Brazil - People Of The Highlands (1957)

[Music] centuries ago when the Portuguese explorers first sailed along the east coast of South America they came to one of the most beautiful Harbors in here they founded a colonial Outpost calling it Rio dejaneiro today this is a city of more than the capital city of Brazil the Republic of Brazil is the largest country of South America it covers more than half of the South American continent Brazil lies in the southern Tropics between the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn yet its high altitude keeps the climate moderate through the year the winds blowing off the ocean give most of Brazil a rainfall ranging from heavy in the Amazon jungles to moderate in the rest of the nation Brazil has two principal Geographic divisions the Basin of the Amazon River and the populous and fertile Highlands 2/3 of Brazil's more than 53 million inhabitants live in the highlands especially along the coast it is there that we find the most important cities the port of Santos the industrial city of Saun Pao and the capital Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro is the center of Brazilian life it is the seat of the national government a busy Capital whose natural beauty is enhanced by many stately official buildings Rio is also a center of trade for the nation's richest and most densely populated region the Brazilian Highlands the Brazilian Highlands are a vast region that rises at the mountain wall known as the great escarpment a few miles in from the coast the highlands are cut by Deep narrow valleys with Rolling Hills plateaus and low m mountains this is a region of Great variety of vast plantations growing coffee and cotton oranges sugar cane and rice of sleepy Villages many centuries old villages that change only slowly this is also a region of Frontiers much of the land is covered with Forest on these Frontiers men live by the most primitive kind of Agriculture they cut and burn off the forest then in the clearings they cultivate the soil raising crops of rice or maze or beans in a few seasons the soil is exhausted then they turn the land into pasture and move on to clear new fields from the forest in marked contrast to the frontier is the life of people in the regions thriving modern cities s Pao Rio and Santos where thousands of people live and work much as they do in every other city of the world these people are of diverse Origins some of them are of Portuguese ancestry some have Oriental blood some show traces of Indian or negro ancestry while many come from Italian and North European stock but all are Brazilians there are many wealthy people in the great cities for some wealth comes from business for others from the land seor gate the son of an Italian immigrant is a prosperous landowner he is entertaining a customer a buying agent of an American coffee wholesaler the whole family takes pride in telling about their Plantation which Brazilians call a fenda seor Gate's fazenda lies 300 miles to the west of the coast in the heart of the coffee country when seor gate visits his fenda he usually flies in a country with few roads and railroads planes have become a vital means of transportation the fanda covers more than 5,000 Acres much of it covered with coffee trees it is harvesting time on the fenda this promises to be an exceptionally Rich Harvest seor gate offers his workers a special bonus if they bring in the Harvest early the fenda is a community of several hundred families each working on the plantation as one unit the Suarez are a typical fenda family of tenant Farmers each tending an assigned number of coffee trees seor Suarez picks berries his son bista rakes them up his daughter Maria is sifting out berries from twigs and [Music] debris [Music] fore now [Music] here workers spread out the coffee to dry in the hot Brazilian [Music] Sun during the Working Day only the sick and the women and small children stay in the village here women bake bread in an outdoor oven just as their ancestors did centuries ago this is the home of the Suarez family every noon during the Harvest seora Suarez takes the food to her family at work in the coffee Grove [Music] a few miles away another Highland farm family earns its living in the cotton fields unlike the fenda tenants farmer terera owns a small farm he needs the help of his whole family to harvest his cotton even Inu the youngest must help when his bag is full he takes it to the cart farmer tesera takes the day's picking to the nearest cotton gin men from farms large and small for many miles around bring their cotton to the Gin to be cleaned of seeds sacks are spot checked for Quality the cleaned cotton is packed in Bales and sent to the Mills of s Paulo or exported to foreign countries [Music] in the evening the weary Harvesters return from the fields now the little Plantation Community comes to life dinner is the only time when everyone in the family gathers around the table in the late summer afternoon seor Suarez and his son take a stroll down to the commissary the commissary is operated by the fenda to supply workers and tenants with all the many things they need to buy tonight seor Suarez wants only a sack of rice three kilos says the clerk and puts down the purchase to the Suarez's account the things he buys in the store are paid for out of his earnings from the coffee [Music] Harvest it is Sunday the day of rest the whole Suarez family is going to the neighboring Village to attend church to the farm people of Brazil Sunday is more than a day of worship it is Market Day and the day of the local fair as well here life is much the same as it has been for Generations past [Music] [Laughter] [Music] in other parts of the Highlands however the land is yielding another kind of harvest iron ore one of the world's largest deposits of iron ore is mined here the mines in the state of minus jerice Supply ore to neighboring plants the Mills now produce enough steel to meet much of Brazil's growing needs the growth of Industry brings the promise of other changes in Brazil's life this is reflected in modern factories and in the homes occupied by Steel Workers at volto redonda much of the steel goes to supply the manufacturing industries of s Pao several hundred miles away in recent years Saun poolo has become one of the manufacturing Giants of South America on machines imported from abroad especially from the United States the spinning and weaving Mills of s poloo transform the cotton from Brazilian plantations to cloth for South American markets the large city population supplies skilled workers for the modern Industries one of them is Petro Val an Italian born worker in a textile plant Petro Val grew up in s Pao he barely remembers his native Italian which is quite similar to the Portuguese language of Brazil at the end of the day he takes the bus to the quiet neighborhood of industrial workers where he lives his youngsters are waiting to greet their father just as children do everywhere right now Jai needs help today his geography class studied the United States ja was called on to compare the size of United States and Brazil he learned that Brazil is just a little larger now ja has to write what he knows about American exports to Brazil many kinds of machines and cars and tractors says his father and railroad engines come from the United States now little Gina wants some attention but mother interrupts them dinner is waiting and so sa Pao works and lives a life different from that on the Highland plantations this is a bustling growing city proud of its modern department stores where imported goods from all over the world are offered to Brazilians luxuries that have become Necessities in modern Brazil and for the imported goods Brazil pays with money earned from the products of Highland plantations and Farms Brazilian oranges go to Europe Brazilian cotton to Japan and Britain Brazilian coffee to all four corners of the world much of this overseas trade is loaded a few miles south at the Port which serves sa poloo at Santos the harbors of Brazil are ports of call for oceangoing ships from every part of the world the hustle and bustle of these Harbors are witness that as distant as Brazil is from the nations of the north the people of Brazil are everyone's [Music] Neighbors [Music] for for [Music]