Languages Of Brazil And Mexico example essay topic

Brazil and Mexico are both the giants of their geographic realms (de Blij and Muller 219,254). Mexico constitutes an entire geographic region of Middle America (200). The country of Brazil is also considered a single region in South America (239). Both of these regions have very large populations in comparison to the other regions of their realms.

Mexico's current population of 102 million people has more than doubled in size since 1970 (219). Brazil's estimated population is currently near 167 million people (254). The populations of both regions are becoming increasingly more urban in character. At least seventy-four percent of Mexico's population resides in cities or towns (220). Similarly in Brazil, eighty percent of the population lives in urban areas (Microsoft Encarta). Although both Mexico and Brazil are regions of very large urban populations, the ethnic make-up of the regions are quite distinct from each other.

Beginning in the sixteenth century both regions came into contact with European nations. Mexico and Brazil both had populations of Amerindians before the Europeans arrived. In Mexico the Spanish would encounter the advanced civilizations of the Aztecs ruled by Montezuma (Suchlicki 26). The Aztec population has been estimated to be between 80,000 to 250,000.

The Aztec people had built a great city at Tenochtitlan. The Aztec were advanced in their architectural abilities, their engineering accomplishments, and their culture (22). In Brazil the Amerindian population upon arrival of the Portuguese was fragmented into innumerable small tribes (Burns 17). There was no culture in Brazil when the Europeans arrived that can be compared to the Aztecs of Mexico (21).

The fact that different European countries colonized Mexico and Brazil is most noticeable today in the languages of the countries. The languages of Brazil and Mexico are different. The official language of Brazil is Portuguese (Microsoft Encarta). The major language of Mexico is Spanish.

Some Amerindian languages do survive in both of these countries. In Mexico the use of Amerindian languages is more common than in Brazil. Eighty percent of the people who speak Amerindian languages in Mexico also speak Spanish (Camp). The Portuguese language as spoken in Brazil is colored by many words and phrases from native and immigrant languages. Cities in the southern parts of Brazil have populations who speak German and Italian (Microsoft Encarta). The early European colonies in the region of Brazil and the region of Mexico operated large plantations.

Brazil lacked the large work force provided by the greater Amerindian population of Mexico. The Amerindians of Mexico were already familiar with working for native overlords, making the transition to working under a Spanish overlord a relatively smooth process (Suchlicki 31). To compensate for the lack of an indigenous work force, the Portuguese began to bring African slaves into Brazil as early as 1433. Out of the total population of the Brazilian colony in 1585 numbering some 57,000 people, 14,000 were African slaves (Burns 49). Although the Spanish who colonized Mexico were by no means innocent of enslaving Africans, the large numbers of Amerindians provided the bulk of the work force on Mexican plantations (Suchlicki 31). These historical differences in the regions of Brazil and Mexico are still evident in their populations of today.

The Amerindian influence is strong in Mexico. While only ten percent of the population is full Amerindian (de Blij and Muller 220), the cultural influence remains greater than in Brazil. Less than one percent of the population is full Amerindian in Brazil (Microsoft Encarta). The population of Mexico is largely mestizo, people with mixed European and Amerindian ancestries (de Blij and Muller 220). The population of Brazil is much more diverse; it is more heavily influenced by European immigrations. The large numbers of slaves brought into Brazil from Africa have maintained their influence in Brazil A black population of around 8.5 million lives in Brazil today.

Resembling the mixing of European and Amerindians in Mexico, racial mixing has effected Brazil's population. 67 million Brazilians can trace their ancestries to European, African, and Amerindian bloodlines. A slim majority of Brazilians are of European decent. These people are the ancestors of immigrants from Eastern Europe, Portugal, Germany, and Italy. Brazil also has the largest population of Japanese outside of Japan (254). Despite the differences in their ethnicity, the populations of these regions are both highly urbanized.

