Brasilia, Fifteen Years Later

Extract

The transfer of the capital to a new site on Brazil's central plateau had a particular significance in the eyes of those who conceived the idea. Its primary aim was to create a nucleus from which to promote the development of the vast and almost deserted interior regions, abandoning Rio de Janeiro which was, for various reasons, no longer judged capable of fulfilling its role as the seat of national political life. As the Brasilia project was realized, thanks to the inspiration of President Kubitschek, it was hoped that it would contribute to the solution of urgent problems stemming from the country's development. Its basic function was to stimulate this development, no longer seen only as the development of the coastal regions but also of the interior, the sertão, that is the “great desert” of the Goiás, the Mato-Grosso and of Amazonia.