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abruptly rising mountain range covered by a
luxuriant tropical forest. Combined with a
mild climate, Rio’s landscape makes it one of
the most beautiful cities in the world, justify-
ing its title of “Marvelous City” (
Cidade
Maravilhosa
).
Brasília
In 1956 construction began on the new capi-
tal. Brasília is located in the 2,245-square-mile
(5,812-sq-km) Federal District, on an other-
wise sparsely inhabited plateau carved out of
the state of Goiás. It sits 746 miles (1,201 km)
from the former capital of Rio de Janeiro.
Brazilian architect and urban planner Lúcio
Costa won the competition held for designing
Brasília’s complete layout. Oscar Niemeyer, a
Brazilian architect, designed the major gov-
ernment buildings. Landscape designer
Roberto Burle Marx planned the landscaping
and selected the vegetation to add a vivid
green backdrop to the otherwise dry, yellow
landscape of the
savanna
. On April 21, 1960,
Brasília was officially inaugurated and start-
ed functioning as the new capital of Brazil.
Brazil
46
Many poor people in Brazil’s large
cities live in
favelas
, or slums,
such as this one in Rio de Janeiro.