Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the second-most-populous city in Brazil and the sixth-most-populous city in the Americas.
Rio de Janeiro is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It has the second largest economy of Brazil, with the largest being that of the state of São Paulo. The state, which has 8.2% of the Brazilian population, is responsible for 9.2% of the Brazilian GDP.
São Paulo is one of the 26 states of the Federative Republic of Brazil and is named after Saint Paul of Tarsus. It is located in the Southeast Region and is limited by the states of Minas Gerais to the north and northeast, Paraná to the south, Rio de Janeiro to the east and Mato Grosso do Sul to the west, in addition to the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is divided into 645 municipalities and its total area is 248,219.481 square kilometres km2, which is equivalent to 2.9% of Brazil's surface, being slightly larger than the United Kingdom. Its capital is the municipality of São Paulo.
Favela is an umbrella name for several types of working-class neighborhoods in Brazil. The term, which means slum or ghetto, was first used in the Slum of Providência in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was built by soldiers who had lived under the favela trees in Bahia and had nowhere to live following the Canudos War. Some of the last settlements were called bairros africanos. Over the years, many former enslaved Africans moved in. Even before the first favela came into being, poor citizens were pushed away from the city and forced to live in the far suburbs.
Santos, officially Municipality of Estancia Balneária de Santos is a municipality in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, founded in 1546 by the Portuguese nobleman Brás Cubas. It is located mostly on the island of São Vicente, which harbors both the city of Santos and the city of São Vicente, and partially on the mainland. It is the main city in the metropolitan region of Baixada Santista. The population is 433,656 in an area of 280.67 km2 (108.37 sq mi). The city is home to the Coffee Museum, where world coffee prices were once negotiated. There is also a football memorial, dedicated to the city's greatest players, which includes Pelé, who spent the majority of his career with Santos Futebol Clube. Its beachfront garden, 5,335 m (5,834 yd) in length, figures in Guinness World Records as the largest beachfront garden in the world.
São Paulo is the most populous city in Brazil and the capital of the state of São Paulo. Listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as an alpha global city, it exerts substantial international influence in commerce, finance, arts, and entertainment. Is the most populous city proper in the Latin America, the world's 18th-largest city proper by population and the largest Portuguese-speaking city in the world. The city's name honors the Apostle, Saint Paul of Tarsus and people from the city are known as paulistanos. The city's Latin motto is Non ducor, duco, which translates as "I am not led, I lead."
São José dos Campos is a major city and the seat of the municipality of the same name in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. One of the leading industrial and research centers with emphasis in aerospace sciences in Latin America, the city is located in the Paraíba Valley, between the two most active production and consumption regions in the country; São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. It is the main city of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. A native of São José dos Campos is called a joseense. Being the second most populous non-capital city in Brazil – behind Campinas – São José dos Campos lies in the middle of the Expanded Metropolitan Complex, the first megalopolis in the Southern Hemisphere, with over thirty million inhabitants. The city's metro area also includes Greater São Paulo, Campinas, Santos and Sorocaba. The municipality concentrates many major companies and industries, such as Embraer, Panasonic, Johnson & Johnson, Ericsson, Philips, General Motors, Petrobras, Monsanto among others. São José dos Campos also holds relevant education and research institutions, as ITA, INPE, CEMADEN, IEAv, IEA, IFI, UNESP, UNIFESP, DCTA, FATEC, UNIVAP and IP%D, holding a position the puts the city as the main and largest Aerospacial Complex in Latin America. Thus, it is also considered the warlike producer centre. The Technological Park, the largest one in the country, is the only research institute in the world that converges all the three top global plane production companies, Embraer, Boeing and Airbus.
Juiz de Fora, also known as J.F., is a city in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the state border with Rio de Janeiro. According to the 2022 census the current population is 540,756 inhabitants. The geographical area of the municipality is 1,437 km2 (555 sq mi).
The Paraíba Valley is a landform that encompasses the regions: Paraíba Valley Metropolitan Region and Northern Coast, in the state of São Paulo and Sul-Fluminense Region, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, which stands out for concentrating a considerable portion of the Brazilian economy.
Brazil is geopolitically divided into five regions, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, which are formed by the federative units of Brazil. Although officially recognized, the division is merely academic, considering geographic, social and economic factors, among others, and has no political effects other than orientating Federal-level government programs. Under the state level, they are further divided into intermediate regions and even further into immediate regions.
The Southeast Region of Brazil is composed of the states of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. It is the richest region of the country, responsible for approximately 60% of the Brazilian GDP, as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas Gerais are the three richest states of Brazil, the top three Brazilian states in terms of GDP. The Southeast of Brazil also has the highest GDP per capita among all Brazilian regions.
Rio de Janeiro/Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport, popularly known by its original name Galeão International Airport, is the main international airport serving Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
(Ivan) Jean Gottmann was a French Jewish geographer who was best known for his seminal study on the urban region of the Northeast megalopolis. His main contributions to human geography were in the sub-fields of urban, political, economic, historical and regional geography. His regional specializations ranged from France and the Mediterranean to the United States, Israel, and Japan.
A megalopolis or a supercity, also called a megaregion, is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on. They are integrated enough that coordinating policy is valuable, although the constituent metropolises keep their individual identities. The megalopolis concept has become highly influential as it introduced a new, larger scale thinking about urban patterns and growth.
The Northeast megalopolis, also known as the Northeast Corridor, Acela Corridor, Boston–Washington corridor, BosWash, or BosNYWash, is the world's largest megalopolis by economic output and the most populous megalopolis exclusively within the United States, with slightly over 50 million residents as of 2022.
Rail transport in Brazil began in the 19th century and there were many different railway companies. The railways were nationalized under RFFSA in 1957. Between 1999 and 2007, RFFSA was broken up and services are now operated by a variety of private and public operators, including Rumo Logística, Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos and SuperVia.
The coastline of Brazil measures 7,491 km, which makes it the 16th longest national coastline of the world. All the coast lies adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Rio–São Paulo High-Speed Rail is a planned high-speed rail project to connect São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. While originally planned to be operational by 2014 in time for the 20th FIFA World Cup, to be held in Brazil at a cost of $9 billion, as of May 2015 formal bidding for the project had yet to start, with the Brazilian government delaying the auction by "at least" one year in August 2013, pushing back hopes of completion to at least the 2020s.
The São Paulo Macrometropolis or São Paulo Megalopolis, also known as Expanded Metropolitan Complex, is a Brazilian megalopolis that emerged through the existing process of conurbation between the São Paulo's metropolitan areas located around the Greater São Paulo, with more than 30 million inhabitants, or 74 percent of São Paulo State's population, and is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world.
Squatting in Brazil is the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. After attempting to eradicate slums in the 1960s and 1970s, local governments transitioned to a policy of toleration. Cities such as Recife, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo have large informal settlements known as favelas. A more recent phenomenon is the occupation of buildings in city centres by organised groups. In rural areas across the country, the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) arranges large land occupations.
