EUROPE… AND BRAZIL
Travel and historic issues
European interest in Brazil is growing. 38% of the foreign travellers to Brazil are Europeans.
In the past, European tourism in Brazil was very limited to a few locations, mainly to Rio de Janeiro and its hallmarks: the Guanabara Bay, the Sugar Loaf and the Cristo Redentor. But things are changing.
Manaus and the Amazon river, the Iguassu Falls, the Fernando de Noronha Islands, Florianopolis and Santa Catarina, the huge bird swam paradise called Pantanal, and Brazilian paradisiacal beaches of the Northeast coast… are now major highlights attracting European travellers.
FRANCE AND BRAZIL
Travel and historic issues
Brazilian Embassy in Paris
Brazil - Embassy in Paris
Brazilian Consulates
Consulate services: fulfilled by the Embassy.
Visa
Not needed.
Departure airports
Paris and main cities
Brazil-France Historical Relations
The historic relations between Brazil and France could have been very different, and much more intense than they have been if some situations and minor events hadn’t taken place and resulted otherwise.
Consider for instance the so called «France Antarctique», a French colony, settled at Guanabara Bay, during ten years, in the mid 1500’s, even before the Portuguese arrival to the region and their foundation of Rio de Janeiro (after the expelling of the French settlers)…
Anyway, though accidentally, France is connected to Brazilian independence. The French invasion of Portugal by Napoleon troops, in 1807, lead to the escape of the Portuguese royal family to Brazil. Once here, the king and specially his son, Dom Pedro, took conscience of another unknown and unexpectedly agreeable reality. Dom Pedro fell in love by Brazil, and its supreme beauties. And in 1822, the same Dom Pedro declared the independence of Brazil… Part of the Portuguese royal family and entourage never returned again to Portugal – undoubtedly because Rio de Janeiro and its neighbourhoods had much more enchants than the cold Portuguese winter…
Charles-Marie De La Condamine
The French naturalist Charles-Marie de La Condamine is, perhaps, the most outstanding French scientist associated to the exploration and modern knowing of Brazil’s territory. His raft trip down the Amazon, in 1743, is a hallmark in the Amazon’s exploration. His geographic and ethnographic observations of the Amazon basin, has been of extreme scientific value.
2005: Year of Brazil in France.
Brazilian culture is highly ranked in France, and relatively well known. To cement that, and as an expression of it, Brazil has been largely presented to French people in 2005 (declared as the Brazilian Year in France).
That event was mainly a culture presentation, thought it also branched out into politics, business, science and technology.
Culturally, it has shown the rich diversity of Brazilian cultures. A pavilion with 2,400 square meters has being built in Paris, in the Marais neighbourhood. Popular Brazilian musicians such as Maria Bethania or Milton Nascimento had acted there with great success.
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ITALY… AND BRAZIL Travel and historic issues
Embassy of Brazil in Rome
Brazil Embassy in Rome
Brazil: Consulates
Milan
Brazil Consulate
Roma
Consolato Generale del Brasile
Via Santa Maria dell'Anima, 32 00186 Roma – Italia
Tel.: (3906) 688-9661
Fax : (3906) 6880-2883
E-mails: consbras@tin.it cgbroma@tin.it
Visa
Not needed.
Departure airports
Main cities
Tourism with Brazil: Italian visits
The number of Italian tourists demanding Brazil is relatively modest – around 150,000 tourists yearly (against around 300,000 Germans and more than 350,000 Portuguese). But things can change sharply, in the next few years. The presence of a large Italian descendant community in Brazil is a major link between the two countries. The interest of the Italians in Brazil is undeniable, and flights to Brazil in the main Italian cities are often sold out.
Knowing the potential of the Italian market, Brazilian authorities have established Italy as an urgent European target.
Historic relations. The prominence of Italians in Brazil’s south
The Italians are an obligatory reference in Brazil’s south. Italian immigrants began to demand Brazil, and more directly the Sao Paulo state near the end of the nineteenth century.
At first they were attracted as workmanship in the coffee plantations established in the Sao Paulo State, but in 20th century, with the industrial development, many of them moved to Sao Paulo city, which also attracted new waves of Italian immigrants.
The pattern of Italian emigration to Brazil didn’t change much over the years: they have established themselves in the south, mainly in the state of Sao Paulo, and less intensely in nearby states: Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais. Only the type of activities changed: the first newcomers were mainly hired workforce for the coffee plantations, but with the time many Italians set up as farmers or as urban establishment holders.
Italians also had a key role in Sao Paulos industrialization. The huge power and wealth of Sao Paulo is closely connected to Italians, and some families (the Matarazzos, the Crespis…).
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GERMANY… AND BRAZIL Travel and historic issues
Embassy of Brazil in Germany
Berlim
Brazil Embassy
Brazilian Consulates in German
Frankfurt
Brazil Consulate
Munich
Brazil Consulate
Visa
Not needed.
