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Brazilian Federal District facts for kids

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Federal District

Distrito Federal
Flag of Federal District
Flag
Coat of arms of Federal District
Coat of arms
Motto(s): 
VENTVRIS VENTIS
"To the coming winds"
Location of Federal District in Brazil
Location of Federal District in Brazil
Country Brazil
Seat of government Brasília
Area
 • Total 5,802 km2 (2,240 sq mi)
Area rank 27th
Population
 (February 2017)
 • Total 3,013,144
 • Rank 20th
 • Density 519.33/km2 (1,345.05/sq mi)
 • Density rank 1st
Demonym(s) Brasiliense
GDP
 • Year 2015 estimate
 • Total US$116 billions(PPP) US$65 billions (8th)
 • Per capita US$38.549 (PPP) US$21,779 (1st)
HDI
 • Year 2014
 • Category 0.839 – very high (1st)
Time zone UTC−03:00 (BRT)
 • Summer (DST) UTC−02:00 (BRST)
Postal code
70000-000 to 73690-000
ISO 3166 code BR-DF
Website df.gov.br

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

History

The government of Brazil was moved to Distrito Federal on April 21, 1960. Before this, the Brazilian Federal District used to be the municipality of Rio de Janeiro. Afterwards, the municipality of Rio de Janeiro became the Estado da Guanabara (State of Guanabara), from 1960 until 1975. In 1975, the State of Guanabara and the State of Rio de Janeiro merged, to be named the state of Rio de Janeiro.

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 Distrito Federal 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.


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Federal District: Brazilian Federal District



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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Distrito Federal (Brasil) para niños

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