Brazil & Rio de Janeiro

                  On 1st January 1502 arrived on a land of Indians, the first Portuguese expedition by the Guanabara Bay. This bay had been confused with an estuary of a great river and the land they had arrived was called as Rio de Janeiro. Who would say, five centuries later it forms the focus of the tourism industry of the country!
                  Why the Brazil name? It is a portuguese word derived from live coal - bressil, in frenchman, or brazili, in italian. Portuguese had discovered the wood-of-ink, that later was called of brazil-wood, an abundant tree in Atlantic Wood that possesses a natural coloring material - before used by the indians. The Europeans used it to dye cotton staple fibres. During the Renaissance, Europe needed to increase the amount of natural coloring material to satisfy the necessities of an eager local commerce for colored clothing. Brazil-wood was explored until its almost extinction because of the european textile industry.
                  But today Brazil is a land valued for its awareness in preserving the nature. A country that if worries about the ecological reserves, takes care of its fauna and flora and fights to extinguish the one that tries against the nature through illegal falling of trees and clandestine selling of wooden and/ or of animals.
                  The country has 26 states, with approximately 180 million inhabitants. In the state of Rio de Janeiro live around 16 million people, and in the city that takes the same name, Rio de Janeiro - more known as Wonderful City - live around six million inhabitants forming the third busier city of South America, after São Paulo and Buenos Aires.