Hello everyone and welcome to my video blog post about BRAZIL and its Currency. In this video, I will tell you some interesting facts about this amazing country and its money. Let's get started!
Brazil is a huge country in South America that occupies half of the continent's landmass. It is the fifth largest country in the world by area and the sixth largest by population.
It has a coastline of 7,491 kilometers (4,655 miles) along the Atlantic Ocean and shares borders with 10 other countries. Brazil has a diverse geography, climate, and culture, with many natural and cultural attractions for visitors.
Brazil has a rich and complex history that dates back to pre-Columbian times. The first inhabitants of Brazil were indigenous peoples who lived in different regions and spoke hundreds of languages.
The Portuguese arrived in 1500 and began to colonize the land, bringing African slaves and European settlers. Brazil became independent from Portugal in 1822, after a series of wars and revolts.
In the 20th century, Brazil experienced political and social changes, such as the abolition of slavery, the establishment of a republic, a military dictatorship, and a return to democracy. Brazil is now a federal republic with a multi-party system and a presidential system of government.
Brazil is currently one of the largest and most influential economies in the world, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of about $1.8 trillion in 2022. It is also one of the most diverse and multicultural countries in the world, with a population of about 216 million people of different ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultures.
Brazil is known for its music, dance, soccer, carnival, cuisine, and natural beauty. Some of its famous landmarks include the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, the Amazon rainforest, the Iguaçu Falls, and the Pantanal wetlands.
The currency of Brazil is called the real (plural reais), which means "royal" or "real" in Portuguese. The real was introduced in 1994 as part of a plan to stabilize the economy and control inflation.
The real is divided into 100 centavos (cents). The symbol for the real is R$ and the ISO code is BRL. The exchange rate as of June 24th, 2023 was 1 USD = 4.788 BRL.
The real is issued by the Central Bank of Brazil and regulated by the National Monetary Council. The real is one of the most traded currencies in the world and has appreciated significantly against other major currencies in recent years.
The Brazilian real banknotes come in denominations of 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 reais. They feature images of animals on one side and famous Brazilian personalities on the other side.
The animals represent different ecosystems of Brazil: sea turtle (2 reais), heron (5 reais), golden lion tamarin (10 reais), jaguar (20 reais), maned wolf (50 reais), grouper fish (100 reais), and manatee (200 reais).
The personalities are Pedro Álvares Cabral (2 reais), Carlos Drummond de Andrade (5 reais), Cecília Meireles (10 reais), Joaquim da Silva Xavier (20 reais), Ana Néri (50 reais), Carlos Chagas (100 reais), and Heitor Villa-Lobos (200 reais).
The Brazilian real coins come in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 centavos and 1 real. They feature images of plants on one side and geometric shapes on the other side.
The plants are coffee (1 centavo), cashew (5 centavos), alligator apple (10 centavos), southern cross flower (25 centavos), carambola (50 centavos), and araucaria pine (1 real).
Before the real, Brazil had several other currencies that changed frequently due to inflation and economic crises. The first currency of Brazil was the real (plural réis), which was used from 1690 to 1942.
It was followed by the cruzeiro (1942-1967), the cruzeiro novo (1967-1970), the cruzeiro again (1970-1986), the cruzado (1986-1989), the cruzado novo (1989-1990), the cruzeiro again (1990-1993), the cruzeiro real (1993-1994), and finally the real again (1994-present).
The value of these currencies varied greatly over time, sometimes losing more than 90% of their purchasing power in a single year.
I hope you enjoyed this video and learned something new about Brazil and its currency. If you did, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel for more videos like this. Thank you for watching and see you next time!
