Brazil Genealogy

Guide to Brazil ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Country Information
Brazil is a country in South America bordered by French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay. It was formerly a colony of Portugal. The official language is Portuguese.

Immigration and Emigration
The population of Brazil is composed of descendants of many different locations including Portugal, Spain, Italy, Africa, Germany, Japan, and several others. Records of an individual's arrival in Brazil, as well as records for those leaving Brazil, can be useful in determining more precise information about the person's hometown or place of origin. For ways to locate information about ancestors arriving in/leaving Brazil, see the article Brazil Emigration and Immigration.

Brazil Clickable Map
Brazil is a republic comprised of 26 states and a federal district (Distrito Federal), which comprises the capital city of Brasilia.

States
Many of Brazil's 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.

Finding Your Ancestors' Town in Brazil

 * Genealogical records are organized by geographical locality. Civil registration (government birth, marriage, and death records) and church records (christenings/baptisms, marriages, and burials) were kept at the local level. To search these records, you must know the town where your ancestors lived.
 * If you do not know your ancestors' town, follow the advice in the Wiki article, Brazil Finding Town of Origin, to search a variety of records that might provide that information.

Online Gazetteers for Finding Your Ancestors' State and Municipality in Brazil
Once you know the town your ancestors lived in, use one of these these gazetteers to find out the state of that town. If the town is small or just a village, the gazetteer will also tell you the municipality if belongs to. You will need to know the municipality to find civil registration records.
 * 1991 Ornithological Gazetteer of Brazil, A-L (mis-labeled A-M), also at the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
 * 1991 Ornithological Gazetteer of Brazil, M-Z, also at the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
 * Cadastro de cartórios do Registro Civil 1981, restricted online except at Family History Centers.

FamilySearch Resources
Below are FamilySearch resources that can assist you in researching your family.
 * Facebook Communities - Facebook groups discussing genealogy research
 * FamilySearch Historical Record Collections
 * Family History Center locator map

Other Resources

 * BYU Script Portuguese Tutorials

Other Languages
Brasil - GenealogíaBrasil GenealogiaBrasilien