Jupiter's Travels by Simon Ted

Author:Simon, Ted [Simon, Ted]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780140054101
Publisher: ePenguin
Published: 2007-01-24T16:00:00+00:00

I was travelling south from the equator down the east coast of America on a parallel track to my journey down the east coast of Africa. It was a magnificent geography lesson. If Ceará resembled Tanzania, then inland Bahia was similar to Zambia, while Minas Gerais, the next great state on the southward trail, was startlingly like Rhodesia, with those same massive rectangular rock formations, old gold mines, gemstones, broad skies, dry air and peaceful lambent evenings. As an introduction to the size and diversity of Brazil it was breathtaking.

The life of Brazil though seems to have little in common with Africa, even with such a large proportion of Africans descended from former slaves. There had been Europeans here for hundreds of years, imposing themselves on the native Indian population, building churches, fighting over the spoils, interbreeding, creating complex hierarchies, becoming rich and destitute, leaving the traces, layer upon layer, of their passions and virtues.

When the first foundations were still being laid in Salisbury and Lusaka, the Portuguese palaces and cathedrals in Brazil were already ancient, and the coastal states were peppered with thriving communities. The towns portray their history. In the middle they aspire to the church. Around the square where citizens met and festivals were celebrated and where, occasionally, armies were mustered, the tallest houses vie with each other for the most ornate façade

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