The Federal District ( ) is one of 27 federative units of Brazil. Located in the Center-West Region, it is the smallest Brazilian federal unit and the only one that has no municipalities, being divided into 35 administrative regions. The federal capital of Brazil, Brasília, which is also the seat of government of the Federal District, is located in its territory. The Federal District shares a small border with Minas Gerais and is otherwise surrounded by the state of Goiás.

History From the first republican constitution there was already a device that foresaw the move of the federal capital from Rio de Janeiro, at that time in the former Federal District (1889–1960), to the interior of the country. In 1891 the Exploration Commission of the Central Highlands of Brazil was appointed, led by astronomer Luiz Cruls and composed of doctors, geologists and botanists, who made a study on topography, climate, geology, flora, fauna and other material resources of the region of the Central Highlands The area was known as Quadrilateral Cruls and was presented in 1894 to the Republican Government.

In 1922 a commission of the Federal Government established the location in Goiás, but the project was closed. Only in 1955, during a few elections, the then presidential candidate Juscelino Kubitschek said he would transfer the capital. Elected president, he established the construction of Brasília as a meta-synthesis of his Plano de Metas.

In 1956, after being elected to the presidency, Kubitschek on his own initiative, sent a message to Congress proposing the creation of the New Capital Urbanization Company (Novacap). After the congress approved the project, in September of the same year, the president signed the law that created the company.

As a result, Novacap, a public company, was given the task of planning and executing the construction of the federal capital in the region delimited by General José Pessoa. After a public competition to select the city's pilot plan, a judging committee chose the urban design by architect Lúcio Costa, which was unanimously approved by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. This also made the name "Brasília" official, as well as the choice of Oscar Niemeyer as architect and Joaquim Cardozo as structural engineer.

Construction began that same year, under the supervision of Niemeyer and Israel Pinheiro. The Bandeirante Nucleus was then formed, with candangos (workers who worked on the construction of Brasília, initially from Goiás, Minas Gerais and mainly the Northeast). Earthworks began in November 1956. Thirty thousand workers built Brasília in 41 months. Pinheiro was appointed the first mayor of the Federal District on April 17, 1960, shortly before its inauguration on April 21, 1960, the date chosen by Kubitschek in honor of Tiradentes.

The capital of Brazil was transferred from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília on 21 April 1960 and its new territory, split off from Goiás state on the border with the Minas Gerais state, 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 Rio de Janeiro state was transferred back from Niterói to Rio de Janeiro itself (as it had been until 1834 when the empire created the Neutral Municipality).

Demographics According to the IBGE census of 2007, there were 2,393,000 people residing in the Federal District. The population density was . Urbanization: 94% (2006). Population growth: 2.8% (1991–2000). Houses: 697,000 (2006).Source: PNAD.

Subdivisions

The Federal District is subdivided into 35 administrative regions. Number Administrative region I Plano Piloto II Gama III Taguatinga IV Brazlândia V Sobradinho VI Planaltina VII Paranoá VIII Núcleo Bandeirante IX Ceilândia X Guará XI Cruzeiro XII Samambaia XIII Santa Maria XIV São Sebastião XV Recanto das Emas XVI Lago Sul XVII Riacho Fundo XVIII Lago Norte XIX Candangolândia XX Águas Claras XXI Riacho Fundo II XXII Sudoeste/Octogonal XXIII Varjão XXIV Park Way XXV SCIA XXVI Sobradinho II XXVII Jardim Botânico XXVIII Itapoã XXIX SIA XXX Vicente Pires XXXI Fercal XXXII Sol Nascente/Pôr do Sol XXXIII Arniqueira XXXIV Arapoanga XXXV Água Quente

Education Educational institutions Universidade de Brasília (UnB) (University of Brasília) Universidade Católica de Brasília (UCB) (Catholic University of Brasília) Centro Universitário de Brasília (UniCEUB) Centro Universitário do Distrito Federal (UniDF) Centro Universitário Euroamericano (UNIEURO) Instituto de Educação Superior de Brasília (IESB) Escola Superior de Ciências da Saúde (ESCS) União Pioneira da Integração Social (UPIS) Universidade Paulista (UniP) (Paulista University) Federal Institute of Brasília (IFB)

Geography The Federal District is located in the Brazilian Highlands, having an altitude between 600 and 1,100 meters above sea level, with its highest point being the Pico do Roncador, in Serra do Sobradinho. In area, the Federal District is more than double the size of Tokyo (Japan) or the island of Maui (Hawaii, United States). Comparing dry land areas, it is slightly larger than French Polynesia, the US State of Rhode Island, or Cape Verde. It is slightly smaller than Bali (Indonesia) or Trinidad and Tobago. The District is surrounded in almost its entirety by Goiás except for a short stretch along the Preto River with Minas Gerais. The District's eastern boundary is marked by the aforementioned Preto River, an eventual tributary of the São Francisco, and its western boundary by the Descoberto, an eventual tributary of the Río de la Plata. The northern and southern boundaries are roughly straight lines.

