text:
Geography of Brazil
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Geography of Brazil
Continent
South America
Coordinates
10°S 55°W / 10°S 55°W / -10; -55Coordinates: 10°S 55°W / 10°S 55°W / -10; -55
Area
Ranked 5th
• Total
8,514,877 km2 (3,287,612 sq mi)
• Land
99.34%
• Water
0.66%
Coastline
7,491 km (4,655 mi)
Borders
Argentina 1,263 km (785 mi)
Bolivia 3,403 km (2,115 mi)
Colombia 1,790 km (1,110 mi)
French Guiana 649 km (403 mi)
Guyana 1,308 km (813 mi)
Paraguay 1,371 km (852 mi)
Peru 2,659 km (1,652 mi)
Suriname 515 km (320 mi)
Uruguay 1,050 km (650 mi)
Venezuela 2,137 km (1,328 mi)
Highest point
Pico da Neblina
2,995.30 m (9,827 ft)
Lowest point
Atlantic Ocean,
0 m (0 ft)
Longest river
Amazon River,
6,992 km (4,345 mi)
Largest lake
Lagoa dos Patos
9,850 km2 (3,803 sq mi)
Climate
North: tropical, South: temperate
Terrain
Coastal mountain ranges, vast central plateau (Planalto Central), remainder is primarily sedimentary basins
Natural Resources
bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin, clay, rare earth elements, uranium, petroleum, hydropower and timber
Natural Hazards
recurring droughts in northeast; floods and occasional frost in south
Environmental Issues
deforestation in the Amazon basin, illegal wildlife trade, illegal poaching, air and water pollution, land degradation and water pollution caused by mining activities, wetland degradation and severe oil spills
The country of Brazil occupies roughly half of South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil covers a total area of 8,514,215 km2 (3,287,357 sq mi) which includes 8,456,510 km2 (3,265,080 sq mi) of land and 55,455 km2 (21,411 sq mi) of water. The highest point in Brazil is Pico da Neblina at 2,994 m (9,823 ft). Brazil is bordered by the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, and France (overseas department of France, French Guiana).
Much of the climate is tropical, with the south being relatively temperate. The largest river in Brazil, the second longest in the world, is the Amazon. The rainforest that covers the Amazon Basin constitutes almost half of the rainforests on Earth.
Contents
[hide]
1 Size and geographical location
2 Geology, geomorphology and drainage
2.1 Natural resources
3 Rivers and lakes
4 Soils and vegetation
5 Climate
6 Geographic regions
6.1 Centerwest
6.2 Northeast
6.3 North
6.4 Southeast
6.5 South
7 Environmental issues
8 References
9 External links
Size and geographical location[edit]
With its expansive territory, Brazil occupies most of the eastern part of the South American continent and its geographic heartland (48% of South America), as well as various islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The only countries in the world that are larger are Russia, Canada, China, and the United States. The national territory extends 4,395 kilometers (2,731 mi) from north to south (5°16'20" N to 33°44'32" S latitude), making Brazil the longest country in the world and 4,319 kilometers (2,684 mi) from east to west (34°47'30" W to 73°59'32" W longitude). It spans three time zones, the westernmost of which is one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time in the United States. The time zone of the capital (Brasília) and of the most populated part of Brazil along the east coast (UTC-3) is two hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, except when it is on its own daylight saving time, from October to February. The Atlantic islands are in the easternmost time zone.
Brazil possesses the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, located 350 kilometers (217 mi) northeast of its "horn", and several small islands and atolls in the Atlantic - Abrolhos, Atol das Rocas, Penedos de São Pedro e São Paulo, Trindade, and Martim Vaz. In the early 1970s, Brazil claimed a territorial sea extending 362 kilometers (225 mi) from the country's shores, including those of the islands.
On Brazil's east coast, the Atlantic coastline extends 7,367 kilometers (4,578 mi). In the west, in clockwise order from the south, Brazil has 15,719 kilometers (9,767 mi) of borders with Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana (overseas department of France). The only South American countries with which Brazil does not share borders are Chile and Ecuador. A few short sections are in question, but there are no true major boundary controversies with any of the neighboring countries.
Brazil has six major ecosystems: the Amazon Basin, a tropical rainforest system; the Pantanal bordering Paraguay and Bolivia, a tropical wetland system; the Cerrado, a savanna system that covers much of the center of the country; the Caatinga or thorny scrubland habitat of the Northeast; the Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica) that extends along the entire coast from the Northeast to the South; and the Pampas or fertile lowland plains of the far South.
Geology, geomorphology and drainage[edit]
In contrast to the Andes, which rose to elevations of nearly 7,000 meters (22,966 ft) in a relatively recent epoch and inverted the Amazon's direction of flow from westward to eastward, Brazil's geological formation is very old. Precambrian crystalline shields cover 36% of the territory, especially its central area. The dramatic granite sugarloaf mountains in the city of Rio de Janeiro are an example of the terrain of the Brazilian shield regions, where continental basement rock has been sculpted into towering domes and columns by tens of millions of years of erosion, untouched by mountain-building events.
The principal mountain ranges average elevations just under 2,000 meters (6,562 ft). The Serra do Mar Range hugs the Atlantic coast, and the Serra do Espinhaço Range, the largest in area, extends through the south-central part of the country. The highest mountains are in the Tumucumaque, Pacaraima, and Imeri ranges, among others, which traverse the northern border with the Guianas and Venezuela.
In addition to mountain ranges (about 0.5% of the country is above 1,200 m or 3,937 ft), Brazil's Central Highlands include a vast central plateau (Planalto Central). The plateau's uneven terrain has an average elevation of 1,000 meters (3,281 ft). The rest of the territory is made up primarily of sedimentary basins, the largest of which is drained by the Amazon and its tributaries. Of the total territory, 41% averages less than 200 meters (656 ft) in elevation. The coastal zone is noted for thousands of kilometers of tropical beaches interspersed with mangroves, lagoons, and dunes, as well as numerous coral reefs.[citation needed] The Parcel de Manuel Luís Marine State Park off the coast of Maranhão protects the largest coral reef in South America.[1]
Topographic map of Brazil
Brazil has one of the world's most extensive river systems, with eight major drainage basins, all of which drain into the Atlantic Ocean. Two of these basins — the Amazon and Tocantins-Araguaia account for more than half the total drainage area. The largest river system in Brazil is the Amazon, which originates in the Andes and receives tributaries from a basin that covers 45.7% of the country, principally the north and west. The main Amazon river system is the Amazonas-Solimões-Ucayali axis (the 6,762-kilometer (4,202 mi)-long Ucayali is a Peruvian tributary), flowing from west to east. Through the Amazon Basin flows one-fifth of the world's fresh water. A total of 3,615 kilometers (2,246 mi) of the Amazon are in Brazilian territory. Over this distance, the waters decline only about 100 meters (330 ft). The major tributaries on the southern side are, from west to east, the Javari, Juruá, Purus (all three of which flow into the western section of the Amazon called the Solimões), Madeira, Tapajós, Xingu, and Tocantins. On the northern side, the largest tributaries are the Branco, Japurá, Jari, and Rio Negro. The above-mentioned tributaries carry more water than the Mississippi (its discharge is less than one-tenth that of the Amazon). The Amazon and some of its tributaries, called "white" rivers, bear rich sediments and hydrobiological elements. The black-white and clear rivers—such as the Negro, Tapajós, and Xingu—have clear (greenish) or dark water with few nutrients and little sediment.
The major river system in the Northeast is the Rio São Francisco, which flows 1,609 kilometers (1,000 mi) northeast from the south-central region. Its basin covers 7.6% of the national territory. Only 277 kilometers (172 mi) of the lower river are navigable for oceangoing ships. The Paraná system covers 14.5% of the country. The Paraná flows south among the Río de la Plata Basin, reaching the Atlantic between Argentina and Uruguay. The headwaters of the Paraguai, the Paraná's major eastern tributary, constitute the Pantanal, the largest contiguous wetlands in the world, covering as much as 230,000 square kilometers (89,000 sq mi).
Below their descent from the highlands, many of the tributaries of the Amazon are navigable. Upstream, they generally have rapids or waterfalls, and boats and barges also must face sandbars, trees, and other obstacles. Nevertheless, the Amazon is navigable by oceangoing vessels as far as 3,885 kilometers (2,414 mi) upstream, reaching Iquitos in Peru. The Amazon river system was the principal means of access until new roads became more important. Hydroelectric projects are Itaipu, in Paraná, with 12,600 MW; Tucuruí, in Pará, with 7,746 MW; and Paulo Afonso, in Bahia, with 3,986 MW.
Natural resources[edit]
Natural resources include: bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin, clay, rare earth elements, uranium, petroleum, hydropower and timber.
Rivers and lakes[edit]
Main Hydrographic Regions of Brazil
List of rivers of Brazil
According to organs of the Brazilian government there are 12 major hydrographic regions in Brazil. Seven of these are river basins named after their main rivers; the other five are groupings of various river basins in areas which have no dominant river.
7 Hydrographic Regions named after their dominant rivers:
Amazonas
Paraguai
Paraná
Parnaíba
São Francisco
Tocantins
Uruguay
5 coastal Hydrographic Regions based on regional groupings of minor river basins (listed from north to south):
Atlântico Nordeste Ocidental (Western North-east Atlantic)
Atlântico Nordeste Oriental (Eastern North-east Atlantic)
Atlântico Leste (Eastern Atlantic)
Atlântico Sudeste (South-east Atlantic)
Atlântico Sul (South Atlantic)
