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One of the favorite tricks of brazilian exchange students around the world is to ask what is the Capital of Brazil. And most almost never know the answer.
By Youtube we have the impression that Brasilia is largely unknown in the world.
I actually spent three weeks in Brasilia over the holidays. My husband is from there. Sadly, I would not have known anything about the city if it had not been for him. Rio, yes. Brasilia...not so much. But, I must say I loved the city and the culture of the center west of Brazil!
klmrocks
If you, that seem to be very interested in LA didn't know, I'm sure it's true that Brasilia is really largely unknown!!
I am Canadian, but parents are from Trinidad and Tobago. When I think of other Countries I usually think of places I have heard of that are advertised vacation spots or that have events or things I have heard about and want to see and not so much geographic/ political significance. For example in my opinion if someone was coming to Canada I would hope they would think of places like Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver before the capital which is Ottawa as the other cities are far as I am concerns have more excitement to offer. I asked other people I knew some born in countries other then Canada and no one knew off the top of their head.
I was once working as a College Professor and I was taking a taxi to the College and once the driver realized I was teacher there and not a student he said to me if you are a professor I want to play a game with you to see how smart you are. I agreed. He said if you guess right the taxi ride is free. He asked me what the capital of Ethiopia was ... I could not remember and had to admit to that. He laughed and told me see ... you are a college professor and a taxi driver got to teach you something today.
Maybe one of the things that makes life worth living is knowing you don't know everything and there is always something new to discover !
In the early 1980s I was in Brazil for a total of about 1 month on vacation. From Rio, I traveled by bus to many places, including Brasilia. It was an overnight trip, and it took all night and arrived just after sunrise. I spent 3 or 4 days around Brasilia and at that time, the city still had a very "new" feel to it. The city was growing beyond it's original purpose of federal capital, and lots of new businesses and commercial activity was going on.
Here is what is unique about Brasilia for a large city - literally everyone who lives there s from somewhere else. Nobody has deep roots in the city that go back generations, like there are in every other city on the planet. People from all corners of Brazil and beyond have made Brasilia their new home, so it has a bigger variety of people and culture than all but a few places on earth. From what I hear, the music scene is pretty good there.
Brasilia also has a fairly mild climate most of the year. Most people that live in the area don't need to use air conditioning or heat for their homes. I'm sure many homes have heat or AC, but I don't think it would be needed very often.
Brasilia is spread out over a large area in the Altiplano / high plateau of central Brazil. Luckily there is a very good public transit system, so many people can get around by Metro or Bus without needing to drive a car everywhere. It's too bad they don't have a network of bicycle routes that would enable more people to get around on two wheels in a safer manner. Bike riding is not a common method of transport.
Sure, but Brasilia here is very famous not just for its architeture, but also for its permanent curruption scandals. It's ALWAYS on TV with those beautiful official buildings as scenary of infamous news.
For us it's sounds really funny that anyone in this world never have heard about it.
The girl was not being arrogant, but to compare one of the biggest countries in America and in the world to a new country somewhere in Asia is not an excuse.
The UK will be just the same as the others - most won't know. I think Colombia fairs a little better re: Brasilia being the capital but again not much detail is known about Brazil in general.
Canberra being capital of Australia or Ottawa being capital of Canada is similar to the Brasilia scenario in that it's not common knowledge.
The UK will be just the same as the others - most won't know. I think Colombia fairs a little better re: Brasilia being the capital but again not much detail is known about Brazil in general.
Canberra being capital of Australia or Ottawa being capital of Canada is similar to the Brasilia scenario in that it's not common knowledge.
Canada and Australia are the perfect examples for being similar to Brazil. All 3 have cities that are much more well known than their capitals. Indeed, NYC and LA are more well known than DC even though Washington is in a different stratosphere from Brasilia, Canberra and Ottawa when it comes to being well known internationally. Same issue exists in Africa with South Africa and Nigeria to a lessor extent.
I would also add that most people don't know that Sao Paulo is the premier city of Brazil.
The UK will be just the same as the others - most won't know. I think Colombia fairs a little better re: Brasilia being the capital but again not much detail is known about Brazil in general.
Canberra being capital of Australia or Ottawa being capital of Canada is similar to the Brasilia scenario in that it's not common knowledge.
Well, I just posed the question to two ColOmbians and their answer was; Sao Paulo.
Well, even brazilians agree that Rio is the capital of the culture and São Paulo is the capital of business.
But these are informal concepts of course.
I wonder if Mexico will benefit from moving the capital elsewhere...
MrFalcon, what's your take on planned capitals? Pros and cons.
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Vacation mentality ...
and had to admit to that. He laughed and told me see ... you are a college professor and a taxi driver got to teach you something today.
!
