Brasilia

Brasília (/brəˈzɪliə/ brə-ZIL-ee-ə,[4][5] .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Portuguese: [bɾaˈzili.ɐ, bɾaˈziljɐ] ⓘ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District, located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitschek on 21 April 1960, to replace Rio de Janeiro as the national capital. Brasília is Brazil's third-most populous city after São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.[1] Among major Latin American cities, it has the highest GDP per capita.[6]

Brasília is a planned city developed by Lúcio Costa, Oscar Niemeyer and Joaquim Cardozo in 1956 in a scheme to move the capital from Rio de Janeiro to a more central location. The landscape architect was Roberto Burle Marx.[7][8] The city's design divides it into numbered blocks as well as sectors for specified activities, such as the Hotel Sector, the Banking Sector, and the Embassy Sector. Brasília was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 due to its modernist architecture and uniquely artistic urban planning.[9] It was named "City of Design" by UNESCO in October 2017 and has been part of the Creative Cities Network since then.[10]

It is notable for its white-colored, modern architecture, designed by Oscar Niemeyer. All three branches of Brazil's federal government are located in the city: executive, legislative and judiciary. Brasília also hosts 124 foreign embassies.[11] The city's international airport connects it to all other major Brazilian cities and some international destinations, and it is the third-busiest airport in Brazil. It was one of the main host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and hosted some of the football matches during the 2016 Summer Olympics; it also hosted the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Laid out in the shape of an airplane,[note 2] its "fuselage" is the Monumental Axis, a pair of wide avenues flanking a large park. In the "cockpit" is Praça dos Três Poderes, named for the 3 branches of government surrounding it. Brasília has a unique legal status, as it is an administrative region rather than a municipality like other cities in Brazil.

The name "Brasília" is often used as a synonym for the Federal District as a whole, which is divided into 35 administrative regions, one of which (Plano Piloto) includes the area of the originally planned city and its federal government buildings. The entire Federal District is considered by IBGE to make up Brasília's city area,[1] and the local government considers the entirety of the district plus 12 neighboring municipalities in the state of Goiás to be its metropolitan area.[3][13]