Climate The Federal District has a tropical savanna climate (Aw according to the Köppen system), with a rainy season from October to April, and a dry season from May to September. The altitude moderates temperatures, which throughout the year are very warm rather than uncomfortably hot: maxima range from throughout the year. During the dry season (winter), the humidity can reach very low level with dangerous fire risks, mainly during the peak hours of the hottest days. The artificial Paranoá Lake, with almost and of water, was built to minimize the severe drought and consequent flammability of the dry season in the cerrado region.

Government and politics

The politics and administration of the Federal District are distinguished from the other units of the federation in some particular points, as defined in the Brazilian Constitution of 1988:

The Federal District is governed by an organic law, typical of municipalities, and not by a state constitution. It builds up the legislative powers reserved to states and municipalities, which are not forbidden by the Constitution. The hybrid character of the Federal District is observable by its Legislative Chamber, a mixture of Municipal Chamber and Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Power of the Federal District is exercised by the Legislative Chamber, with 24 elected district deputies; being that the head of the Executive Power is the governor.

The Federal District is a legal entity of internal public law, which is part of the political-administrative structure of Brazil, of a nature sui generis, because it is neither a state nor a municipality, but a special entity that accumulates the legislative powers reserved to the states and the municipalities, as provided in art. 32, § 1º of the CF, which gives it a hybrid nature of state and municipality.

Article 32 of the 1988 Brazilian Constitution expressly prohibits the Federal District from being divided into municipalities, being considered one. The executive power of the Federal District was represented by the mayor of the Federal District until 1969, when the position was transformed into governor of the Federal District.

The legislative power of the Federal District is represented by the Legislative Chamber of the Federal District, whose nomenclature represents a mixture of legislative assembly (legislative power of the other units of the federation) and municipal chamber (legislative of the municipalities). The Legislative Chamber is made up of 24 district deputies.

The judicial power which serves the Federal District also serves federal territories. Brazil does not have territories currently, therefore, the Court of Justice of the Federal District and of the Territories only serves the Federal District.

Part of the budget of the Federal District Government comes from the Constitutional Fund of the Federal District. In 2012, the fund totaled 9.6 billion reais. By 2015, the forecast was of 12.4 billion Reais, with more than half (6.4% of the total) billion for public security expenditures.

Tourism and recreation

The Parque da Cidade Located in Brasília, the "Parque da Cidade" ("City Park"), officially the "Parque da Cidade Sarah Kubitschek", is named after the wife of Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek, extends over four million square meters. It includes landscape works of Burle Marx, and wall tiles that decorate restrooms in the park designed by Athos Bulcão. Equipped with sports courts, a horse track, a racing kart track, skate tracks, playgrounds for children, bicycle tracks and trails for walks and jogging, the City Park attracts thousands of people everyday, specially on weekends. The park's main entrance is located in the Monumental Axis South, but there are secondary exits that lead to other areas in the city's south wing.

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasília Designed by Oscar Niemeyer, it was inaugurated in 1970. Its shape is circular horizontally and structured around 16 curved pillars, forming a crown filled with futuristic and/or spatial stained-glass works in a triangular shape. The pillars evoke reversed praying hands that deconstruct the gothic traditional church window pattern, but conserves the triangular vaginal shape of the stained-glasses. The curves present in many of Niemeyer's works pay homage to the beautifully built bodies of Brazilian women.

The stained-glasses were designed by Marianne Peretti. Their disposition ensures natural lighting into the aisle, which was built below street level. Around the church, in the outside area, visitors can see Alfredo Ceschiatti's sculptures — the four evangelists — and inside, suspended angels. There are also paintings by Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, representing the stages of the Passion of Christ, and paintings by Athos Bulcão. The cathedral is located in the Eixo Monumental mall, at the entry to the Esplanada dos Ministérios, or Ministries Sector.

The "Three Powers Square" Praça dos Três Poderes concentrates some of the most important and significant buildings in the work and career of Oscar Niemeyer — the Planalto Palace, headquarters of Brazilian Presidency; the National Congress, hosting the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate; and the Higher Courts of Justice. The Square also hosts: the Panteão da Pátria (Pantheon of the Fatherland), the Lúcio Costa Space and three important sculptures — "Pombal", by Niemeyer; "Justice", by Alfredo Ceschiatti; and "Os Candangos", by Bruno Giorgi. In the central plaza, a giant Brazilian national flag is supported by a triangular black and high pole. It is located at the end of the Esplanada dos Ministérios.

Infrastructure Vehicles: 910,502 (March/2007) Mobile phones: 2.7 million (April/2007) Telephones: 884 thousand (April/2007) Cities: 31

Economy In addition to being the political center, the Federal District is also an important economic center, being the seventh federal unit with the highest gross domestic product (GDP) in Brazil (171.2 billion reais - 2012) and the highest GDP per capita in the country, 64,653 reais (2012).