• The Brazilian people's Culture and Religion
The Brazilian people is the result of a mixture of races. Portuguese colonizers, natives and African slaves (the majority of them coming from the Yoruba and Quimbundu ethnic groups, which today correspond to Nigeria, Benin and Angola) formed the racial basis. French and Dutch colonizers were also present in the Brazilian northeast. In the 20th century, a vast contingent of German, Italian, Polish, and Japanese immigrants added new elements to this mixture. Brazilians are, perhaps, the most intermarried people in the world.

• People formation
White people coming from Europe, black people from Africa, yellow people, and Brazil native Indians contributed for the formation of the Brazilian people. Miscegenation has been intense since colonization times. The small number of white women among those Portuguese colonizers led them to have sexual intercourse with Indian or black slave women, frequently by force. This miscegenation originated other racial types, such as the mulatto, a miscegenation of black and white people; the “caboclo” or “mameluco”, the miscegenation of white and yellow people; and the “cafuzo”, a miscegenation of black and yellow people. People arriving later in Brazil, although in many cases remaining in closed and isolated communities, also intermarried.

• Immigrants
The number of immigrants to Brazil was always greater than the number of people leaving the country. Immigration officially started when, in 1808, Don João VI enacted a law allowing the ownership of lands by foreigners. The law's objective was to facilitate the occupation of southern areas in order to guarantee the territory, in which the Castelhanos were interested in, remained in the ownership of the Brazilian crown. There was also an interest in “whitening” the population's skin, which was predominantly black by those times. The arrival of immigrants brought in changes to the country's life, with the introduction of new cultivation products and techniques, concepts on small property, subsistence economy, and small-size domestic industries (textile, food, leather, and ceramics). Germans, Austrians, Hungarians, Slavs, Spanish, Italians, Japanese, Syrians, Lebanese , and German Swiss were the groups who most immigrated to Brazil. This miscegenation characterized the Brazilian people as one of the most hospitable in the world. Everybody arriving in Brazil, no matter the place of origin, is welcomed by with a warm hug.

• Religion
Brazil has no official religion. Almost 88% of the population is Catholic. However, approximately 20 million Catholics practice another kind of ritual of African origin. There are at least five million Protestants, including Lutherans, Methodists, and Episcopalians, as well as Jews. Most of the Indians follow religions.