Kubitschek Builds Brasilia From Empty Savanna
A modernist capital rises in the interior in under four years
Quick facts
- President
- Juscelino Kubitschek
- Planner and architect
- Lucio Costa (plan), Oscar Niemeyer (buildings)
- Inaugurated
- April 21, 1960
- Slogan
- Fifty Years' Progress in Five
What happened
After Vargas fell in 1945, Brazil returned to elected government. Juscelino Kubitschek, elected in 1955 on the slogan Fifty Years' Progress in Five, made his signature project the construction of a wholly new capital in the empty central highlands. The Library of Congress country study records that he yanked Brazil away from its fascination with the coast by moving the capital to Brasilia in a new Federal District carved out of then-distant Goias. Planned by Lucio Costa and designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer, the city was built in about four years and inaugurated on April 21, 1960, replacing Rio de Janeiro as the seat of government.
Why it matters
Brasilia was a deliberate act of nation-building, an attempt to pull Brazil's population and development inland after four centuries of hugging the coast, and it became a global emblem of modernist architecture and mid-century optimism. Its enormous cost also fed the inflation and political strain that helped destabilize the democratic governments of the early 1960s.
How we know
Kubitschek's relocation of the capital to Brasilia is documented verbatim in the Library of Congress country study and Brown University's Brazil: Five Centuries of Change; the April 21, 1960 inauguration date is the well-established public record confirmed by multiple institutional accounts.
Sources
- Library of Congress, Country Studies (Federal Research Division). Brazil: The Second Republic, 1946-64 (Country Studies) · General sourcecountrystudies.us · Cited as a "reference" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Brown University Library, Brazil: Five Centuries of Change. Chapter 6: Returning to Democracy, for a While · Reputable sourcelibrary.brown.edu · The domain "library.brown.edu" is on our Reputable source registry.
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