Culture and heritage
Brazil's heritage is rich and varied. Many cities have historic landmark buildings of different architectural styles and epochs. UNESCO has registered 10 Brasilian sites on their World Heritage List and nearly fifty national parks are protected on their list.
Brazil is culturally rich due to the many influences. The Portuguese gave the country its language and many features in its culture, African slaves their music and food tastes and not to forget the influx of Native Indians. Brazilian music has always been known for its diversity, with major influences from Spain, American Jazz , and Caribbean beats and rhythms. The sounds of Samba reflect the passion and heat for life Brazilian people. African slaves have biggest influence on Brazilian music, bringing in percussion instruments; one of them is always used in Capoeira. Fine Art has strong heritage roots in the old indigenous Indian populations. From all these influences sprang the different types of music associated with Brazil today.
Music for the extravagant Carnaval started gaining its unique character only after 1899 when Chiquinha Gonzaga wrote the marchinha "O Abre Alas" (Make Way) that incorporated Afro-Brazilian rhythms. The samba appeared in 1917 with the recording of Pelo Telefone and this is the origin of the association between samba music and carnaval.
Brazilian cuisine is as varied as the ethnic diversity of its people. Restaurants and bistros seduce the tastes with traditional disches like moqueca de peixe (fish stew), tacaca (soup with manioc, shrimps and garlic), feijoada (pork and bean stew), pato no tucupi (roasted duck in cassava sauce) and very popular churrasco (Brazilian barbeque).
