O Federal District is one of the 27 federation units in Brazil. It is located at Midwest region and houses the seat of the country's government, situated in Brasilia. The city was inaugurated in 1960, marking the transfer of political power to the center of the national territory, a project that had already been conceived for a long time. the DF gathers today more than three millons of citizens, and its economy is concentrated in the tertiary sector, with emphasis on public administration activities.
Read too: Tocantins – the youngest state in Brazil
General data of the Federal District
Region: Midwest
capital: Brasilia capital of Brazil)
Government: representative democracy
Areatterritorial: 5,760,784 km² (IBGE, 2020)
Population: 3,055,149 inhabitants (IBGE estimate, 2020)
Densitydemographic: 444.66 inhab./km² (IBGE, 2010)
spindle: Brasília Standard Time (GMT -3)
Climate: tropical
Federal District Geography
The Federal District is one of the 27 federation units in Brazil. It is located in the Midwest region, making
border with the states of Goiás and, in a close range, with Minas Gerais, to the southeast. Its territorial area is just over 5.76,000 km², the smallest unit in size in Brazil. The Federal District receives this name for housing the seat of the Brazilian government.Federal District Climate
Predominates in the Federal District the tropical weather, marked by the influence of continentality and altitude. Average temperatures are around 22 ºC and 23 ºC. In higher regions, the values can be a little lower. O summer corresponds to the rainy season, while the winters they are dry and cool, with thermometers reading up to 13°C in certain areas. The annual rainfall in the DF varies between 1000 mm and 1200 mm.
Federal District relief
The Federal District is located in the Brazilian Central Plateau, according to the classification of Aziz Ab’Sáber. The unit's terrains are characterized by high altitudes and mostly flat to gently undulating features.
THE average altitude in the unit is 1050 meters, with the lower areas concentrated near the courses of the rivers that bathe the unit. The main elevations are located in the west of the Federal District, where the altitude is greater than 1200 meters. Roncador Peak is located in northwestern DF and consists of its highest point, located at 1341 meters above sea level.
Vegetation of the Federal District
The existing vegetation cover in the Federal District is that characteristic of thick, biome of which it is a part. Just over half of the territory is covered by savanna formations, as indicated by Codeplan information. Fields account for 41.63% of the area, while forests represent only 7.24%.
Federal District Hydrography
the DF is included in Tocantins-Araguaia hydrographic basin, in addition to the seven other hydrographic basins into which its drainage system is divided. The main rivers that bathe the area are the Maranhão, São Bartolomeu, Descoberto and Preto rivers.
Large lakes also make up the set of surface waters in the DF, such as the thereago Paranoá, formed from the damming of the homonymous river, and the Lake of Descoberto.
See too: São Francisco River – one of the most important watercourses in Brazil
Federal District Map
Demographics of the Federal District
The population of the DF is 3,055,149 inhabitants, the 20th among Brazilian federation units. Given its small area, the DF can be considered a densely populated territory, with a distribution of 444.66 inhabitants/km² at the time of the 2010 Census. Between the completion of the survey and 2020, the unit had a population gain of 484,989 inhabitants. With that, the demographic density rose to 530.33 inhab./km².
Most of the population of the DF lives in the urban area. Considering the demographic data of Codeplan and the IBGE, we have an urbanization rate of 94.3%. The administrative region of Ceilândia is the most populous, with 349,955 inhabitants. The Plano Piloto, where the administrative structure of the federal government is located, currently has 217,073 inhabitants.
A significant portion of the population of Brasilia (44.64%) is composed of immigrants from others regions of Brazil. With 22.32%, the North East it is the main region of origin. With regard to ethnic composition, 47.49% declare themselves brown; 40.95%, white; 10.03%, black; and 0.3%, indigenous.
The Human Development Index (HDI) of the DF is 0.824, the largest in the country. Life expectancy at birth of 78.9 years is higher than the national one and stands out with Sao Paulo.
Geographical Division of the Federal District
The geographical division of the DF takes place through the so-called administrative regions (RA). altogether are 33 regions, as listed in the table below. Among the ARs is the Plano Piloto, which houses the headquarters of the Brazilian federal government.
I - Pilot Plan |
XII - Fern |
XXIII - Varjão |
II - Range |
XIII - Santa Maria |
XXIV - Park Way |
III - Taguatinga |
XIV - Saint Sebastian |
XXV - Structural/Scia |
IV - Brazil |
XV - Corner of Emas |
XXVI - Sobradinho II |
V - Sobrado |
XVI - South Lake |
XXVII - Botanical Garden |
VI - Plateau |
XVII - Deep Stream |
XXVIII - Itapoã |
VII - Paranoá |
XVIII - North Lake |
XXIX - SIA |
VIII - Bandeirante Nucleus |
XIX - Candangolândia |
XXX - Vicente Pires |
IX - Ceilândia |
XX - Clear Waters |
XXXI - Fercal |
X - Maned |
XXI - Deep Stream 2 |
XXXII - Rising Sun/Sunset |
XI - Cruise |
XXII - Southwest/Octagonal |
XXXIII - Arniqueira |
Federal District Economy
The Federal District has the eighth largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Brazil, which adds up to R$ 254.81 billion. As the country's administrative headquarters, the largest portion of the value added to the brasiliense economy is derived from tertiary sector, which brings together trade and services as well as public administration and related activities.