In Brazil eighty percent of the population resides in urban areas (Microsoft Encarta). Nearly seventy-five percent of Mexico's people are urban dwellers (de Blij and Muller 220). The largest cities of these regions are Mexico City, Mexico (221) and Sao Paulo, Brazil (259). Mexico City is the home of a little more than twenty-five percent of Mexico's total population.

Mexico City's population grows by amazing amounts each year; the city will probably soon be the most populated city on Earth. Right now the population of Mexico City is twenty-eight million (221). Sao Paulo in Brazil is also growing remarkably fast. Presently the population of Sao Paulo is Twenty-three million Sao Paulo's population has more than doubled in the past thirty years (259). Sao Paulo and Mexico City are facing some of the same problems. Sao Paulo and Mexico City are both marked by areas of great economic contrasts.

Mexico City has more than five hundred areas that can be called slums. Areas with even worse living conditions, known as barrios or ciudad es, which translates to "lost cities", surround the outer rims of Mexico City. Sao Paulo has areas that are equally as poverty stricken as the ciudad es of Mexico City. In Brazil the poorer areas are known as fave las (253). The inhabitants of these areas in both cities are mostly recent migrants to the cities from more rural areas (221,259).

The people of Mexico and Brazil are both predominantly Roman Catholic. Brazil is the largest Roman Catholic country in the world (254). Eighty-nine percent of Mexico's population follows the Roman Catholic faith (Camp). During the colonial period the Portuguese and the Spanish placed importance on Christianizing the Amerindian populations. In Brazil the African influence has played an important role on the Catholic faith. Many Brazilians include the worship of African deities with their Christian religious practices.

The Candomble sect is the most popular of these sects, its influence is strongest in the Brazilian state of Bahia (Microsoft Encarta). Brazil and Mexico are both rich with natural resources. Oil is an important natural resource in both regions (224,255). Brazil has also begun to produce a sugarcane-based alcohol for use as fuel (256). Some of the resources of Brazil are large manganese deposits, iron, coal, limestone, and aluminum (255,257,260). Mexico's resources include silver, salt, celestite, sodium sulfate, and graphite (Camp).

Agricultural pursuits are more prevalent in Brazil than in Mexico. New areas of farming in Brazil, especially in the southwestern grasslands, have made commercial farming the fastest increasing economic force in the country (256). In Mexico only twenty percent of the land is suitable for growing crops (Camp). The arid region of northern Mexico has become an area of increased commercial agriculture because of major irrigation projects (be Blij and Muller 223). Mexico and Brazil both produce coffee, sugar, and citrus fruits (223,258). Cattle ranching is important in Mexico and Brazil (224,257).

Mexico and Brazil are both working towards economic growth (219,256). Brazil is the eighth largest industrial force in the world today. Brazil allowed foreign competition and investment into their industries in the early 1990's (256). Mexico became a member of the North American Free Trade agreement in the early 1990's (219).

Both of these economic moves have helped stimulate economic growth. However, both countries still face problem of internal regional and social inequalities (222,256). In Mexico certain areas of the country have not really benefited from the on going economic developments. The Chiapas, which has a mostly Amerindian population, consists mainly of peasant farmers surviving by subsistence farming. Fifty-three percent of the people in Mexico live in extreme poverty (222). Brazil has also seen astonishing increases in the number of people living in poverty.

There has been a fifty percent increase in the number of people living in poverty (256). Both Mexico and Brazil will have to work towards a more balanced distribution of wealth in the years to come.

Bibliography

1. "Brazil". Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia. Computer Software. Microsoft, 2000.
CD ROM. 2. Burns, Bradford E... A History of Brazil: Second Edition. New York: Cornell University Press, 1980.
3. Blij, H.J. de and Peter O. Muller. Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts 2000 Ninth Edition.
New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000.
4. Camp, Roderick Ai. "Mexico". Computer Software. Microsoft, 2000.
CD ROM. 5. MacLachlan, Colin. "History of Mexico". Computer Software. Microsoft, 2000.
CD ROM. 6. Suchlicki, Jaime. Mexico: From Montezuma, to NAFTA, Chiapas, and Beyond... Washington: Brassey's, 1996.