About Brazil
Brazil is the largest country in both South America and Latin America, it was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808. The climate of Brazil comprises a wide range of weather conditions across a large area and varied topography, but most of the country is tropical. Brazil's large territory comprises different ecosystems, such as the Amazon rainforest, recognized as having the greatest biological diversity in the world. Tourism in Brazil is a growing sector and key to the economy of several regions of the country. The country had 5 million visitors in 2010, Natural areas are its most popular tourism product, a combination of ecotourism with leisure and recreation, mainly sun and beach, and adventure travel, as well as cultural tourism. Festivals, art, music and food also account for the popularity of Brazil as a tourist destination.
Jewish History, POI & Kosher Establishments in Brazil
Brazil has the ninth largest Jewish community in the world, about 107,329 by 2010, There have been Jews in what is now Brazil since the first Portuguese arrived in the country in 1500 They were known as "New Christians" (Conversos or Marranos — Jews obliged to convert to Roman Catholicism by the Portuguese crown). In 1904, the Jewish agricultural colonization, supported by the Jewish Colonization Association (JCA) began in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state in Brazil. All these colonization attempts, however, failed because of "inexperience, insufficient funds and poor planning" and also because of "administrative problems, lack of agricultural facilities and the lure of city jobs." The main benefit from these agricultural experiments was the removal of restrictions in Brazil on Jewish immigration from Europe during the 20th century." By the First World War, about 7,000 Jews were inhabiting Brazil. The current Jewish community is composed by 75% of Ashkenazi Jews of Polish and German descent and also of 25% Sephardic Jews. Jews lead an open religious life in Brazil and there are rarely any reported cases of anti-semitism in the country. There are 7 Jewish communities that have a population of over 1000, the largest of these is São Paulo with over 50,000. Kosher products in Brazil generally do not carry kosher symbols. However, there is a list of kosher products in Portuguese which can be translated into Enlish.
