West Central Region

In the country's Central West, you will see the stark contrast between the modern and the timeless. This regions contains three states: Goiás, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. Also in the Central West is the Federal District, Brasília, the nation's capital. With its bold architectural style, the capital city is so avant garde that is stands out as the only 20th century architectural complex to be proclaimed a World Heritage Site by Unesco. On the other hand, the Mato Grosso Pantanal (Wetlands), a veritable ecological sanctuary, preserves the pristine nature in this unique ecosystem. The visitor may stay in lodges and venture out with trained guides to safely observe crocodiles, anacondas, rheas, anteaters, parrots, deer, capybaras, and countless birds, who choose the Pantanal as one of the world's most important stops on their migratory routes. For freshwater fishermen, here is a hot tip: the Araguaia River is known as one of the most abundant fishing grounds in the world! And, the region has excellent infrastructure, including accommodations and boat trips specifically geared towards amateur fishermen.

Brasilia
Since the second half of the 18th century, Brazil's governing authorities considered, with varying degrees of intensity, transferring the seat of government from Rio de Janeiro to some inland area, safe from naval attacks. The creation of an inland capital was finally brought into being after President Juscelino Kubitschek came to power in 1956. A competition for the urban master plan was won by Brazilian architect and urban planner, Lucio Costa. The major government buildings were designed by the Brazilian architect, Oscar Niemeyer, South America's most able student of the great modern Swiss architect Le Corbusier. Landscape designer, Roberto Burle Marx, planned the layout and selection of plant varieties to add a vivid green backdrop to the otherwise dry, yellow landscape of the savannah vegetation.

Lucio Costa laid out the city described variously as being in the shape of a bent bow and arrow, a bird in flight or an aeroplane. Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer intended that everything, from the layout of the residential and administrative districts to the symmetry in the buildings themselves, should reflect the harmonious design of the city. What distinguishes Brasília from a city that has just "grown" is the strict division between different functions (housing, business, administration, hotels, etc.) which excludes on principle any mingling of different activities.

On 21 April 1960, exactly three years, one month and five days after the master plan was unveiled, the capital of the Federal Republic of Brazil was officially moved from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília. The capital of the Third Millennium, created ex nihilo in the geographic centre of the national territory was born. As a landmark in the history of urban planni.