Brazil Genealogy

Getting started with Brazil research
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Welcome to the Brazil page of the research wiki! FamilySearch Wiki is a community website dedicated to helping people throughout the world learn how to find their ancestors.Through the Brazil page you will learn how to find, use, and analyze records for Brazil of genealogical value. The content on this page provides helps and tips for beginner, intermediate, and expert researchers alike. Here you will find helpful research tools and research guidance to aid you in your search for your ancestors. The Brazil page is a work in progress, your contributions and feedback are essential!

Brazil is the largest country by both land area and population on the continent of South America. Also more people speak Portuguese in Brazil by far than speak that language in any other country, including Portugal. Discovered by the Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral in April 21st, 1500 the country had a native population composed of several Amerindian tribes. It was later populated by colonists from Portugal and slaves from Africa in the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s. In the late 1800s Brazil started to attract many immigrants, particularly from Italy, Portugal, Spain and Germany who primarily settled in the south and southeast parts of the country.

For help getting started with Brazilian research see Getting Started.

See the tutorials in FamilySearch.org pertaining to Latin American research and "Reading Portuguese Handwritten Records"



Jurisdictions, States
Brazil is a republic comprised of 26 states and a federal district (Distrito Federal), which comprises the capital city of Brazilia. Many records are kept at the state and local level and may include civil registrations, censuses, inventories and wills, land records, notarial records, and military records to name a few.

States are also divided into counties, and the cities and towns 'municipios' are in the counties, it is possible that a city, especially the larger ones such as Recife and São Paulo, may have a number of counties in them since a state like São Paulo can have over 200 counties.

Research Tools

 * Brazil Research Outline
 * Research Guide: BYU Research Outline for Brazil


 * See the tutorials in FamilySearch.org pertaining to Latin American research and "Reading Portuguese handwritten Records"
 * Listing of all records collections for Brazil available on FamilySearch.org
 * Colégio Brasileiro de Genealogia

Websites

 * Websites

Wiki articles describing these collections are found at:


 * Brazil Baptisms (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Brazil Catholic Church Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Brazil Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Brazil Deaths (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Brazil Marriages (FamilySearch Historical Records
 * Brazil, Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo Cemetery Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Featured Content
Today's featured article is: Brazil Census

See the tutorials in FamilySearch.org pertaining to Latin American research.

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Help with the Brazil Wiki pages
In order to make this wiki a better research tool, we need your help! Many tasks need willing volunteers. You can help:


 * Expand county articles
 * Check links on pages
 * ...and more

Find more opportunities to help with the Brazil pages.