The Amazon River is the widest and second longest river (behind the Nile) in the world. This huge river drains the greater part of the world's rainforests. Another major river, the Paraná, has its source in Brazil. It forms the border of Paraguay and Argentina, then winds its way through Argentina and into the Atlantic Ocean, along the southern coast of Uruguay.
Soils and vegetation[edit]
The Amazon Rainforest
Brazil's tropical soils produce almost 210 million tons of grain crops per year,[2] from about 70 millions hectares of crops. The country also has the largest arable land in the world. Burning also is used traditionally to remove tall, dry, and nutrient-poor grass from pasture at the end of the dry season. Until mechanization and the use of chemical and genetic inputs increased during the agricultural intensification period of the 1970s and 1980s, coffee planting and farming in general moved constantly onward to new lands in the west and north. This pattern of horizontal or extensive expansion maintained low levels of technology and productivity and placed emphasis on quantity rather than quality of agricultural production.
The largest areas of fertile soils, called terra roxa (red earth), are found in the states of Paraná and São Paulo. The least fertile areas are in the Amazon, where the dense rainforest is. Soils in the Northeast are often fertile, but they lack water, unless they are irrigated artificially.
In the 1980s, investments made possible the use of irrigation, especially in the Northeast Region and in Rio Grande do Sul State, which had shifted from grazing to soy and rice production in the 1970s. Savanna soils also were made usable for soybean farming through acidity correction, fertilization, plant breeding, and in some cases spray irrigation. As agriculture underwent modernization in the 1970s and 1980s, soil fertility became less important for agricultural production than factors related to capital investment, such as infrastructure, mechanization, use of chemical inputs, breeding, and proximity to markets. Consequently, the vigor of frontier expansion weakened.
The variety of climates, soils, and drainage conditions in Brazil is reflected in the range of its vegetation types. The Amazon Basin and the areas of heavy rainfall along the Atlantic coast have tropical rain forest composed of broadleaf evergreen trees. The rain forest may contain as many as 3,000 species of flora and fauna within a 2.6-square-kilometer (1 sq mi) area. The Atlantic Forest is reputed to have even greater biological diversity than the Amazon rain forest, which, despite apparent homogeneity, contains many types of vegetation, from high canopy forest to bamboo groves.
In the semiarid Northeast, caatinga, a dry, thick, thorny vegetation, predominates. Most of central Brazil is covered with a woodland savanna, known as the cerrado (sparse scrub trees and drought-resistant grasses), which became an area of agricultural development after the mid-1970s. In the South (Sul), needle-leaved pinewoods (Paraná pine or araucaria) cover the highlands; grassland similar to the Argentine pampa covers the sea-level plains. The Mato Grosso swamplands (Pantanal Mato-grossense) is a Florida-sized plain in the western portion of the Center-West (Centro-Oeste). It is covered with tall grasses, bushes, and widely dispersed trees similar to those of the cerrado and is partly submerged during the rainy season.
Natural vegetation map of Brazil, 1977. The "Paraná pine" (Araucaria angustifolia) is a conifer but not a pine, pines are not native to the Southern Hemisphere.
Brazil, which is named after reddish dyewood (pau brasil), has long been famous for the wealth of its tropical forests. These are not, however, as important to world markets as those of Asia and Africa, which started to reach depletion only in the 1980s. By 1996 more than 90% of the original Atlantic forest had been cleared, primarily for agriculture, with little use made of the wood, except for araucaria pine in Paraná.
The inverse situation existed with regard to clearing for wood in the Amazon rain forest, of which about 15% had been cleared by 1994, and part of the remainder had been disturbed by selective logging. Because the Amazon forest is highly heterogeneous, with hundreds of woody species per hectare, there is considerable distance between individual trees of economic value, such as mahogany and cerejeira. Therefore, this type of forest is not normally cleared for timber extraction but logged through high-grading, or selection of the most valuable trees. Because of vines, felling, and transportation, their removal causes destruction of many other trees, and the litter and new growth create a risk of forest fires, which are otherwise rare in rainforests. In favorable locations, such as Paragominas, in the northeastern part of Pará State, a new pattern of timber extraction has emerged: diversification and the production of plywood have led to the economic use of more than 100 tree species.
Starting in the late 1980s, rapid deforestation and extensive burning in Brazil received considerable international and national attention. Satellite images have helped document and quantify deforestation as well as fires, but their use also has generated considerable controversy because of problems of defining original vegetation, cloud cover, and dealing with secondary growth and because fires, as mentioned above, may occur in old pasture rather than signifying new clearing. Public policies intended to promote sustainable management of timber extraction, as well as sustainable use of nontimber forest products (such as rubber, Brazil nuts, fruits, seeds, oils, and vines), were being discussed intensely in the mid-1990s. However, implementing the principles of sustainable development, without irreversible damage to the environment, proved to be more challenging than establishing international agreements about them.
Climate[edit]
Main article: Climate of Brazil
Brazil map of Köppen climate classification.
Although 90% of the country is within the tropical zone, the climate of Brazil varies considerably from the mostly tropical North (the equator traverses the mouth of the Amazon) to temperate zones below the Tropic of Capricorn (23°27' S latitude), which crosses the country at the latitude of the city of São Paulo. Brazil has five climatic regions: equatorial, tropical, semiarid, highland tropical, and subtropical.
Temperatures along the equator are high, averaging above 25 °C (77 °F), but not reaching the summer extremes of up to 40 °C (104 °F) in the temperate zones. There is little seasonal variation near the equator, although at times it can get cool enough for wearing a jacket, especially in the rain. At the country's other extreme, there are frosts south of the Tropic of Capricorn during the winter (June–August), and there is snow in the mountainous areas, such as Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. Temperatures in the cities of São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, and Brasília are moderate (usually between 15 and 30 °C or 59 and 86 °F), despite their relatively low latitude, because of their elevation of approximately 1,000 meters (3,281 ft). Rio de Janeiro, Recife, and Salvador on the coast have warm climates, with average temperatures ranging from 23 to 27 °C (73.4 to 80.6 °F), but enjoy constant trade winds. The southern cities of Porto Alegre and Curitiba have a subtropical climate similar to that in parts of the United States and Europe, and temperatures can fall below freezing in winter.
Precipitation levels vary widely. Most of Brazil has moderate rainfall of between 1,000 and 1,500 millimetres (39.4 and 59.1 in) a year, with most of the rain falling in the winter (between December and April) south of the Equator. The Amazon region is notoriously humid, with rainfall generally more than 2,000 millimetres (78.7 in) per year and reaching as high as 3,000 millimetres (118.1 in) in parts of the western Amazon and near Belém. It is less widely known that, despite high annual precipitation, the Amazon rain forest has a three- to five-month dry season, the timing of which varies according to location north or south of the equator.
High and relatively regular levels of precipitation in the Amazon contrast sharply with the dryness of the semiarid Northeast, where rainfall is scarce and there are severe droughts in cycles averaging seven years. The Northeast is the driest part of the country. The region also constitutes the hottest part of Brazil, where during the dry season between May and November, temperatures of more than 38 °C (100 °F) have been recorded. However, the sertão, a region of semidesert vegetation used primarily for low-density ranching, turns green when there is rain. Most of the Center-West has 1,500 to 2,000 millimetres (59.1 to 78.7 in) of rain per year, with a pronounced dry season in the middle of the year, while the South and most of the year without a distinct dry season.
Geographic regions[edit]
Main article: Regions of Brazil
Brazil's 26 states and the Federal District (Distrito Federal) are divided conventionally into five regions: North (Norte), Northeast (Nordeste), Southeast (Sudeste), South (Sul), and Center-West (Centro-Oeste) - see fig. 4. In 2015 there were 5,570 municipalities (municípios), which have municipal governments. Many municipalities, which are comparable to United States counties, are in turn divided into districts (distritos), which do not have political or administrative autonomy. In 2015 there were 10,424 districts. All municipal and district seats, regardless of size, are considered officially to be urban. For purely statistical purposes, the municipalities were grouped in 1990 into 558 micro-regions, which in turn constituted 137 meso-regions. This grouping modified the previous micro-regional division established in 1968, a division that was used to present census data for 1970, 1975, 1980, and 1985.
Each of the five major regions has a distinct ecosystem. Administrative boundaries do not necessarily coincide with ecological boundaries, however. In addition to differences in physical environment, patterns of economic activity and population settlement vary widely among the regions. The principal ecological characteristics of each of the five major regions, as well as their principal socioeconomic and demographic features, are summarized below.
Atlantic
Ocean
Pacific
Ocean
Northern Region
Northeast Region
Central-West Region
Southeast Region
South Region
Acre
Amazonas
Pará
Roraima
Amapá
Rondônia
Tocantins
Maranhão
Bahia
Piauí
Ceará
Rio Grande
do Norte
Paraíba
Pernambuco
Alagoas
Sergipe
