Brazil tourist brochure (1936)

In 1936, that was Brazil, that tropical land that some privileged French came to visit.

Tourist brochure about Brazil from 1936. One sheet. 10.2 cm x 23.2 cm, folded. 80 cm x 61.5 cm, unfolded. In French. Excellent condition.

Who owned this tourist guide and how did he feel when he arrived in Brazil in 1936, a Brazil very different from today? When I found this document in France, I traveled. I didn't travel from France to Brazil by plane - like so many times in my life - but I traveled mentally. I went back in time, as I always do when I find an ancient rarity.

On the front, there is a map of Brazil with lots of interesting information. We learn, for example, that there were only 250,000 telephones in Brazil and that there were 1,257 libraries for a little over 42 million inhabitants !

On the back, we learn about the main cities in Brazil: Curityba (as it was written in France) had 120,000 inhabitants, “a delicious climate and frequent snow”. Further north, the guide recommends visiting “Bello” Horizonte, a city of 180,000 inhabitants, and the Morro Velho gold mine, the deepest in the world. Agriculture, sports, car racing, minerals and flora, communications, the Amazon rainforest, and industrial production are other topics addressed on this side of the pamphlet with very interesting facts.

Who conserves outdated tourist guides in the smartphone age , let alone 1936 ? What this booklet tells is incredible. It allows you to measure how Brazil, and the world, has changed in almost 90 years, perhaps the age of your grandparents. You can also feel that tourism was reserved for an elite, cultured, who came by ship to get to know Brazil, traveling the country for several weeks or even months. These French people did not come simply to enjoy the beaches, caipirinhas and Carnival, but also to explore Brazil. Anyway, an exciting mix between TripAdvisor and Wikipedia.