It was at this race that Sebastian Vettel won the 2012 World Drivers' Championship, his third title in a row. Fernando Alonso finished second in both the race and the championship and had the provisional championship lead at a late stage of the race, before Vettel moved up the order to have a three-point cushion. The race also marked the 306th and final one for Michael Schumacher, after he announced his retirement for the second time. He also scored his final Formula One points by finishing seventh just behind eventual champion Vettel. (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...)
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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. Cultural heritage consists of monuments (such as architectural works, monumental sculptures, or inscriptions), groups of buildings, and sites (including archaeological sites). Natural features (consisting of physical and biological formations), geological and physiographical formations (including habitats of threatened species of animals and plants), and natural sites which are important from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty, are defined as natural heritage. Brazil accepted the convention on 1 September 1977, making its sites eligible for inclusion on the list.
There are 25 World Heritage Sites in Brazil, and a further 21 sites on its tentative list. The first site in Brazil, the Historic Town of Ouro Preto, was inscribed on the list at the 4th Session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Paris, France in 1980. The most recent site, Cavernas do Peruaçu National Park, was inscribed in 2025. Among the 25 sites, 15 are listed for their cultural significance. Nine sites are listed for their natural significance, and one site, Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodiversity, is listed for both. One site is transnational: the Jesuit Missions Guaranis is shared with Argentina. From 1999 to 2001, Iguaçu National Park was listed as endangered due to an illegally opened road through the park, dams on the river, and helicopter flights. Brazil has served on the World Heritage Committee four times. (Full article...)
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A map of the official subdivisions of Rio Grande do Norte
The land that became Rio Grande do Norte was a donatário to João de Barros, the factor of the House of India and Mina, from John III of Portugal in 1535; prior to that, the Portuguese Crown owned the land. The French, who trafficked Brazil wood in the area, had a foothold on the land until the Portuguese expelled them in 1598. The Dutch took the land in 1634 as a part of Dutch Brazil and reigned until 1654, when they were defeated by the Portuguese. In 1701, Rio Grande do Norte joined the Captaincy of Pernambuco, and became a province in 1822 and a state of Brazil in 1889. (Full article...)
After the Sequel was inspired by Sonic Heroes and other games both inside and outside the Sonic series, and it was developed with Sonic Worlds, an engine based in Multimedia Fusion 2 that reduces the amount of computer programming involved in game creation. It was released as a free download for Windows personal computers on June 15, 2013. The game was very well received by video game journalists, who lauded its preservation of retro Sonic gameplay and its 1990s-style soundtrack. The trilogy of Before the Sequel, After the Sequel, and their successor Sonic Chrono Adventure performed unusually well for fangames, having been downloaded 120,000 times by March 2014. (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...)
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Destroyed homes following the earthquake
The 1986 João Câmara earthquake (Portuguese: Sismo de João Câmara de 1986) struck on 30 November 1986 at 02:19 Brasília Time with a moment magnitude of 5.1 near the town of João Câmara, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The event was felt over a large area of northeastern Brazil, including the cities of Natal and Mossoró. It took place in a more seismically active part of Brazil, where deformation of land at the Brasiliano orogeny between the São Francisco and São Luís cratons formed a series of fault zonesin between 1 billion to 538.8 million years ago. The 1986 João Câmara earthquake occurred on one of these fault zones while accompanied by a lengthy series of earthquakes which consisted more than 1,000 recorded events. This mainshock was preceded by a series of foreshocks that began in August and was followed by a series of aftershocks which continued until 1990. Widespread damage to buildings at João Câmara occurred and thousands of people were displaced. The earthquake is widely remembered as one of the most significant events in Brazil's history. (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...)
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Jocione Mendonça (19 February 1970 – 29 June 2018), better known as Jailson Mendes and sometimes Pai de Família, was a Brazilian porn actor and YouTuber. He became an Internet meme for his performance in a pornographic film where he says the phrase "Ai, que delícia, cara" ("Oh, what a delight, man"). Retired due to health issues, Mendonça was invited to act in pornographic films while he was in São Paulo and ended up making three of them. Due to his acting style, along with his phrase, he became an Internet phenomenon. Although he initially feared the repercussions, Mendonça later became used to his popularity. To change his image as a pornographic actor, he created a channel on YouTube with videos about video games and cooking.