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso
do Sul
Federal
District
Goiás
Minas Gerais
São Paulo
Rio de Janeiro
Espírito Santo
Paraná
Santa Catarina
Rio Grande
do Sul
Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
Colombia
French Guyana
Guyana
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
Uruguay
Venezuela
Political map of Brazil, showing the division by states and regions.
Centerwest[edit]
Main article: Center-West Region, Brazil
The Center-West consists of the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul (separated from Mato Grosso in 1979) and the Federal District, where Brasília is located, the national capital. Until 1988 Goiás State included the area that then became the state of Tocantins in the North.
The Center-West has 1,612,077 square kilometers (622,426 sq mi) and covers 18.9% of the national territory. Its main biome is the cerrado, the tropical savanna in which natural grassland is partly covered with twisted shrubs and small trees. The cerrado was used for low-density cattle-raising in the past but is now also used for soybean production. There are gallery forests along the rivers and streams and some larger areas of forest, most of which have been cleared for farming and livestock. In the north, the cerrado blends into tropical forest. It also includes the Pantanal wetlands in the west, known for their wildlife, especially aquatic birds and caimans. In the early 1980s, 33.6% of the region had been altered by anthropic activities, with a low of 9.3% in Mato Grosso and a high of 72.9% in Goiás (not including Tocantins). In 1996 the Center-West region had 10.2 million inhabitants, or 6% of Brazil's total population. The average density is low, with concentrations in and around the cities of Brasília, Goiânia, Campo Grande, and Cuiabá. Living standards are below the national average. In 1994 they were highest in the Federal District, with per capita income of US$7,089 (the highest in the nation), and lowest in Mato Grosso, with US$2,268.
Northeast[edit]
Main article: Northeast Region, Brazil
The nine states that make up the Northeast are Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, and Sergipe. The Fernando de Noronha archipelago (formerly the federal territory of Fernando de Noronha, now part of Pernambuco state) is also included in the Northeast.
The Northeast, with 1,561,178 square kilometers (602,774 sq mi), covers 18.3% of the national terrest concentration of rural population, and its living standards are the lowest in Brazil. In 1994 Piauí had the lowest per capita income in the region and the country, only US$835, while Sergipe had the highest average income in the region, with US$1,958.
North[edit]
Main article: North Region, Brazil
The equatorial North, also known as the Amazon or Amazônia, includes, from west to east, the states of Rondônia, Acre, Amazonas, Roraima, Pará, Amapá, and, as of 1988, Tocantins (created from the northern part of Goiás State, which is situated in the Center-West). Rondônia, previously a federal territory, became a state in 1986. The former federal territories of Roraima and Amapá were raised to statehood in 1988.
With 3,869,638 square kilometers (1,494,076 sq mi), the North is the country's largest region, covering 45.3% of the national territory. The region's principal biome is the humid tropical forest, also known as the rain forest, home to some of the planet's richest biological diversity. The North has served as a source of forest products ranging from "backlands drugs" (such as sarsaparilla, cocoa, cinnamon, and turtle butter) in the colonial period to rubber and Brazil nuts in more recent times. In the mid-twentieth century, nonforest products from mining, farming, and livestock-raising became more important, and in the 1980s the lumber industry boomed. In 1990, 6.6% of the region's territory was considered altered by anthropic (man-made) action, with state levels varying from 0.9% in Amapá to 14.0% in Rondônia.
In 1996 the North had 11.1 million inhabitants, only 7% of the national total. However, its share of Brazil's total had grown rapidly in the 1970s and early 1980s as a result of interregional migration, as well as high rates of natural increase. The largest population concentrations are in eastern Pará State and in Rondônia. The major cities are Belém and Santarém in Pará, and Manaus in Amazonas. Living standards are below the national average. The highest per capita income, US$2,888, in the region in 1994, was in Amazonas, while the lowest, US$901, was in Tocantins.
Southeast[edit]
Main article: Southeast Region, Brazil
The Southeast consists of the four states of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo. Its total area of 927,286 square kilometers (358,027 sq mi) corresponds to 10.9% of the national territory. The region has the largest share of the country's population, 63 million in 1991, or 39% of the national total, primarily as a result of internal migration since the mid-19th century until the 1980s. In addition to a dense urban network, it contains the megacities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, which in 1991 had 18.7 million and 11.7 million inhabitants in their metropolitan areas, respectively. The region combines the highest living standards in Brazil with pockets of urban poverty. In 1994 São Paulo boasted an average income of US$4,666, while Minas Gerais reported only US$2,833.
Originally, the principal biome in the Southeast was the Atlantic Forest, but by 1990 less than 10% of the original forest cover remained as a result of clearing for farming, ranching, and charcoal making. Anthropic activity had altered 79.7% of the region, ranging from 75% in Minas Gerais to 91.1% in Espírito Santo. The region has most of Brazil's industrial production. The state of São Paulo alone accounts for half of the country's industries. Agriculture, also very strong, has diversified and now uses modern technology.
South[edit]
Main article: Southern Region, Brazil
The three states in the temperate South: Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina—cover 577,214 square kilometers (222,864 sq mi), or 6.8% of the national territory. The population of the South in 1991 was 23.1 million, or 14% of the country's total. The region is almost as densely settled as the Southeast, but the population is more concentrated along the coast. The major cities are Curitiba and Porto Alegre. The inhabitants of the South enjoy relatively high living standards. Because of its industry and agriculture, Paraná had the highest average income in 1994, US$3,674, while Santa Catarina, a land of small farmers and small industries, had slightly less, US$3,405.
In addition to the Atlantic Forest and Araucaria moist forests, much of which were cleared in the post-World War II period, the southernmost portion of Brazil contains the Uruguayan savanna, which extends into Argentina and Uruguay. In 1982, 83.5% of the region had been altered by anthropic activity, with the highest level (89.7%) in Rio Grande do Sul, and the lowest (66.7%) in Santa Catarina. Agriculture—much of which, such as rice production, is carried out by small farmers—has high levels of productivity. There are also some important industries.
Environmental issues[edit]
Main article: Environment of Brazil
The environmental problem that attracted most international attention in Brazil in the 1980s was deforestation in the Amazon. Of all Latin American countries, Brazil still has the largest portion (66%) of its territory covered by forests, but clearing and burning in the Amazon proceeded at alarming rates in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of the clearing resulted from the activities of ranchers, including large corporate operations, and a smaller portion resulted from slash and burn techniques used by small farmers. Technical changes involved in the transition from horizontal expansion of agriculture to increasing productivity also accounted for decreasing rates of deforestation.
Desertification, another important environmental problem in Brazil, only received international attention following the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development, also known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. Desertification means that the soils and vegetation of drylands are egraded, not necessarily that land turns into desert. In the early 1990s, it became evident that the semiarid caatinga ecosystem of the Northeast was losing its natural vegetation through clearing and that the zone was therefore running the risk of becoming even more arid, as was occurring also in some other regions.
In areas where agriculture is more intense and developed, there are serious problems of soil erosion, siltation and sedimentation of streams and rivers, and pollution with pesticides. In parts of the savannas, where irrigated soybean production expanded in the 1980s, the water table has been affected. Expansion of pastures for cattle raising has reduced natural biodiversity in the savannas. Swine effluents constitute a serious environmental problem in Santa Catarina in the South.
In urban areas, at least in the largest cities, levels of air pollution and congestion are typical of, or worse than, those found in cities in developed countries. At the same time, however, basic environmental problems related to the lack of sanitation, which developed countries solved long ago, persist in Brazil. These problems are sometimes worse in middle-sized and small cities than in large cities, which have more resources to deal with them. Environmental problems of cities and towns finally began to receive greater attention by society and the government in the 1990s.
According to many critics, the economic crisis in the 1980s worsened environmental degradation in Brazil because it led to overexploitation of natural resources, stimulated settlement in fragile lands in both rural and urban areas, and weakened environmental protection. At the same time, however, the lower level of economic activity may have reduced pressure on the environment, such as the aforementioned decreased level of investment in large-scale clearing in the Amazon. That pressure could increase if economic growth accelerates, especially if consumption patterns remain unchanged and more sustainable forms of production are not found.
