page_title: Brasília
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Brasília / History / Background
caption_attribution_description: Português: Pedra Fundamental de Brasília, capital do Brasil, no morro do centenário em Planaltina - DF.
context_page_description: Brasília is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located atop the Brazilian highlands in the country's center-western region. It was founded on April 21, 1960, to serve as the new national capital. Brasília is estimated to be Brazil's third-most populous city. Among major Latin American cities, it has the highest GDP per capita.
  Brasília was planned and developed by Lúcio Costa, Oscar Niemeyer and Joaquim Cardozo in 1956 in a scheme to move the capital from Rio de Janeiro to a more central location. The landscape architect was Roberto Burle Marx. The city's design divides it into numbered blocks as well as sectors for specified activities, such as the Hotel Sector, the Banking Sector, and the Embassy Sector. Brasília was chosen as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its modernist architecture and uniquely artistic urban planning. It was named "City of Design" by UNESCO in October 2017 and has been part of the Creative Cities Network since then.
  All three branches of Brazil's federal government are centered in the city: executive, legislative and judiciary. Brasília also hosts 124 foreign embassies.
context_section_description: Brazil's first capital was Salvador; later in 1763 Rio de Janeiro became Brazil's capital until 1960. During this period, resources tended to be centered in Brazil's southeast region, and most of the country's population was concentrated near its Atlantic coast. Brasília's geographically central location fostered a more regionally neutral federal capital. An article of the country's first republican constitution, dated 1891, states that the capital should be moved from Rio de Janeiro to a place close to the country's center.
  The plan was conceived in 1827 by José Bonifácio, an advisor to Emperor Pedro I. He presented a plan to the General Assembly of Brazil for a new city called Brasília, with the idea of moving the capital westward from the heavily populated southeastern corridor. The bill was not enacted because Pedro I dissolved the Assembly.
  According to legend, Italian saint Don Bosco in 1883 had a dream in which he described a futuristic city that roughly fitted Brasília's location. In Brasília today, many references to Bosco, who founded the Salesian order, are found throughout the city and one church parish in the city bears his name.
caption: The foundation stone of Brasília, Hill of the Centenary, erected in the year of the celebrations of the 100 years of the independence of Brazil in 1922
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