In 1500, the Portuguese squadron under the command of Pedro Alvaris Cabral, sailing to the shores of South America, discovered Brazil. Since then, the colonization of these lands began and for three long centuries they were under the power of Portugal. But, despite the fact that in the distant 1822 independence and the formation of the Brazilian Empire was declared, until now the only official language of Brazil is Portuguese.
Portuguese
Today, Brazil is a multilingual country. Here you can hear more than 175 languages and dialects. And this is due to the fact that over the past century, about 120 languages have already disappeared. But the official language of Brazil remains Portuguese. It is freely owned by the entire population of the country. It is used in government agencies, schools, the media. Interestingly, Brazil is the only country in America to speak Portuguese. On all sides, it is surrounded mainly by Hispanic states.
For so many years, the Portuguese language in Brazil has acquired some of its features and has become somewhat different from the usual Portuguese, which can be heard in Portugal itself and other Portuguese-speaking countries. It formed the Brazilian version of the Portuguese language. This is comparable to British and American English.
Indigenous languages
Before the colonization and arrival of the Europeans on the Brazilian lands, the entire territory of modern Brazil was settled by the Indians. According to various estimates, from 270 to 1078 languages from 17 language families were distributed among them. Over time, most of them disappeared; 145 Native American languages that are common in the Amazon basin have survived to our times. They are spoken by more than 250 thousand people. The Constitution of the Brazilian Republic does not rob the Indians of their right to their languages. So, in 2003, three Native American languages (baniva, nyengatu, toucan) received official status in the state of Amazonas.