In Brazil public policies regarding the environment are generally advanced, although their implementation and the enforcement of environmental laws have been far from ideal. Laws regarding forests, water, and wildlife have been in effect since the 1930s. Brazil achieved significant institutional advances in environmental policy design and implementation after the Stockholm Conference on the Environment in 1972. Specialized environmental agencies were organized at the federal level and in some states, and many national parks and reserves were established. By 1992 Brazil had established 34 national parks and fifty-six biological reserves. In 1981 the National Environment Policy was defined, and the National System for the Environment (Sistema Nacional do Meio Ambiente—Sisnama) was created, with the National Environmental Council (Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente—Conama) at its apex, municipal councils at its base, and state-level councils in between. In addition to government authorities, all of these councils include representatives of civil society.
The 1988 constitution incorporates environmental precepts that are advanced compared with those of most other countries. At that time, the Chamber of Deputies (Câmara dos Deputados) established its permanent Commission for Defense of the Consumer, the Environment, and Minorities. In 1989 the creation of the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis--Ibama) joined together the federal environment secretariat and the federal agencies specializing in forestry, rubber, and fisheries. In 1990 the administration of Fernando Collor de Mello (president, 1990–92) appointed the well-known environmentalist José Lutzemberger as secretary of the environment and took firm positions on the environment and on Indian lands. In 1992 Brazil played a key role at the Earth Summit, not only as its host but also as negotiator on sustainable development agreements, including the conventions on climate and biodiversity. The Ministry of Environment was created in late 1992, after President Collor had left office. In August 1993, it became the Ministry of Environment and the Legal Amazon and took a more pragmatic approach than had the combative Lutzemberger. However, because of turnover in its leadership, a poorly defined mandate, and lack of funds, its role and impact were limited. In 1995 its mandate and name were expanded to include water resources—the Ministry of Environment, Hydraulic Resources, and the Legal Amazon—it began a process of restructuring to meet its mandate of "shared management of the sustainable use of natural resources." In 1997 the Commission on Policies for Sustainable Development and Agenda 21 began to function under the aegis of the Civil Household. One of its main tasks was to prepare Agenda 21 (a plan for the twenty-first century) for Brazil and to stimulate preparation of state and local agendas.
Institutional development at the official level was accompanied and in part stimulated by the growth, wide diffusion, and growing professional development of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) dedicated to environmental and socio-environmental causes. The hundreds of NGOs throughout Brazil produce documents containing both useful information and passionate criticisms. Among the Brazilian environmental NGOs, the most visible are SOS Atlantic Forest (SOS Mata Atlântica), the Social-Environmental Institute (Instituto Sócio-Ambiental—ISA), the Pro-Nature Foundation (Fundação Pró-Natureza—Funatura), and the Amazon Working Group (Grupo de Trabalho Amazônico—GTA). The Brazilian Forum of NGOs and Social Movements for the Environment and Development and the Brazilian Association of Nongovernmental Organizations (Associacão Brasileira de Organizações Não-Governamentais—ABONG) are national networks, and there are various regional and thematic networks as well. The main international environmental NGOs that have offices or affiliates in Brazil are the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Conservation International (CI), and Nature Conservancy.
Especially after the events of the late 1980s, international organizations and developed countries have allocated significant resources for the environmental sector in Brazil. In 1992 environmental projects worth about US$6.8 million were identified, with US$2.6 in counterpart funds (funds provided by the Brazilian government). More than 70% of the total value was for sanitation, urban pollution control, and other urban environmental projects. Thus, the allocation of resources did not accord with the common belief that funding was influenced unduly by alarmist views on deforestation in the Amazon.
Among the specific environmental projects with international support, the most important was the National Environmental Plan (Plano Nacional do Meio Ambiente—PNMA), which received a US$117 million loan from the World Bank. The National Environmental Fund (Fundo Nacional do Meio Ambiente—FNMA), in addition to budgetary funds, received US$20 million from the Inter-American Development Bank to finance the environmental activities of NGOs and small municipal governments. The Pilot Program for the Conservation of the Brazilian Rain Forests (Programa Piloto para a Proteção das Florestas Tropicais do Brasil—PPG-7) was supported by the world's seven richest countries (the so-called G-7) and the European Community, which allocated US$258 million for projects in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest regions. The Global Environment Facility (GEF), created in 1990, set aside US$30 million for Brazil, part of which is managed by a national fund called Funbio. GEF also established a small grants program for NGOs, which focused on the cerrado during its pilot phase. The World Bank also made loans for environmental and natural resource management in Rondônia and Mato Grosso, in part to correct environmental and social problems that had been created by the World Bank-funded development of the northwest corridor in the 1980s.
Despite favorable laws, promising institutional arrangements, and external funding, the government has not, on the whole, been effective in controlling damage to the environment. This failure is only in small measure because of the opposition of anti-environmental groups. In greater part, it can be attributed to the traditional separation between official rhetoric and actual practice in Brazil. It is also related to general problems of governance, fiscal crisis, and lingering doubts about appropriate tradeoffs between the environment and development. Some of the most effective governmental action in the environmental area has occurred at the state and local levels in the most developed states and has involved NGOs. In 1994 the PNMA began to stress decentralization and strengthening of state environmental agencies, a tendency that subsequently gained momentum.
Environment - current issues: Deforestation in Amazon Basin destroys the habitat and endangers the existence of a multitude of plant and animal species indigenous to the area; there is a lucrative illegal wildlife trade; air and water pollution in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and several other large cities; land degradation and water pollution caused by improper mining activities; wetland degradation; severe oil spills
note: President Cardoso in September 1999 signed into force an environmental crime bill which for the first time defines pollution and deforestation as crimes punishable by stiff fines and jail sentences
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of selected agreements
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Edison Lobão; Fernando César de Moreira Mesquita (11 June 1991), Decreto nº 11.902 de 11 de Junho de 1991 (PDF) (in Portuguese), State of Maranhão, retrieved 2016-08-03
Jump up ^ "Ibge statistics".
This article incorporates public domain material from the Library of Congress Country Studies website http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/.
This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook website https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html.
External links[edit]
Brazil - from 1565 (in English)
Brazil: of the Noble Class, of Loves, and of Letters… a map from around 1640 (in Latin) (in English)
[show]
v
t
e
Brazil
History
Timeline of Brazilian history
Indigenous peoples
Portuguese Colony (1500–1815)
United Kingdom (1815–1822)
Empire (1822–1889)
Old Republic (1889–1930)
Vargas Era (1930–1946)
Second Republic (1946–1964)
Military rule (1964–1985)
New Republic (post 1985)
Geography
Amazon basin
Climate
Coastline
Conservation
Environment
Environmental issues
Extreme points
Islands
Largest cities
Mountains
Pantanal
Protected areas
Regions
Rivers
Water resources
Wildlife
Politics
Administrative divisions
Constitution
Elections
Foreign relations
Government
Human rights
Legal system
Law
Law enforcement
Military
National Congress
Political parties
President
Economy
Agriculture
Car industry
Central Bank
Economic history
Energy
Exports
Industry
Mining
Real (currency)
Science and technology
Stock index
Telecommunications
Tourism
Transport
Society
Corruption
Crime
Demographics
Education
Health
Immigration
Income inequality
Languages
People
Religion
Social issues
States by HDI
Unemployment
Water supply and sanitation
Welfare
Youth
Culture
Arts
Animation
Carnaval
Cinema
Comics
Cuisine
Literature
Malandragem
Music
Newspapers
Painting
Public holidays
Sculpture
Science fiction
Sports
Television
Outline
Index
Category
Portal
[show]
v
t
e
Geography of South America
Sovereign states
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Guyana
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
Uruguay
Venezuela
Dependencies and
other territories
Falkland Islands
French Guiana
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geography_of_Brazil&oldid=807129422"
Categories:
Geography of Brazil
Hidden categories:
CS1 Portuguese-language sources (pt)
Coordinates not on Wikidata
All articles with unsourced statements
Articles with unsourced statements from August 2016
Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Library of Congress Country Studies
Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the World Factbook
Articles with Latin-language external links
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Languages
Azərbaycanca
Български
Català
Cymraeg
Dansk
Español
Euskara
فارسی
Français
Galego
Հայերեն
Hrvatski
Ido
বিষ্ণুপ্রিয়া মণিপুরী
עברית
ქართული
Lietuvių
Magyar
Norsk
Polski
Português
Română
Русский
Shqip
Slovenščina
Српски / srpski
Suomi
Українська
中文
Edit links
This page was last edited on 26 October 2017, at 02:37.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

