Donna Lassek, age 12, of Santa Rosa, Calif., for her question:
HOW DID BRAZIL RECEIVE ITS NAME?
Brazil is the largest country in Latin America in terms of both size and population. In fact, it takes up almost half of all of South America. The Portuguese named the country Brazil for a tree called the "brazilwood," a reddish dyewood that is found in most¬parts of the country.
In 1494, just two years after Columbus discovered the New World, Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, which gave the eastern part of South America to Portugal. But for more than 30 years, Portugal did very little to settle the vast territory that turned out to be Brazil. They were very busy with other projects in the Orient.
In 1534, Portugal sectioned off Brazil into 15 political units they called 11captaincies.11 A governor general set up a central government in Salvador in 1549.
For the next 100 years, the Portuguese settlers fought off occasional attacks by British, Dutch and French invaders.
During the late 1600s and in the early 1700s, many Portuguese came to Brazil because diamonds and gold were discovered in the west and south. Sugar at this time became the new country's best export item. Thousands of black slaves from Africa were brought to work in the sugar plantations.
During the late 1700s, the colonists moved into the center part of the country and established the regions of Minas Gerais, Goias and Mato Grosso.
France invaded Portugal in 1807 and the royal family, including the prince regent, moved to Brazil, establishing Rio de Janeiro as the capital of Portugal. The prince regent became King John VI in 1816.
King John went back to Portugal in 1821 and left his son Pedro as regent of Brazil. In 1822 Pedro declared Brazil independent and he was proclaimed Emperor Pedro I. Later his son became Pedro II and he ruled until 1889. The father and son kings freed the slaves in 1888, built railroads and attracted industry to the country.
Pedro II, who had become emperor at the age of 15 in 1840, gave up his throne and Brazil proclaimed itself a republic on Nov. 15, 1889.
Brazil's republic started as a military dictatorship but in 1891 it adopted a constitution that was modeled on the United States Constitution.
Coffee soon replaced sugar as Brazil's main export. The demand for Brazilian coffee from all over the world soon brought great wealth to the country.
Brazil joined the United Nations in 1945.
A new constitution was adopted in 1946 that restored individual rights. And in 1967 the capital was moved from Rio de Janeiro to the new city of Brasilia.
A constitutional amendment reduced the president's power and gave the country parliamentary government in 1961, but in 1963 the people voted to restore power to the president and end the parliamentary government.