4 ms·

My Brazilian in-laws maintain that the site of Brasilia was chosen because it's exactly in the middle of the country and not close to the established power citi

by scurvy 7y ago

My Brazilian in-laws maintain that the site of Brasilia was chosen because it's exactly in the middle of the country and not close to the established power cities of Rio and Sao Paulo. True? They don't have many nice things to say about it.

herval 7y ago
True. Rio used to be the capital, and the many revolts were one if the reasons. The middle of the country was also very unpopulated, so the location was chosen more or less as a “middle of the road” to incentivize development
mportela 7y ago
I wouldn't say it was the only reason but probably one of them. I've also heard that the federal government buildings were placed in a super wide avenue [1] because even huge crowds of millions wouldn't be able to pack the street (and, then, it would feel emptier than it really was). Also, the very first Brazilian constitution had an article about moving the capital to a more geographically centered place, a plan that was developed while Brazil was an empire [2]. One could argue that the move was simply a matter of fulfilling this constitution article. Another reason could be that the Rio and São Paulo areas are full of mountain chains and make the task of building a new city quite difficult. Yet another reason is that building the capital in the São Paulo state or Minas Gerais state would bring back old political rivalries (Brazil was controlled by politicians by these states for decades [3]). Same for the surrounding states. Hence, moving it to a more neutral area. Anyway, hard to pinpoint one specific reason. The city is interesting, though, with nice people trying to define their own cultural aspects. Unfortunately, most Brazilians have never visited it. [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Esplanada_dos_Minist%C3%A9rios%2C_Bras%C3%ADlia_DF_04_2006.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Esplanad... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bras%C3%ADlia#Background https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bras%C3%ADlia#Background [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_com_leite_politics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_com_leite_politics

by scurvy 7y ago

herval 7y ago

True. Rio used to be the capital, and the many revolts were one if the reasons. The middle of the country was also very unpopulated, so the location was chosen more or less as a “middle of the road” to incentivize development

mportela 7y ago

I wouldn't say it was the only reason but probably one of them. I've also heard that the federal government buildings were placed in a super wide avenue [1] because even huge crowds of millions wouldn't be able to pack the street (and, then, it would feel emptier than it really was). Also, the very first Brazilian constitution had an article about moving the capital to a more geographically centered place, a plan that was developed while Brazil was an empire [2]. One could argue that the move was simply a matter of fulfilling this constitution article. Another reason could be that the Rio and São Paulo areas are full of mountain chains and make the task of building a new city quite difficult. Yet another reason is that building the capital in the São Paulo state or Minas Gerais state would bring back old political rivalries (Brazil was controlled by politicians by these states for decades [3]). Same for the surrounding states. Hence, moving it to a more neutral area. Anyway, hard to pinpoint one specific reason. The city is interesting, though, with nice people trying to define their own cultural aspects. Unfortunately, most Brazilians have never visited it. [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Esplanada_dos_Minist%C3%A9rios%2C_Bras%C3%ADlia_DF_04_2006.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Esplanad... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bras%C3%ADlia#Background https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bras%C3%ADlia#Background [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_com_leite_politics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_com_leite_politics