key: html

type: local

value: div

attrs: id class

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

value: a

attrs: id class lang

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

value: img

attrs: href class

value: span

attrs: class title

values: Maps, aerial photos, and other data for this location

values: List of countries and dependencies by area

values:
/wiki/Planalto_Central
mw-redirect
Planalto Central

values:
/wiki/Amazon_Basin
mw-redirect
Amazon Basin

values: Edit section: Size and geographical location

values:
/wiki/Eastern_Time_Zone_(North_America)
mw-redirect
Eastern Time Zone (North America)

values:
/wiki/Atol_das_Rocas
mw-redirect
Atol das Rocas

values:
/wiki/Saint_Peter_and_Paul_Rocks
mw-redirect
Saint Peter and Paul Rocks

values:
/wiki/Trindade_and_Martim_Vaz
mw-redirect
Trindade and Martim Vaz

values: Edit section: Geology, geomorphology and drainage

values:
/wiki/Serra_do_Espinha%C3%A7o
mw-redirect
Serra do Espinhaço

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (August 2016)

values:
noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact
white-space:nowrap;

attrs: alt src width height class srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values:
/wiki/River_system
mw-redirect
River system

values:
/wiki/Natural_resources
mw-redirect
Natural resources

values:
/wiki/Parnaiba_River
mw-redirect
Parnaiba River

values:
/wiki/Southern_Region,_Brazil
mw-redirect
Southern Region, Brazil

values:
/wiki/Forest_fire
mw-redirect
Forest fire

values:
/wiki/Satellite_image
mw-redirect
Satellite image

values:
/wiki/Tropical_zone
mw-redirect
Tropical zone

values:
/wiki/Temperate_zone
mw-redirect
Temperate zone

values:
/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Paulo_(city)
mw-redirect
São Paulo (city)

values:
/wiki/Equatorial_climate
mw-redirect
Equatorial climate

values:
/wiki/Rio_de_Janeiro_(city)
mw-redirect
Rio de Janeiro (city)

values:
/wiki/Amazon_region
mw-redirect
Amazon region

values:
/wiki/Center-West_Region,_Brazil
mw-redirect
Center-West Region, Brazil

values:
/wiki/Physical_environment
mw-redirect
Physical environment

values:
/wiki/Economic_activity
mw-redirect
Economic activity

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:330px; top:28px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:10px; top:272px

values:
/wiki/Northern_Region,_Brazil
mw-redirect
Northern Region, Brazil

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:294px; top:272.4px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:294px; top:286.8px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:294px; top:301.2px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:294px; top:315.6px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:294px; top:330px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:34px; top:124px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:74px; top:80px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:186px; top:80px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:102px; top:24px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:186px; top:30px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:90px; top:148px

values:
/wiki/Tocantins_(state)
mw-redirect
Tocantins (state)