Departure airports
Main German cities
Historic relations. The notorious influence of German in the South of Brazil
Brazil’s south is notoriously influenced by the German migration. The Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Parana are known for the high number of German descendants. But there are other pockets of German descendants in places such as Sao Paulo or Petropolis (in the neighbourhoods of Rio de Janeiro).
Brazilian cities like Joinville, Blumenau, Jaraguá do Sul, São Bento, Itajaí (and other smaller ones, surrounding these) have significant numbers of German descendants. Blumenau is a particularly well known case, due to its annual Oktober Festival (an emulation of Munich’s one). Over a million Brazilians visit Blumenau, during the event.
German immigration to Brazil started immediately after the independence of Brazil (1822), and is part of a deliberate politic of the Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro: the attraction of expertise, and the enforcement of the Brazilian south as a way of discouraging the territorial appetites of nearby countries over these regions.
The first German wave was followed by others, in 1850s, in the 1890s, and also after the First and Second World War.
Alexander von Humboldt
Alexander von Humboldt is undoubtedly the most outstanding German name in the scientific exploration of the Brazilian territory. His work started at the he outset of the 19th century. Humboldt has mapped the connection between the Amazon and Orinoco, and his broader remarks about the Amazon, are regarded today as a classic. See, namely, his Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent.
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HOLLAND… AND BRAZIL
Travel and historic issues
Embassy of Brazil in Holland
Amsterdam - Hague
Brazil Embassy
Consulates of Brazil in Holland
Rotterdam
Brazil Consulate
Visa
Not needed.
Departure airports
Main Dutch cities
Brazil Insight
Travel News Bulletim from Brazil. An initiative of the Tourist Office of the
Embassy of Brazil, The Hague, The Netherlands
Historic relations: Netherlands and Brazil
Dutch controlled almost half of the Brazil territory, in the 17th century. All began soon after the formation of the Dutch West India Company, and the subsequent attempt of the Dutch traders to establish in South America.
In Brazil – already under Portuguese colonization – the first attempt of establishment involved the occupation of Salvador da Bahia. Dutch troops had inclusively conquered this important colonial Portuguese town in 10 May 1624, though only for a very short period of time. On Easter 1625, a Portuguese fleet entered Salvador da Bahia again, defeating the Dutch opponents.
Subsequent attempts, northward Salvador, were much more successful, and almost half of the Brazilian coast passed to Netherlands control.
The Dutch colonization can yet be observed in Recife, the capital of the short Dutch jurisdiction over the Northeast of Brazil. The city sea channels and the urban arrangements are characteristically Dutch.
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PORTUGAL… AND BRAZIL Travel and historic issues
Embassy of Brazil in Lisboa
Brazil Embassy
Consulates of Brazil
Lisbon
Brazil Consulate
Porto
Brazil Consulate
Visa
Not needed
Departure airports
Lisbon and Porto.
Brazil – Portugal Tourism fluxes
Travelling to Brazil is in fashion, in Portugal. The common language and the historical links are at the base of a certain Portuguese rediscovering of Brazil. The number of Portuguese travellers to Brazil (around 350,000 in 2004) had overcome records, and the Portuguese are already in the third place as Brazilian foreign visitors, following the Argentineans and the North-Americans. According to the Brazilian Tourism Board (Embratur), the Portuguese have surpassed the German tourists, traditionally in the top of European travel ranks to Brazil.
Lisbon: European bridge to Brazil
Lisbon is becoming an interesting European option in the flight bridge between Europe and Brazil. The offer of flights between Lisbon and Brazil has increased strongly in the last years, and there is also very interesting packages from the Portuguese tour operators.
TAP, the Portuguese airliner, has 35 weekly fligths to seven Brazilian cities: Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Manaus, Salvador da Bahia, Recife, Natal, Fortaleza. But there is other a much wider offer: Varig, Iberia, TAM, etc.
Historic Relations: Brazil and Portugal
The Portuguese discoverer Pedro Álvares Cabral landed on South American territory in April 22, 1500, in what is the today Porto Seguro, in the Northeast Coast of Bahia, Brazil.
It was the beginning of a narrow relationship that would strongly stamp the territories occupied till then by the Guarani and other indigenous Indians, and would differentiate Brazil from other South American countries.
Even the big territorial extent of Brazil isn’t strange to how the Portuguese colonization was conceived. The Portuguese «capitanias» (captaincy), in which Brazil was divided for administrative reasons, were strongly subdued to a centralized administration in Salvador da Bahia (and Rio de Janeiro, lately), and to the Crown in Portugal. It didn’t favor the splitting observed in the territories ruled by the Spanish.
Also curious is the way the Brazilian independence was materialized. Instead of a contentious process, all happened in almost a natural and peaceful way, mediated by a series of unexpected occurrences: the French invasion of Portugal by the Napoleon troops, in 1807, the subsequent escaping of the Portuguese royal family to Brazil, and, just a few years after, the king’s son (Dom Pedro) declaration of the independence of Brazil, as a result of the positive impression of the Brazilian reality on him.
