Brasília (redirected from Brazilia)

Brasília (bräzēl`yä), capital city and federal district of Brazil (2,264 sq mi/5,864 sq km; 1996 pop. 1,817,001), an enclave in the southwest of Goiás state. Inaugurated in 1960, it is situated in the highlands of central Brazil, and its ultramodern public buildings (designed by Oscar Niemeyer Soares) dominate what had been sparsely settled countryside. The removal of the capital from Rio de Janeiro to the interior, to encourage the development of central Brazil, was advocated long before President Juscelino Kubitschek initiated the project in 1956. The city was laid out (1957) in the shape of an airplane by the Brazilian architect Lúcio Costa. Government services, small-scale industry, food services, and construction are economically important. Most of Brasília's people live in its suburbs, outside the monumental government core.

---

Brasília

Goddess of Justice (left) and the Congressional Palace, in the Square of Three Powers, …

(credit: Per Olle Stackman—Tiofoto)

City (pop., 2000: 2,043,169), capital of Brazil. It lies between the headwaters of the Tocantins, Paraná, and São Francisco rivers. Though the idea of having the country's capital located in the interior was proposed as early as 1789, Brasília's construction began only in 1956. It was designed by the Brazilian architects Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer. In 1960 the government began its move from Rio de Janeiro. The city is a governmental rather than an industrial centre, although many Brazilian companies have headquarters there. Brasília National Park is nearby.