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:212px; top:136px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:238px; top:92px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:274px; top:152px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:274px; top:112px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:294px; top:84px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:330px; top:84px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:334px; top:108px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:302px; top:120px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:334px; top:132px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:322px; top:144px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:146px; top:164px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:150px; top:224px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:220px; top:172px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:202px; top:196px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:234px; top:216px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:202px; top:240px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:274px; top:244px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:294px; top:224px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:186px; top:264px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:198px; top:284px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:166px; top:304px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:82px; top:312px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:82px; top:196px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:50px; top:252px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:14px; top:20px

values:
/wiki/French_Guyana
mw-redirect
French Guyana

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:186px; top:4px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:134px; top:20px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:126px; top:248px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:14px; top:164px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:154px; top:12px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:152px; top:336px

values: position:absolute; font-size:85%; left:74px; top:4px

values: width: 400px; float: none; clear: none; line-height: 1; text-align: center; background-color: #ffffff; position: relative; max-width: 100%; overflow-x: auto;

values:
/wiki/Political_map
mw-redirect
Political map

values:
/wiki/Amazonas_State,_Brazil
mw-redirect
Amazonas State, Brazil

values:
/wiki/Biological_diversity
mw-redirect
Biological diversity

values:
/wiki/Smilax_regelii
mw-redirect
Smilax regelii

values:
/wiki/Lumber_industry
mw-redirect
Lumber industry

values:
/wiki/Latin_American
mw-redirect
Latin American

values:
/wiki/Slash_and_burn
mw-redirect
Slash and burn

values:
/wiki/Economic_crisis
mw-redirect
Economic crisis

values:
/wiki/Chamber_of_Deputies_of_Brazil
mw-redirect
Chamber of Deputies of Brazil

values:
/wiki/Legal_Amazon
mw-redirect
Legal Amazon

values:
/wiki/Nongovernmental_organization
mw-redirect
Nongovernmental organization

values:
/wiki/SOS_Mata_Atl%C3%A2ntica
mw-redirect
SOS Mata Atlântica

values:
reflist mw-references-wrap
list-style-type: decimal;

values: Copyright status of work by the U.S. government

values:
nofollow
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/
external free

values:
nofollow
external text
http://www.wdl.org/en/item/807

values:
nofollow
external text
http://www.wdl.org/en/item/1074

values: United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves

values:
/wiki/Energy_policy_of_Brazil
mw-redirect
Energy policy of Brazil

values:
/wiki/Brazilian_science_and_technology
mw-redirect
Brazilian science and technology

values: List of Brazilian federative units by Human Development Index

values: nowraplinks hlist collapsible collapsed navbox-inner

values: Template talk:Geography of South America

values: Geography of Falkland Islands (page does not exist)

values: Geography of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

values: nowraplinks collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values: Category:CS1 Portuguese-language sources (pt)

values: Category:All articles with unsourced statements

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from August 2016

values: Category:Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Library of Congress Country Studies

values: Category:Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the World Factbook

values: Category:Articles with Latin-language external links

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/Geography_of_Brazil
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

values: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

values: Permanent link to this revision of the page

values: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

values: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

values: portal navigation p-wikibase-otherprojects p-wikibase-otherprojects-label

values:
uls-settings-trigger
Language settings
0
button
true

values: География на Бразилия – Bulgarian

values: جغرافیای برزیل – Persian

values: Բրազիլիայի աշխարհագրություն – Armenian

values: ব্রাজিলর ভূগোল – Bishnupriya

values: גאוגרפיה של ברזיל – Hebrew

values: ბრაზილიის გეოგრაფია – Georgian

values: interlanguage-link interwiki-pt badge-Q17437796 badge-featuredarticle

values: География Бразилии – Russian

values: Географија Бразила – Serbian

values: interlanguage-link interwiki-fi badge-Q17559452 badge-recommendedarticle

values: Географія Бразилії – Ukrainian

values: /static/images/wikimedia-button-1.5x.png 1.5x, /static/images/wikimedia-button-2x.png 2x

values: /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Geography_of_Brazil rootpage-Geography_of_Brazil vector-experimental-print-styles vector-nav-directionality skin-vector action-view