Mendonça died on 29 June 2018, from a heart attack. He was considered one of the greatest Brazilian memes and one of the icons of Brazilian gay pornography. Some used Mendonça's character as a prank in news programs. (Full article...)
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The Revolution of the Ganhadores 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...)
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Portrait by Ferdinand Krumholz, 1850
DomPedro Afonso (19 July 1848 – 10 January 1850) was the Prince Imperial and heir apparent to the throne of the Empire of Brazil. Born at the Palace of São Cristóvão in Rio de Janeiro, he was the second son and youngest child of Emperor Dom Pedro II and Dona Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies, and thus a member of the Brazilian branch of the House of Braganza. Pedro Afonso was seen as vital to the future viability of the monarchy, which had been put in jeopardy by the death of his older brother Dom Afonso almost three years earlier.
Pedro Afonso's death from fever at the age of one devastated the Emperor, and the imperial couple had no further children. Pedro Afonso's older sister Dona Isabel became heiress, but Pedro II was unconvinced that a woman could ever be accepted as monarch by the ruling elite. He excluded Isabel from matters of state and failed to provide training for her possible role as empress. With no surviving male children, the Emperor came to understand that the imperial line was destined to end with his own death. (Full article...)
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Fôrça Bruta (Brazilian Portuguese:[ˈfoʁsɐˈbɾutɐ]ⓘ) is the seventh studio album by Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist Jorge Ben. It was recorded with the Trio Mocotó band and released by Philips Records in September 1970. Conceived at a time of political tension in dictatorial Brazil, its title comes from the Portuguese term meaning "brute force" and has been interpreted ironically due to the music's relatively relaxed style.
The album introduced an acoustic samba-based music that is mellower, moodier, and less ornate than Ben's preceding work. Its largely unrehearsed, nighttime recording session found the singer improvising with Trio Mocotó's groove-oriented accompaniment while experimenting with unconventional rhythmic arrangements, musical techniques, and elements of soul, funk, and rock. Ben's lyrics generally explore themes of romantic passion, melancholy, and sensuality, with women figuring prominently in his songs. In a departure from the carefree sensibility of his past releases, they also feature elements of identity politics and postmodernism, such as irony and reimagining of established idioms. (Full article...)
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"Dejaría Todo" (transl. "I'd Leave Everything") is a song by Puerto Rican singer Chayanne from his ninth studio album, Atado a Tu Amor (1998). The song was written and produced by Estéfano and released as the lead single from the album in September 1998 by Sony Discos.The rockballad details everything the singer is capable of doing for his lover. The song received generally positive reactions from music critics and is listed among Chayanne's best songs. A music video for the song was filmed and features a dark scenery. Commercially, it topped the BillboardHot Latin Songs and Latin Pop Airplay charts in the United States. The track was nominated for Pop Song of the Year at the 11th Lo Nuestro Awards and Song of the Year at the inaugural Ritmo Latino Music Awards in 1999 and was acknowledged as an award-winning song at the 2000 Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) Latin Awards.
"Dejaría Todo" has been covered by Brazilian singer Leonardo, Puerto Rican singer Johnny Ray, and Latin American boy band CNCO. Leonardo recorded the Portuguese version, "Deixaria Tudo", which reached number two in Brazil, while Johnny Ray's cover peaked at number 15 on the Tropical Airplay in the US. CNCO's rendition was included on their covers album, Déjà Vu (2021). It peaked at number four on the Monitor Latino Peruvian pop charts. (Full article...)
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An Umbandista wearing the white clothing typically worn in the religion's ceremonies
Umbanda (Portuguese pronunciation:[ũˈbɐ̃dɐ]) is a religion that emerged in Brazil during the 1920s. Deriving largely from Spiritism, it also combines elements from Afro-Brazilian traditions like Candomblé as well as Roman Catholicism. There is no central authority in control of Umbanda, which is organized around autonomous places of worship termed centros or terreiros, the followers of which are called Umbandistas.
