Brazilian Federal District

The Federal District ( ) is a part of Brazil, which is used to shelter Brasília, the federal capital. It is in the centre of the country.

History
The capital of Brazil was transferred from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília on 21 April 1960 and its new territory, split off from state of Goiás on the border with the state of Minas Gerais, became the current Federal District. After the transfer the old Federal District, containing the city of Rio de Janeiro, became the state of Guanabara. This state existed from 1960 until 1975, when it merged with the state of Rio de Janeiro. With the merger the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro was transferred back from Niterói to Rio de Janeiro itself (as it had been until 1834 when the empire created the Neutral Municipality).

Originally, most of the people were local workers (called "Candangos"), who built the capital, and federal government workers who were sent to the new capital, Brasília. The capital is a planned city. It had areas built for homes, business, schools and other uses. Originally built for up to one million people, the city now has many more than one million people. Because of how the city was built, it has been hard for the city to grow. This has caused many people to live in cities around Brasília. A large percentage of the people of the Federal District live outside the city now.

Flag
The white color is for peace. The green and yellow colors in the middle refer to the national colors of Brazil. The four yellow arrows are for the native people of Brazil. The arrows pointing into the four cardinal directions of the compass stands for the power moving out from the center. The yellow arrows also form a cross. This is a symbol of the Southern Cross carried by the explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral.

The flag was created by the poet Guilherme de Almeida, and was adopted by decree no. 1090 on August 25, 1969.

References

 Other websites 
 Official homepage  
 Informative Federal District page, with aeroplane view  
Feature article on CityMayors.com
Distrito Federal at Google Maps
Map of the Federal District 


Category:1960 establishments in South America
Category:1960s establishments in Brazil