text:
Happy Birthday to You
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 8 October 2017.
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the song. For the book, see Happy Birthday to You!
"Happy Birthday (song)" redirects here. For other songs by that name, see Happy Birthday.
"Happy Birthday to You"
Song
Published
1893
Songwriter(s)
Patty Hill, Mildred J. Hill
"Happy Birthday to You", more commonly known as simply "Happy Birthday", is a song that is traditionally sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person's birth. According to the 1998 Guinness World Records, "Happy Birthday to You" is the most recognized song in the English language, followed by "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow". The song's base lyrics have been translated into at least 18 languages.[1] The melody of "Happy Birthday to You" comes from the song "Good Morning to All",[2] which has traditionally been attributed to American sisters Patty and Mildred J. Hill in 1893,[3][4] although the claim that the sisters composed the tune is disputed.[5]
Patty Hill was a kindergarten principal in Louisville, Kentucky, developing various teaching methods at what is now the Little Loomhouse;[6] her sister Mildred was a pianist and composer.[7] The sisters used "Good Morning to All" as a song that young children would find easy to sing.[8] The combination of melody and lyrics in "Happy Birthday to You" first appeared in print in 1912, and probably existed even earlier.[9]
None of the early appearances of the "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics included credits or copyright notices. The Summy Company registered a copyright in 1935, crediting authors Preston Ware Orem and Mrs. R. R. Forman. In 1988, Warner/Chappell Music purchased the company owning the copyright for US$25 million, with the value of "Happy Birthday" estimated at US$5 million.[10][11] Based on the 1935 copyright registration, Warner claimed that the United States copyright will not expire until 2030, and that unauthorized public performances of the song are illegal unless royalties are paid to Warner. In one specific instance in February 2010, these royalties were said to amount to US$700.[12] By one estimate, the song is the highest-earning single song in history, with estimated earnings since its creation of US$50 million.[13][14] In the European Union, the copyright for the song expired on January 1, 2017.[15]
The American copyright status of "Happy Birthday to You" began to draw more attention with the passage of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act in 1998. When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Act in Eldred v. Ashcroft in 2003, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer specifically mentioned "Happy Birthday to You" in his dissenting opinion.[16] American law professor Robert Brauneis, who extensively researched the song, concluded in 2010 that "It is almost certainly no longer under copyright."[17] In 2013, based in large part on Brauneis's research, Good Morning to You Productions, a company producing a documentary about "Good Morning to All", sued Warner/Chappell for falsely claiming copyright to the song.[5][10] In September 2015, a federal judge declared that the Warner/Chappell copyright claim was invalid, ruling that the copyright registration applied only to a specific piano arrangement of the song, and not to its lyrics and melody. In 2016, Warner/Chappell settled for US $14 million, and the court declared that "Happy Birthday to You" was in the public domain.[18][19]
Contents
[hide]
1 Lyrics
1.1 "Happy birthday to you"
1.2 Lyrics with melody
1.3 Traditional variations
2 Copyright status
2.1 2013 lawsuit
3 Public performances
4 See also
5 References
5.1 Footnotes
5.2 Works cited
6 External links
Lyrics[edit]
"Happy birthday to you"[edit]
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear [NAME]
Happy birthday to you.[20]
The person whose birthday is being celebrated is filled in for "[NAME]". The earliest known publication used "John" as the example.
Lyrics with melody[edit]
Traditional variations[edit]
It is traditional, among English-speakers, that at a birthday party, the song "Happy Birthday to You" be sung to the birthday person by the other guests celebrating the birthday. More specifically, the birthday person is traditionally presented with a birthday cake with lit candles, with the number of candles sometimes corresponding to the age of the person. After the song is sung (usually just once), party guests sometimes add wishes like "and many more!" expressing the hope that the birthday person will enjoy a long life. The birthday person may be asked to make a wish ("Make a wish!")—which he or she does silently—and then is supposed to blow out the candles. Traditionally, blowing out the candles is believed (or is considered a lighthearted superstition) to ensure that the wish will come true.[21] Once the candles have been blown out, people may applaud, after which the cake may be served, often with the first piece being served to the person whose birthday it is.
In Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Ireland, immediately after "Happy Birthday" has been sung, it is traditional for one of the guests to enthusiastically lead with "Hip hip..." and then for all of the other guests to join in and say "... hooray!" This is normally repeated three times. In Canada, especially at young children's birthdays, immediately after "Happy Birthday" has been sung, the singers segue into "How old are you now? How old are you now? How old are you now-ow, how old are you now?" and then count up: "Are you one? Are you two? Are you..." until they reach the right age, at which the celebrant says "yes", and everybody else, who presumably know the right number, all cheer.[citation needed]
Copyright status[edit]
The public domain song Good-Morning to All
Instrumental version of "Good Morning to All".
Both the music and lyrics are in public domain in both the European Union and United States. The copyright expired in the European Union on January 1, 2017. In the United States, a federal court ruled in 2016 that Warner/Chappell's copyright claim was invalid and there was no other claim to copyright.
The origins of "Happy Birthday to You" date back to at least the late 19th century, when two sisters, Patty and Mildred J. Hill, introduced the song "Good Morning to All" to Patty's kindergarten class in Kentucky.[10] Years later, in 1893, they published the tune in their songbook Song Stories for the Kindergarten. Kembrew McLeod stated that the Hill sisters likely copied the tune and lyrical idea from other popular and similar nineteenth-century songs that predated theirs, including Horace Waters' "Happy Greetings to All", "Good Night to You All" also from 1858, "A Happy New Year to All" from 1875, and "A Happy Greeting to All", published 1885. However, American law professor Robert Brauneis disputes this, noting that these earlier songs had quite different melodies.[22]
It is likely that teachers and students spontaneously adapted the published version of "Good Morning to All" to celebrate birthdays in the classroom, changing the lyrics to "Happy Birthday" in the process.[3] The complete text of "Happy Birthday to You" first appeared in print as the final four lines of Edith Goodyear Alger's poem "Roy's Birthday", published in her book A Primer of Work and Play, copyrighted by D. C. Heath in 1901, with no reference to the words being sung.[23] The first book including "Happy Birthday" lyrics set to the tune of "Good Morning to All" that bears a date of publication is from 1911 in The Elementary Worker and His Work, but earlier references exist to a song called "Happy Birthday to You" including an article from 1901 in the Inland Educator and Indiana School Journal.[24] Children's Praise and Worship, edited by Andrew Byers, Bessie L. Byrum and Anna E. Koglin, published the song in 1918. In 1924, Robert Coleman included "Good Morning to All" in a songbook with the birthday lyrics as a second verse. Coleman also published "Happy Birthday" in The American Hymnal in 1933.
In 1935, several specific piano arrangements and an unused second verse of "Happy Birthday to You" were copyrighted as a work for hire crediting Preston Ware Orem for the piano arrangements and Mrs. R. R. Forman for the lyrics by the Summy Company, the publisher of "Good Morning to All".[25][26] This served as the legal basis for claiming that Summy Company legally registered the copyright for the song, as well as the later renewal of these copyrights.[27] A later 2015 lawsuit would find this claim baseless. That specific new lyrics that also included the full text of "Happy Birthday to You", was a copyright on the derivative work. A 1957 acquisition of C.C. Birchard & Company saw Summy Company becoming the Summy-Birchard Company. A later corporate restructuring in the 1970s saw Summy-Birchard becoming a division of a new company: Birch Tree Group Limited.
Warner/Chappell Music acquired Birch Tree Group Limited in 1988 for US$25 million.[10][11] The company continued to insist that one cannot sing the "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics for profit without paying royalties: in 2008, Warner collected about US$5,000 per day (US$2 million per year) in royalties for the song.[28] Warner/Chappell claimed copyright for every use in film, television, radio, anywhere open to the public, and for any group where a substantial number of those in attendance are not family or friends of whoever is performing the song. Brauneis cited problems with the song's authorship and the notice and renewal of the copyright, and concluded: "It is almost certainly no longer under copyright."[3][17]
In the European Union, copyright lasts for the life of the author(s) plus 70 years; since Patty Hill (the last surviving author) died in 1946, the copyright in these countries expired on January 1, 2017.[29]
2013 lawsuit[edit]
On June 13, 2013, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Nelson filed a putative class action suit in federal court for the Southern District of New York against Warner/Chappell in the name of her production company, Good Morning to You Productions.[5] As part of a documentary she was making about the song and its history, she had paid US$1,500 to secure the rights. Her complaint relied heavily on Brauneis's research, seeking not only the return of her money but all royalties collected by the company from other filmmakers since 2009.[10][30][31] A week later a similar case was filed in the Central District of California, Rupa Marya v. Warner Chappell Music Inc, Case No. 2:13-cv-04460.[32] Five weeks later, Nelson refiled the case there,[33] and the cases were combined.[34][35][36] As of April 2014, Warner's motion to dismiss had been denied without prejudice, and discovery began under an agreed plan with respect to Claim One, declaratory judgment as to whether "Happy Birthday to You" is in the public domain. The Motion Cut-Off as to Merits Issues on the Claim One deadline was November 7, 2014. After that, the court was expected to rule on the motion for summary judgment as to the merits issues on Claim One.[37] A jury trial was requested.[38]
