record in the short course 200-meter individual medley, and broke several South American and Brazilian records. During his career, he competed with swimming legends Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.
Sobradinho Reservoir is both a dam and an artificial lake located in the north of the Brazilian state of Bahia and a city with the same name located near the lake. The lake is about 320 km long, with a surface of 4,214 square kilometers and a storage capacity of 34.1 cubic kilometers at its nominal elevation of 392.50 meters, making it the 12th-largest artificial lake in the world.
Image 20Petrobras world headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. The company is the most important energy producer in Brazil, as well as the country's second largest company, after Itaú Unibanco. (from Energy in Brazil)
Image 52São Paulo, the financial capital of Brazil is one of the most sought after places in tourism by having different cultures (from Tourism in Brazil)
Image 53Giba is the most popular volleyball player of Brazil. (from Sport in Brazil)
Image 54Cars fueled by natural gas, such as this Fiat Siena, are common in Brazil. (from Energy in Brazil)
Image 111Rio de Janeiro, the most visited destination in Brazil by foreign tourists for leisure trips, and second place for business travel. (from Tourism in Brazil)
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