“Aviation has perhaps taken its greatest single step in safety,” declared the New York Times. In 1929, aided by Paul Kollsman’s altimeter and Elmer Sperry’s artificial horizon and directional gyro, he flew from takeoff to landing while referring only to instruments. Two years later, he climbed to 10,000 feet in a Curtiss Hawk, pushed the stick forward until he saw red (negative Gs make blood pool in the head), and performed the first outside loop. The Army sent him back to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where in 1925 he earned a doctorate in aeronautical engineering. In 1922, Lieutenant Doolittle made a solo crossing of the continental United States in a de Havilland DH-4 in under 24 hours. After his second plunge, there was nothing left to salvage. Undaunted, he hauled the pieces home, stuck them back together, and returned to the cliff. Kings of Portuguese blood ruled until 1888, when military leaders and landowners expelled the king, and Brazil became a federal republic.At age 15, Doolittle built a glider, jumped off a cliff, and crashed. The rebellion was soon put down, but it started a movement toward independence. In 1789, Brazilians tried to kick out their Portuguese rulers. The discovery of large inland gold reserves brought thousands of people from the coasts and as far away as Europe to the interior of the country. Soon, people from West Africa were brought to Brazil to work as slaves. Colonists created sugarcane plantations along the coast and sent diamonds and gold back to Europe. Portugal established its first colony in Brazil in 1530. Today, only about 300,000 remain, living primarily in Brazil's remotest places. When Europeans first reached the coast of Brazil, the country was home to about 30 million indigenous people, or Amerindians. Some experts think they may have arrived from islands in the Pacific Ocean.īrazil was added to the map of the world during the great European explorations in the late 15th century led by Portugal and Spain.
But new evidence shows there were people living there at least 32,000 years ago. Until recently, scientists thought Brazil was first settled by Asians about 10,000 years ago. The government has established many national parks and refuges, but they only cover about 7 percent of the country. Most of Brazil's Atlantic rain forest is now gone, and huge tracts of the Amazon are disappearing every year. But since Europeans arrived about five centuries ago, forest destruction has been rampant.
Here live giant anacondas, huge guinea pig relatives called capybaras, and fierce South American alligators called caimans.įor thousands of years, people have been exploiting the jungles of Brazil. This patchwork of flooded lagoons and small islands is the world's largest wetland. In the central-western part of Brazil sits a flat, swampy area called the Pantanal. Brazil's jungles are home to most of its animal life, but many unique species also live in the pampas and semidesert regions. It is home to 600 mammal species, 1,500 fish species, 1,600 bird species, and an amazing 100,000 different types of insects.
Brazil has the greatest variety of animals of any country in the world.