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SPAIN… AND BRAZIL Travel and historic issues
Embassy of Brazil in Spain
Madrid
Brazil Embassy
Brazilian consulates
Barcelona
Brazil Consulate
Visa
Not needed.
Departure airports
Main cities
Historic Relations Brazil-Spain
As a colonial potency Spain has ruled all over the Central and South America, with a great exception: Brazil. Largely, that’s an immediate consequence of the Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in 1494, fixing a territorial division between Portugal and Spain.
However, the presence of the Spanish at the boundaries of Brazil has been historically intense. A major example is given by the exploration of the Amazon river. The myth of the Amazon woman is largely connected to the early Spanish exploration of the river, namely to the explorer Francisco de Orellana, who have descended the main course of the Amazon, from the Peruvian Andes to the Atlantic, in 1541–42. See: Amazon river history about this point. Only almost a century later the Portuguese explorers have established a more complete view of the region.
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UNITED KINGDOM… AND BRAZIL Travel and historic issues
Embassies of Brazil in the United Kingdom
London
Brazil Embassy
Dublin
Brazil Embassy
Brazil Consulates – United Kingdom
Consulate-General of Brazil in London
6 St Alban's Street
London SW1Y 4SQ
T : 020 7930 9055 (switchboard)
F : 020 7925 3990
E-mail: consulado@cgbrasil.org.uk
Brazil Consulate
Visa
Not needed.
Departure airports
London and main British cities
Historic relations: England and Brazil
England has never had a key role in Brazil. Historically British skills, imagination and interests have always been driven to other destinations, namely northward... But there are, nonetheless, some scientific names indelibly linked to Brazil. H. W. Bates and Charles Darwin are two of these names.
Flights to Brazil
Similarly to other Europeans, British are also becoming more attracted by the Brazilian exoticism and its natural wonders. The number of British travellers demanding Brazil is increasing, and London is a major European reference in flights to and from Brazil.
H. W. Bates
The English naturalist H. W. Bates is a major name in the scientific recording of Brazilian fauna, flora, and people. In a long exploration – extending from 1848 to 1859 – he collected thousands of species of animals and plants, and described the natural ecosystems of the region. His book, The Naturalist on the River Amazons, is still regarded as a great classic on the Amazon River.
Charles Darwin
Though more indirectly, Charles Darwin is also connected to the scientific exploration of Brazil. His historic sea voyage in the Beagle - the one that has inspired his ideas about evolution - involved also the coast of Brazil.
Darwin spent lots of time ashore, namely after the Beagles arrival to Rio de Janeiro, on April 4, 1832. He stayed in a cottage on Botafogo Bay, and what he wrote about the region is very revealing: Guanabara Bay, he wrote, «exceeds in its magnificence everything the European has seen in his native land».
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OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES… AND BRAZIL Travel and historic issues
Germans and Portuguese lead the European travel to Brazil. Italians, British, French and the Dutch tourists are in second line. But Brazil is attracting more and more other Europeans.
The warmth of Brazilian people, the exoticism of a cuisine such as the Bahian, the way music is lived in Rio de Janeiro and in the Northeast, the many natural eco-beach paradises with 360 sunny days a year, the Amazon, the Pantanal and other major brazilian destinations have attracted around 5,5 million foreign tourists last year, 1/3 of which Europeans.
Brazilian Embassies
Brazilian embassies: official addresses and correlated elements
Brazilian Consulates
See the site below. The site is in Portuguese, but it is easy to locate your country and consulates in the showed ordered list, and get the addresses you are looking for...
Brazilian consulates: official addresses and correlated elements
Strong European Investment in the Brazilian Real Estate
Brazil offers unique conditions (including prices) for small investors in real estate. There are true bargains in the Bahia region, in very safe places, in paradisiacal zones of the coast. See: Brazil Real Estate
At another scale and level, European hotel developers - especially from Spain, France and Portugal - are also betting strongly in Brazil. Club Med (France), Pestana Hotels (Portugal), Sol Melia, Grup Sehrs, Ibero Stars (Spain) are investing billions of dollars in the Brazilian tourism in the Bahia state, and northward, in the neighbourhoods of Recife or Fortaleza.
The exceptional conditions offered by the Brazilian North-eastern coast, the saturation of the European markets, and the possibility of a tourism that isn’t restricted to some months of the year (in the Brazilian Northeast the rule is 360 sunny days) are determinant in the options of European investors.
Flight Distances between Brazil and Europe
The Brazilian Northeast (Fortaleza, Recife, Salvador da Baía…) is at 6-7 hours flight from Portugal and south Spain. Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Manaus (Amazon) are at 8-9 hours flight. The south – Florianopolis, in Santa Catarina Island, for instante - involves 9-10 hours flights.
Many flights are nowadays direct, but most yet scale Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, increasing the duration of the flights.
European Travel Sites:
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