n place in terms of social attitude. The people of Brazil today feel a great pride and confidence in their national culture, after four centuries during which the people looked to Europe for inspiration. The Portuguese discovered Brazil and settled there, and over time the Portuguese language spoken in Brazil became a softer and more musical version of the mother tongue. The Portuguese brought Catholicism to the region. The culture of Brazil was altered somewhat by the arrival of the first African slaves, who brought with them their own cultures, which insinuated elements of the African heritage into Brazilian culture, including music, religious elements, dance, food, and more (Brazil 114-116).
Brazilian society in the contemporary age has been marked by pronounced regional and ethnic diversity. Ethnic diversity accompanies this marked regionalism. Descendants of Portuguese settlers, Amerindians, and African slaves comprise the main cultural groups. The heritage from the Portuguese has been disproportionate to the number of Portuguese settlers because they were colonizers and left their mark on the nation's political system and social institutions. This is reflected in language, kinship, and religion (Nyrop 83).
According to the 1980 census, there were 119 million people in Brazil, making this the world's sixth most populous nation. The figure compares with 93 million in 1970 and 71 million in 1960, and it also represents about one-third of the total population of Latin America. The average annual growth rate during the 1970s was 2.4 percent, reduced from 2.8 percent in the 1960s and 3.1 percent in the 1950s. The effect of a sharp decline in the birth rate has been offset by a significant rise in life expectancy and by an expanding number of women of childbearing age. It is projected that the population will pass 200 million people by the turn of the century, and growth will continue at a gradually slowing rate, even...