Adherents of this monotheistic religion believe in a single God who is distant from humanity. Beneath this entity are powerful non-human spirits called orixás. In the more Spiritist-oriented wing of the religion, White Umbanda, these are viewed as divine energies or forces of nature; in more Africanised forms they are seen as West African deities and are offered animal sacrifices. The emissaries of the orixás are the pretos velhos and caboclos, spirits of enslaved Africans and of indigenous Brazilians respectively, and these are the main entities dealt with by Umbandistas. At Umbandist rituals, spirit mediums sing and dance in the hope of channeling these spirits, through whom the congregations receive guidance, advice, and healing. Umbanda teaches a complex cosmology involving a system of reincarnation according to the law of karma. The religion's ethics emphasise charity and social fraternity. Umbandistas also seek to reverse harm that they attribute to practitioners of a related tradition, Quimbanda. (Full article...)
Established in 1962, Unicamp was designed from scratch as an integrated research center unlike other top Brazilian universities, usually created by the consolidation of previously existing schools and institutes. Its research focus reflects on almost half of its students being graduate students, the largest proportion across all large universities in Brazil, and also in the large number of graduate programs it offers: 153 compared to 70 undergraduate programs. It also offers several non-degree granting open-enrollment courses to around 8,000 students through its extension school. (Full article...)
Tenders to create the mascots were only accepted from Brazilian companies. The final designs were unanimously selected in August 2013 by a panel of judges comprising media professionals and representatives from various Olympic organizations. They were revealed to the public without names on 23 November 2014. Following a three-week online vote which ended on 14 December 2014, the public named the two mascots after Vinicius de Moraes and Antônio Carlos "Tom" Jobim, the co-writers of the 1962 bossa nova song "The Girl from Ipanema". (Full article...)
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Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná, at age 55, 1856
In the aftermath of emperor Pedro I's abdication in 1831, a regency created to govern Brazil during the minority of the former emperor's son, Pedro II, soon dissolved into chaos. Paraná formed a political party in 1837 that became known as the Reactionary Party, which evolved into the Party of Order in the early 1840s and in the mid-1850s into the Conservative Party. He and his party's stalwart and unconditional defence of constitutional order allowed the country to move beyond a regency plagued by factious disputes and rebellions that might easily have led to a dictatorship. Appointed president of Rio de Janeiro Province in 1841, Paraná helped put down a rebellion headed by the opposition Liberal Party the following year. Also in 1842, he was elected senator for Minas Gerais and appointed by Pedro II to the Council of State. In 1843, he became the de facto first president (prime minister) of the Council of Ministers, but resigned after a quarrel with the emperor. (Full article...)
McLaren's Mika Häkkinen qualified on pole position and led the first lap of the race before being passed by World Drivers' Championship leader Michael Schumacher on lap two. Following that, Michael Schumacher built a 17.6-second lead before making the first of two pit stops for fuel and tyres on lap 20. After Häkkinen retired with a shortage of engine oil pressure ten laps later, he retook the lead. In the final 12 laps, David Coulthard in the other McLaren gained on Michael Schumacher as the latter slowed to manage an oil pressure problem. He was not close enough to make a pass for the win and Michael Schumacher took his second consecutive victory of the season and the 37th of his career. (Full article...)
The cover art of the band's debut album, I.N.R.I., is regarded as a great influence on black metal's corpse paint imagery. That record is also considered one of the "first wave" albums that helped shape the genre. (Full article...)
Prior to the existence of official continental football in South America, Atlético Mineiro had played against foreign clubs since 1929, and toured Europe in 1950. As Brazilian champion in 1971, the club qualified for the 1972 Copa Libertadores, its first continental tournament. Atlético Mineiro then debuted in the inaugural editions of the Copa CONMEBOL, in 1992, of the Copa de Oro, in 1993, and of the Copa Master de CONMEBOL, in 1996. Its first and only appearance in the Copa Mercosur was in the 2000 season, and its debut at the Copa Sudamericana was in 2003, the first time Brazilian clubs had participated. The club's first and only appearance in an intercontinental competition occurred in the 2013 edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, where it finished in third place. (Full article...)