As Codeplan data show, more than half of the amount collected by the sector comes from administration, defense, education, health and social security. Next are financial, insurance and related activities. The tertiary concentrates a portion of 95% of the employed population of the DF.
The industry of the Federal District is responsible for a share of 3.9% of its GDP, led by the civil construction sector and essential public services, such as electricity generation and distribution. THE farming produces soy, corn, coffee, beans, wheat, milk, eggs, fruits and vegetables. This sector, however, accounts for a very small share of GDP, which is only 0.4%.
See too: What are the effects of modernization in the field?
Federal District Government
The Federal District government is a representative democracy, with elections held at four-year intervals. The district executive branch is the governor. The Legislative is composed ofthree senators, eight federal deputies and 24 deputies districts.
The governors who make up the Legislative Power of the Federal District exercise, in addition to their initial attributions, the same functions as politicians elected to municipal office, as established by the Constitution Federal. Each of the 33 administrative regions, in turn, has a regional administrator.
Federal District Flag
Federal District Infrastructure
The Federal District has a extensive urban infrastructure network to serve its more than 883,000 installed homes. Codeplan data indicate that each of these households has, on average, 3.26 people, who live with a per capita income of R$2,492.09, varying according to the RA.
Almost all households (99.43%) have access to the electricity network of the Federal District, administered by Companhia Elétrica de Brasília (CEB). The coverage of sewage network is 92.74%, while the treated water network is connected to 98.57% of the brasilian households |1|. Both are the responsibility of the Federal District Environmental Sanitation Company (Caesb).
More of two thousand km of roads make up the road network the Federal District, the main access route to the capital and connection with other regions of the country. In addition to the district highways, identified by the acronym DF, eight important federal highways (BR) originate in Brasília and are known as radial, numbered from 010 to 080. The railways that cross the DF are used to transport cargo, with emphasis on the Central Atlantic Railroad (FCA).
Air connections are made through federal, district and private airports. The main one is Brasília International Airport, the third largest in passenger flow in Brazil.
Federal District Culture
The Federal District was formed from the migration of people from different regions of Brazil, an aspect that is reflected in the cultural manifestations of Brasilia. One of them is the music, which gained nationwide through of the rock bands who graduated in Brasilia. This does not exclude other styles produced in the DF, such as choro and hip-hop.
O Brasília Festival of Popular Culture is DF's main party and celebrates the folklore and the customs of the place. Its symbol is the Calango Voador, a mythical entity from the Brazilian Cerrado. Festivities such as the June and the Festa do Divino, as well as the Brasilia Festival of Brazilian Cinema, held at Cine Brasília.
The capital of Brazil itself, its architectural ensemble elaborated by Oscar Niemeyer and the Pilot Plan project authored by Lúcio Costa express the city's history and preserve high cultural value. As a result, UNESCO included the city in the list of World Heritage Sites, on December 7, 1987.
![Brasília, seat of the federal government, is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[1]](/f/f323af3fd9009b838bbc7f0e8e2706b9.jpg)
History of the Federal District
THE transfer from the capital of Brazil to the interior has always been present in the country's political ideas and goes backgo to the colonial period. In the 19th century, José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva he suggested the name of Brasília for the new seat of political power, proposing its central position.
It was just with the first Çconstitution of Brazil Republic, enacted in 1891, that the project is no longer just an idea. The document foresaw the establishment of the Brazilian capital in the Central Plateau, and a multidisciplinary commission was sent to carry out an in-depth study and demarcation of the area. Although the foundation stone of the new capital was laid in 1922, it was only in the 1950s that his project came to fruition.
In 1955, the delimitation of the area was carried out where the city would be built, a process that began in government ofJuscelino Kubitschek, new president-elect of Brazil. The layout of the new capital was made by Lúcio Costa, architect and urban planner who won the competition for Nova Capital Urbanization Company (Novacap), carried out to choose a city project planned.
The works attracted a large number of workers from different parts of the country, especially Goiás and states in the Northeast region. The workforce that worked in the Brasilia construction is known as candango. These individuals, with their families, started to live in the outskirts of Plano Piloto, the RA that hosts the structure of government, giving rise to satellite cities.
Brasilia was opened on April 21, 1960, officially becoming the new seat of the federal government and the country's political center.
Note
|1| Data from the District Household Sample Survey (PDAD 2018) and made available by Codeplan in http://brasiliametropolitana.codeplan.df.gov.br/.
Image Credit:
[1] 061 movies / Shutterstock
By Paloma Guitarrara
Geography teacher
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/brasil/distrito-federal.htm
