|
From 1889
to 1930, the government was a constitutional democracy,
with the presidency alternating between the dominant
states of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais. This period
ended with a military coup that placed Getulio
Vargas, a civilian, in the presidency; Vargas
remained as dictator until 1945. From 1945 to
1961, Eurico Dutra, Vargas, Juscelino Kubitschek,
and Janio Quadros were elected presidents. When
Quadros resigned in 1961, he was succeeded by
Vice President Joao Goulart.
Goulart's
years in office were marked by high inflation,
economic stagnation, and the increasing influence
of radical political elements. The armed forces,
alarmed by these developments, staged a coup on
March 31, 1964. The coup leaders chose as president
Humberto Castello Branco, followed by Arthur da
Costa e Silva (1967-69), Emilio Garrastazu Medici
(1968-74), and Ernesto Geisel (1974-79) all of
whom were senior army officers. Geisel began a
liberalization which was carried further by his
successor, Gen. JoÆo Baptista de Oliveira
Figueiredo (1979-85). Figueiredo not only permitted
the return of politicians exiled or banned from
political activity during the 1960s and 1970s
but also allowed them to run for state and federal
offices in 1982. Brazil's history prior to becoming
an independent country in 1822 is intertwined
mainly with that of Portugal. Unlike the other
viceroyalties of Latin America, which divided
into twenty countries upon attaining independence,
the Viceroyalty of Brazil became a single nation,
with a single language transcending all diversities
and regionalisms. Brazil is the only Portuguese-speaking
Latin American country, and its Luso-Brazilian
culture differs in subtle ways from the Hispanic
heritage of most of its neighbors. During the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
millions of Italians, Germans, Arabs, Japanese,
and other immigrants entered Brazil and in various
ways altered the dominant social system. Their
descendants, however, are nearly all Portuguese-speaking
Brazilians.
Except for
a small indigenous Indian population, Brazilians
are one people, with a single culture.
|
