Brazil. People. Ethnic groups. Caboclos and mulattoes

I he population of Brazil is the fifth largest in the world. Its 173 million people live in a melting pot society, where individuals from many different ethnic groups live together in relative harmony. While racial discrimination is far less widespread in Brazil than in many other countries, Brazilians of European descent usually have better educational opportunities and thus hold higher-level jobs in government and industry compared to Brazilians of non-European background.

The blue eyes and dark skin of this mulatto, left, reflect the mixed ancestry of many Brazilians. The country's many ethnic groups are unified by a shared religion and a common language. About 85 per cent of the people are Roman Catholics, and almost all Brazilians speak Portuguese, the country's official language.

Only about 7 per cent of Brazil's people live in the Amazon Region, which is larger than the United States west of the Mississippi, but mainly covered by thick forests. Most Brazilians live in the cities and urbanized regions along the Atlantic coastal zone. These cities suffer from overcrowding because Brazil has one of the fastest-growing populations in the Western Hemisphere and because many people continue to migrate to the cities from rural areas in search of work.

A young lace maker works at her spindle, above, while colorful shawls and other items are displayed for prospective buyers. The making of renda (lace) is one of the traditional crafts still practiced in the states of Bahia and Ceara.

To solve the problems of overcrowding, Brazil's government has made many attempts to redistribute the population. In 1960, the capital was moved from the coastal city of Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia, which is located about 600 miles (970 kilometers) inland on the central plateau. During the 1970's, the government began to offer free land to people willing to settle in the Amazon Region.

Catholics form about 80 per cent of Brazil's population. More Catholics live in Brazil than in any other country. About 1 per cent of Brazil's people, mostly blacks and people of mixed ancestry, practice such local religions as macumba and candomble. These religions combine African spiritualist beliefs and Catholicism. Protestants make up about 5 per cent of Brazil's population.

Followers of Macumba, above, a local religion that combines African spiritual beliefs with Roman Catholicism, prepare an offering to lemanja, the goddess of the sea. Many Brazilians who consider themselves Roman Catholics also worship the gods and goddesses of certain African religions.

Ethnic groups. About 1 million to 5 million Indians were living in Brazil when the first Europeans arrived in 1500, but the Indian population today totals only about 200,000, representing less than 1 per cent of the people of Brazil. Most Indians live in the forests of the Amazon Region and speak traditional Indian languages. About 180 Amazonian tribes can still be found in the forests, in settlements that are seldom larger than 200 people.

In addition to the Indians, Brazil has three main ethnic groups—whites, blacks, and people of mixed ancestry. Most of the whites are of European descent, and, according to the Brazilian government, make up about 60 per cent of the population. However, the government considers many light-skinned people of mixed ancestry as whites.

The white population in the north traces its ancestry to the Portuguese plantation owners who settled there in the 1600's and 1700's. The northeast also contains a distinctive group of blond, blue-eyed Brazilians, the descendants of Dutch colonists who held what is now the state of Pernambuco between 1630 and 1654.

Most European immigrants came to Brazil after the country declared its independence in 1822. People from Germany, Italy, Spain, and Portugal flocked to southeastern Brazil to work in the rapidly growing coffee industry. Today, Brazil has immigrants from about 30 nations. The largest groups include Italians, Portuguese, Spaniards, Japanese, Germans, Poles, and people from the Middle East and the former Soviet republics.

Caboclos and mulattoes. Caboclos (people of mixed white and Indian ancestry) and mulattoes (people of mixed black and white ancestry) make up about 30 per cent of Brazil's population. Blacks make up about 7 per cent of the population.

Black people were brought from Africa to Brazil as slaves, beginning in the mid-1500's. Many slaves were sold to sugar cane growers in the northeast. By about 1800, there were so many slaves in Brazil that they made up more than half the population. Many of the descendants of these African slaves still live in the coastal towns and cities, especially in the Northeast.