World Cup Brazil 2014: Manaus

The main criterium used by FIFA to choose the host cities of the World Cup 2014 was to spread them across the entire country, so that foreign tourists would have the chance to meet as many Brazilian regions as possible.

Manaus was elected host city because it is the largest city in the Brazilian Amazon. Manaus is entirely surrounded by the jungle, and the culture of Brazilian Indians is still alive and present in everyday life of all people living there.

Manaus is the capital of the state of Amazonas,  situated at the confluence of the Negro and Solimoes rivers – two of the largest tributaries of Amazonas River, thebiggest in the World (the longest river is Nile, in Egypt, but the Amazonas has a much bigger water volume- one quarter of all the water volume dumped into the Atlantic Ocean comes from Amazonas).

It is the most populous city of Amazonas, according to the statistics of Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, and is a popular ecotourist destination.  It is located in northern Brazil, 1,932 kilometers (1,200 miles) from the federal capital, Brasília.

Manaus and the neighbourhoods host some of the best eco-hotels in Brazil and the World; check out more information about hotels in Manaus.

The city was founded in 1669 as the Fort of São José do Rio Negro. The name Manaus means “Mother of the Gods”,  a tribute to the indigenous nation of Manaós; in 1848 the name was changed to Cidade da Barra do Rio Negro, Portuguese for “The City of the Margins of Black River”. Only on September 4 of 1856 did it revert to its current name.

It was known at the beginning of the 20th century, as Heart of the Amazon and City of the Forest. During the first decades of that century, Manaus was the largest producer of rubber in the World, which was exported and used by the tyre factories. Many of the main buildings of Manaus, such as the Teatro Amazonas, date back to those years.

Currently its main economic activity is the Industrial Pool of Manaus. That is a Tax Free zone, used by manufacturers (such as automobiles and electronics) to assembly products and resell to the other States of Brazil.

It is the second largest metropolitan area in the Northern Brazil and the twelfth in all of Brazil, with 2,006,870 inhabitants (IBGE/2008). The population at 2008 was of 1.71 million people and it is the eighth most populous city of Brazil according to data from Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, the IBGE.

World Cup Brazil 2014: Brasilia

Brasília is known as the capital of Brazil. Actually, Brasilia is one of the administrative divisions of the Federal District. People from the city of Brasília are known as brasilienses or candangos.

Brasilia is struggling to host the opening match of the World Cup. There are plans to build a new stadium, the National Stadium, which could be the second largest in Brazil.

The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,600,000 (3,600,000 in the metropolitan area), making it the sixth largest city in Brazil (behind Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre and Salvador).

Brasilia is one of the 100 largest cities in the World,  and  is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Brasília hosts 91 foreign embassies.

As the national capital, Brasília is the seat of all three branches of the Brazilian government. The city also hosts the headquarters of many Brazilian State owned companies such as the Banco do Brasil, Caixa Econômica Federal and Correios.

The city is a world reference for urban planning. The locating of residential buildings around expansive urban areas, of building the city around large avenues and dividing it into sectors, has sparked debates and reflections on life in big cities in the 20th century.

The city’s planned design included specific areas for almost everything, including accommodation, Hotel Sectors North and South. However, new areas are now being developed as locations for hotels, such as the Hotels and Tourism Sector North, located on the shores of Lake Paranoá.

The city was planned and developed in 1956 with Lúcio Costa as the principal urban planner and Oscar Niemeyer as the principal architect. In 1960, it formally became Brazil’s national capital. When seen from above, the main planned part of the city’s shape resembles an airplane or a butterfly.

Due to its central position, Brasília International Airport is a major airline hub for the rest of the country, connecting the capital to all major Brazilian cities and many international destinations; many flights connecting South and North of Brazil have a stopover in Brasilia. It is the third most important airport of Brazil, in terms of passengers and aircraft movements.

World Cup Brazil 2014: Rio de Janeiro

The schedule of the World Cup wasn’t announced, but one thing is for sure: Rio de Janeiro will host the final match.

And there are a few reasons for that: the biggest Stadium in Brazil is Maracanã, located in the center of Rio; Brazil lost the final of the 1950 Cup in Maracana, and Brazilians are eager to not only become champions, but to do it in the new Maracanã; Rio de Janeiro is by far the most known Brazilian city.

Rio de Janeiro, commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, 6th largest in the Americas and the main tourist destination in the Southern Hemisphere (Sao Paulo, the economic horsepower of Brazil, attracts a higher number of foreign visitors, but most come for business).

The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1815 during the Portuguese colonial era, 1815 to 1821 as the capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves, and from 1822 to 1960 as an independent nation.

Rio is nicknamed A Cidade Maravilhosa or “The Marvelous City.” It is considered a Beta World City.

Rio de Janeiro is known for its natural settings, carnival celebrations, samba, Bossa Nova, beaches such as Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon.

Some of the most famous landmarks in addition to the beaches include the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer (‘Cristo Redentor’) atop Corcovado mountain, named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World; Sugarloaf mountain (Pão de Açúcar) with its cable car; the Sambódromo, a permanent parade avenue lined with grandstands which is used during Carnival; and Maracanã stadium, one of the world’s largest football stadiums.

Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Summer Olympics, the first South American city to host the event.

Information in Portuguese: Rio de Janeiro; to search hotels, visit Hoteis no Rio de Janeiro.

World Cup in Brazil

The World Cup 2014 will be staged in Brazil.

Recente World Cups were staged in the United States (1994), France (1998), Japan and Korea (2002) and Germany (2006).

All these highly developed countries share several features: they have been regularly visited by millions of tourists for years, and they have a strong, well established Travel Tourism offices; there is plenty of  literature (in books or on the internet) about them; they have a large infrastructure to receive visitors; their cultures have been spread across much of the World for decades.

So, it wasn’t difficult for visitors to find their way around those countries.

Things may be different in Brazil.

The language spoken is Portuguese, and very few Brazilians speak other languages.  Brazilians have their own way of conducting business. Food is a combination of several other culinaries, and many dishes exist only in Brazil.

The country is large, and there are big differences between regions. Getting around takes time, and some patience to deal the infrastructure problems. There is relatively little information about the country.

These are the twelve cities which will host matches of the World Cup 2014: Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Recife, Natal, Fortaleza, Cuiaba, Manaus.

This blog will try to bring some information which will hopefully be helpful to people coming to attend the World Cup 2014 in Brazil.