How Big is Brazil?

Since reporting in this blog on the stories in my oldest copy of the National Geographic Magazine, November, 1927, I've come a long way, to December, 1930.  I've read several accounts by author, Frederick Simpich, and will enjoy a trip back to Brazil, South America, in "Gigantic Brazil and its Glittering Capital."

Simpich gives us an idea of exactly how vast is the country called Brazil: It was, in 1930, third in the world in land area, after the Soviet Union and China.  Brazil is larger than the continental United States of America by more than 200,000 square miles and contains 3,200,000 square miles, nearly half the land in South America.  Its land area is 65 times the land area of England. This country on the east coast of South America has a coastline of 3,700 miles, twice the distance from Portland, Maine, to Key West, Florida. 

"Amid all Brazil's amazing coastal panorama of prismatic forests, mysterious rivers, foaming cascades, untrod mountains, and polyglot, populous coastal towns, Rio (de Janeiro) remains the very acme of human interest and beauty," (p. 729) Mr. Simpich relates.

He was told, "Rio likes Americans because we have a similarity of ideals and because we share your sense of numor.  We even translate and print your jokes!. . .Nowhere, from the Rio Grande to Cape Horn, is the visitor from the United States more welcome than in Rio" (p. 749).

Although there was no prohibition of alcohol in Brazil in 1930, as there was in the United States of America, Brazilians preferred coffee as their national drink.  They were great coffee producers, liked their coffee strong, and drank it regularly in many sidewalk cafes.  Between the months of August and January, in particular, the streets and warehouses of Sao Paulo's seaport terminal, Santos, throb to one idea - coffee" (photo caption, p. 759).

Most Brazilians spoke Portugese but did trade in at least five other languages.  After the Republic was formed, there was a large influx of immigrants, especially from Italy and Germany.

The Republic of the United States of Brazil was formed in 1889 after their independence from Portugal was won in 1822.  In 1930, the Republic was still new and Rio de Janeiro was a capital city newly renovated only the the past twenty years.  "Scenically, architecturally, it startles us with its theatrical character.  From my hotel roof, Rio's skyline resembled a string of fantastic palaces at some world's fair.  I could look down on a seaside boulevard that ran from the dignified American Embassy, around moon-shaped bay fronts, to a race course with clubhouses like ancient temples in Egypt.  Paris, New York, San Francisco all blend here" (p. 772).