Costa began his career in his native Brazil before joining Braga in Portugal in 2006, aged 17. He never played for the club but spent time on loan at Penafiel, and signed with La Liga club Atlético Madrid the following year. Over the next two seasons, he had loan periods with Braga, Celta Vigo, and Albacete. His form earned him a move to fellow La Liga club Real Valladolid in 2009, where he spent one season, finishing as their top goalscorer, before returning to Atlético Madrid. Costa struggled to maintain a regular starting role with Atlético, and spent more time on loan, this time at Rayo Vallecano, where he finished as the club's highest scorer that season. (Full article...)
1519 map of the coast of Brazil, showing the harvesting of brazilwood
The name Brazil is a shortened form of Terra do Brasil ("Land of Brazil"), a reference to the brazilwood tree. The name was given in the early 16th century to the territories leased to the merchant consortium led by Fernão de Loronha, to exploit brazilwood for the production of wood dyes for the European textile industry.
The term for the brazilwood tree in Portuguese, pau-brasil, is formed by pau ("wood") and brasa ("ember"), the latter referring to the vivid red dye that can be extracted from the tree. The word brasa is formed from Old French brese ("ember, glowing charcoal"). (Full article...)
Bonito is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul. It is the capital of ecotourism in Brazil, being famous for its caves, rivers and lakes with transparent or intense blue water.
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.
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.
Fernanda Lima (b. 1977) is a Brazilian actress, model, businesswoman, journalist, and television host. Following a short career in film and telenovelas, she established herself in popular culture as the host of a variety of shows on MTV Brasil, Rede TV!, and Globo TV. In 2014, she was contracted by FIFA to be the muse of the World Cup and of the Ballon d'Or.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lençóis Maranhenses National Park (Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses) is a national park located in Maranhão state, in northeastern Brazil, just east of the Baía de São José. Protected since June 1981, the 383,000-acre (155,000 ha) park includes 70 km (43 mi) of coastline, and an interior of rolling sand dunes. During the rainy season, the valleys among the dunes fill with freshwater lagoons, prevented from draining due to the impermeable rock beneath. The park is home to a range of species, including four listed as endangered, and has become a popular destination for ecotourists.
Blumenau is a city in Vale do Itajaí, Santa Catarina state, in the South Region of Brazil. The city was founded by the German chemist and pharmacist Hermann Blumenau (1819–1899), who arrived on a boat via the Itajaí-Açu River accompanied by seventeen other Germans, and still celebrates its German heritage, including the second largest Oktoberfest in the world.
Itaipu Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. It's the third largest hydroelectric dam in the world (it was the largest in the world between 1984 and 2003). In 2022, 15% of Brazil's energy (and almost all of Paraguay's energy) was produced by Itaipu.
Bothrops bilineatus is a highly venomous species of pit viper found in the Amazon region of South America. A pale green arboreal species that may reach 1 m (3.3 ft) in length, it is an important cause of snakebite throughout the entire Amazon region. It is a nocturnal species, spending the day hidden in dense vegetation in lowland rainforest, usually in the vicinity of water. It emerges at night to feed on small mammals, birds, lizards and frogs, tending to rely on ambush rather than actively hunting for prey. This B. bilineatus individual was photographed in an Atlantic Forest preservation area in the state of Bahia in eastern Brazil.
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.
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.
Costa began his career in his native Brazil before joining Braga in Portugal in 2006, aged 17. He never played for the club but spent time on loan at Penafiel, and signed with La Liga club Atlético Madrid the following year. Over the next two seasons, he had loan periods with Braga, Celta Vigo, and Albacete. His form earned him a move to fellow La Liga club Real Valladolid in 2009, where he spent one season, finishing as their top goalscorer, before returning to Atlético Madrid. Costa struggled to maintain a regular starting role with Atlético, and spent more time on loan, this time at Rayo Vallecano, where he finished as the club's highest scorer that season. (Full article...)
Ponta Negra is the name of one of the best known beaches in the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The large, crescent-shaped beach is located at the southern end of the Via Costeira, a major thoroughfare which follows the Atlantic coastline northward, linking the Ponta Negra area with the urban beaches of Praia dos Artistas, Praia do Meio, and Praia do Forte.
Image 140Rio 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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