Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 3 October 1955
- Juscelino Kubitschek was one of the most significant presidents in Brazilian history. The construction of a new Brazilian capital began the year after he came to power.
On this day in 1955, Juscelino Kubitschek won the Brazilian presidential elections.
He remains one of the most important presidents in Brazilian history to this day. During his mandate, the capital of Brazil was moved from Rio de Janeiro to the newly-built Brasilia.
It was Kubitschek’s government that ordered the construction of Brasilia as a new capital, which was built according to an elaborate plan. Incidentally, Rio de Janeiro was the capital of Brazil from 1763 to 1960.
It is very interesting that Kubitschek was of Czech origin. Namely, his mother’s grandfather, Jan Nepomuscký Kubitschek, was a Czech immigrant. He also had some Romani ancestry.
Juscelino Kibitschek was a physician by trade. He became president at the age of 53. The building of the new Brazilian capital began the year after he came to power.
It was a great undertaking, since Brasilia was built in the middle of a rainforest, deep in the hinterland of Brazil (as many as 1,000 km away from the Atlantic coast). On a side note, the main architect of Brasilia was Oscar Niemeyer, a Brazilian of German descent.
