Brasilia

Brasilia is the federal capital of Brazil. The city is located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region and is not part of any state.

Brasilia was founded by President Juscelino Kubitschek on the 21st of April, 1960 (64 years ago today), to serve as the new national capital. It is estimated to be Brazil's third-most populous city after São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (the former capital).

Brasília was a planned city developed by Lúcio Costa, Oscar Niemeyer and Joaquim Cardozo in 1956 in a scheme to move the capital to a more central location. The landscape architect was Roberto Burle Marx.

The city's design divides it into numbered blocks as well as sectors for specified activities, such as the Hotel Sector, the Banking Sector, and the Embassy Sector. 

Brasília was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 due to its modernist architecture and uniquely artistic urban planning.

All three branches of Brazil's federal government are located in the city: executive, legislative and judiciary. Brasília also hosts 124 foreign embassies.

The city's international airport connects it to all other major Brazilian cities and some international destinations.  Many years ago, on a trip to the city of Sao Luis in Brazil, my flight from Sao Paulo stopped at the airport in Brasilia.

Laid out in the shape of an airplane, its "fuselage" is the Monumental Axis, a pair of wide avenues flanking a large park. In the "cockpit" is Praça dos Três Poderes, named for the 3 branches of government surrounding it.

It can be stated that Brazil followed the example of the USA in that 170 years before Brasilia was founded, the city of Washington was founded for the same reason: to create a centrally located capital not part of any state.  Washington, in the USA of 1790, was centrally located between New Hampshire to the north and Georgia to the south.