What does Brazil mean

Hello everyone! My name is Regula and I’m student at Rio & Learn, in Rio de Janeiro!
Today we are going to learn why is Brazil called Brazil, in other words: what does Brazil mean. You are going to discover about Brazilwood Tree…

As you can see in this video, we went to a forest, and there we can find Brazil name origin. The story begins when the Portuguese first came to Brazil and found this tree:

Why is Brazil called Brazil

When they cut this tree, they saw it was red inside, just like fire, so they called it Pau-Brasa (ember wood). The name later changed into Pau-Brasil. They found out that besides producing good wood for construction, they could also extract a liquid from it to dye pieces of clothes in the European textile industry.

As this tree could be found in every forest, they decided to name the country Terra do Brasil (land of Brasil) and later it became Brazil as we know.

Vocabulary list 

That’s it people. We hope you enjoyed and if you want to learn more about Brazil, our nature and culture you can subscribe to our Youtube Channel. And of course, if you think about learning Portuguese in Brasil come to Rio and talk to us 🙂 !

See you there!

          
Click on the links below to see more related Dicas
History of Brazilian Independence
The origin of São Paulo
The history of Salvador
History of Rio de Janeiro