On July 28, 2015, one day prior to a scheduled ruling, Nelson's attorneys Betsy Manifold and Mark Rifkin presented new evidence that they argued was conclusive proof that the song was in the public domain, "thus making it unnecessary for the Court to decide the scope or validity of the disputed copyrights, much less whether Patty Hill abandoned any copyright she may have had to the lyrics". Several weeks prior, they had been given access to documents held back from them by Warner/Chappell, which included a copy of the 15th edition of The Everyday Song Book, published in 1927. The book contained "Good Morning and Happy Birthday", but the copy was blurry, obscuring a line of text below the title. Manifold and Rifkin located a clearer copy of an older edition, published in 1922, that also contained the "Happy Birthday" lyrics. The previously obscured line was revealed to be the credit "Special permission through courtesy of The Clayton F Summy Co.". Manifold and Rifkin argued that because the music and lyrics were published without a valid copyright notice as was required at the time, "Happy Birthday" was in the public domain.[39]
Warner/Chappell disputed the evidence, arguing that unless there was "necessary authorization from the copyright owner", the "Happy Birthday" lyrics and sheet music would still be subject to common law copyright as an unpublished work, and that it was unknown whether the "special permission" from the Summy Company covered "Good Morning to All", "Happy Birthday", or both, thus alleging that the publication in The Everyday Song Book was unauthorized. The company also argued that it was not acting in bad faith in withholding the evidence of the 1927 publication.[40]
On September 22, 2015, federal judge George H. King ruled[41] that the Warner/Chappell copyright claim over the lyrics was invalid.[42][43] The 1935 copyright held by Warner/Chappell applied only to a specific piano arrangement of the song, not the lyrics or melody.[44] The court held that the question of whether the 1922 and 1927 publications were authorized, thus placing the song in the public domain, presented questions of fact that would need to be resolved at trial.[41] However, Warner/Chappell had failed to prove that it actually had ever held a copyright to the lyrics, so the court was able to grant summary judgment to the plaintiffs, thus resolving the case.[41]
Some initial news sources characterized the decision as ruling that the song was in the public domain,[44][45] but the decision did not go so far, holding only that Warner/Chappell did not prove they owned the copyright.[42] However, because there are no other claimants to the copyright, and the copyright to the melody long ago expired,[46] the plaintiffs suggested that the song was de facto in the public domain.[42] Also, the judge ruled that the song was not copyrighted by Summy Co., who had written in the song book, "Special permission through courtesy of the Clayton F. Summy Co." Since there was no evidence Summy Co. had copyright on the song, the song is still considered to be in the public domain.[47]
Prior to the lawsuit, Warner/Chappell had been earning $2 million a year licensing the song for commercial use,[45] with a notable example the $5,000 paid by the filmmakers of the 1994 documentary, Hoop Dreams,[48] in order to safely distribute the film.[49] On February 8, 2016, Warner/Chappell agreed to pay a settlement of $14 million to those who had licensed the song, and would allow a final judgment declaring the song to be in the public domain, with a final hearing scheduled in March 2016.[50][51] On June 28, 2016, the final settlement was officially granted and the court declared that the song was in the public domain.[19] The following week, Nelson's short-form documentary, Happy Birthday: my campaign to liberate the people's song, was published online by The Guardian.[52]
In the wake of their success, the lawyers involved in the "Happy Birthday" lawsuit filed similar lawsuits regarding "We Shall Overcome"[53] and "This Land Is Your Land".[54]
Public performances[edit]
This section may contain indiscriminate, excessive, or irrelevant examples. Please improve the article by adding more descriptive text and removing less pertinent examples. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for further suggestions.
One of the most famous performances of "Happy Birthday to You" was Marilyn Monroe's rendition to U.S. President John F. Kennedy in May 1962.[55] Another notable use was by comedy pianist Victor Borge, who played the song in styles of various composers,[56] or would begin playing Moonlight Sonata, smoothly transitioning into the song.[57]
The documentary film The Corporation states that Warner/Chappell charged up to US$10,000 for the song to appear in a film. Because of the copyright issue, filmmakers rarely showed complete singalongs of "Happy Birthday" in films, either substituting the public-domain "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" or avoiding the song entirely. Before the song was copyrighted it was used freely, as in Bosko's Party, a Warner Bros. cartoon of 1932, where a chorus of animals sings it twice through. The copyright status of "Happy Birthday to You" is directly referenced in a 2009 episode of the TV series iCarly, "iMake Sam Girlier", in which the main character as well as others begin to sing the song to Sam but are prevented from doing so by Freddie, who says the song isn't public domain; "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow" is then sung instead.
In a 1998 episode of the television show Sports Night, "Intellectual Property", character Dan Rydell sings the song to his co-anchor during a telecast, forcing his network to pay royalties, and causing him to ask his colleagues to choose public-domain songs for him to sing for their birthdays.[58] The copyright is also referenced frequently in a Disney A.N.T. Farm episode where characters repeatedly try to sing the song, only to be stopped by others reminding them of the price. The melody of the song is also featured in The Wrong Trousers but was replaced with "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" for DVD releases. The use of the song is a problem even if it is sung in a made-up language, as a Klingon-language version was nixed in pre-production from the 7th-season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called "Parallels", replaced with "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" in Klingon. In the Futurama episode "I Second That Emotion", they poke fun at the song and its copyright by making their own version with the lyrics "What day is today? / It's (birthday person)'s birthday / What a day for a birthday / Let's all have some cake."
In the 30 Rock episode "Goodbye, My Friend", TGS cast members begin to sing the song following an announcement about the royalty fee for singing "Happy Birthday to You" on a television show. The cast is interrupted after the first line by a character entering the scene.[citation needed] In the Community episode "Mixology Certification", a scene starts with the last two words of the song ("... to you"), implying it had been sung in its entirety, before Pierce confusedly asks, "How come we only sang the last two words?"[citation needed]
In the 1987 documentary Eyes on the Prize about the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, there was a birthday party scene in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s discouragement began to lift. After its initial release, the film was unavailable for sale or broadcast for many years because of the cost of clearing many copyrights, of which "Happy Birthday to You" was one. Grants in 2005 for copyright clearances[59] allowed PBS to rebroadcast the film as recently as February 2008.[60]
In 2010, the Western Classical music conductor Zubin Mehta conducted the orchestra to play variations of Happy Birthday in the styles of various Western classical music composers including Wagner, Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, and in the Viennese, New Orleans and Hungarian composition styles.[61][62]
On August 5, 2013, the first anniversary of its landing on Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover celebrated its "birthday" when engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center used the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument to cause the rover to "sing" Happy Birthday on the Martian surface.[63]
During the March 6, 2014 episode of the Comedy Central series The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert planned to sing the song in honor of the 90th anniversary of its 1924 publication. Due to the copyright issues, Colbert instead performed his new "royalty-free" birthday song, which is set to "The Star-Spangled Banner".[64][65]
See also[edit]
History portal
Kentucky portal
Music portal
United States portal
List of birthday songs
Copyright troll
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
Jump up ^ Brauneis (2010), p. 17.
Jump up ^ Hill;, Mildred J. (music); Hill, Patty S. (lyrics) (1896). "Good Morning to All". Song Stories for the Kindergarten. Illustrations by Margaret Byers; With an introduction by Anna E. Bryan (New, Revised, Illustrated and Enlarged ed.). Chicago: Clayton F. Summy Co. p. 3.
^ Jump up to: a b c Collins, Paul (July 21, 2011). "You Say It's Your Birthday. Does the Infamous 'Happy Birthday to You' Copyright Hold up to Scrutiny?". Slate. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
Jump up ^ Originally published in Song Stories for the Kindergarten. Chicago: Clayton E. Summy Co. 1896. as cited by Snyder, Agnes (1972). Dauntless Women in Childhood Education, 1856–1931. Washington, D.C.: Association for Childhood Education International. p. 244.
^ Jump up to: a b c Masnick, Mike (June 13, 2013). "Lawsuit Filed to Prove Happy Birthday Is in The Public Domain; Demands Warner Pay Back Millions of License Fees". Techdirt.
Jump up ^ Clifft, Candice (2007). "Little Loomhouse". Louisville Life Program. Kentucky Educational Television.
Jump up ^ Brauneis (2010), p. 7.
Jump up ^ Brauneis (2010), p. 14.
Jump up ^ Brauneis (2010), pp. 31–32.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Weiser, Benjamin (June 13, 2013). "Birthday Song's Copyright Leads to a Lawsuit for the Ages". The New York Times. Retrieved June 14, 2013.
^ Jump up to: a b "'Happy Birthday' and the Money It Makes". The New York Times. December 26, 1989. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
Jump up ^ Williams, Wendy (February 5, 2010). "Transcript". The Wendy Williams Show. Archived from the original on October 9, 2011. Retrieved September 17, 2014. We paid $700 to say happy birthday. You got to pay for the song. Williams used the song during an episode of her show.
Jump up ^ Mohan, Isabel (December 29, 2012). "The Richest Songs in the World, BBC Four, Review". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
Jump up ^ Warner, Brian (March 12, 2014). "The 10 Richest Songs of All Time". Celebrity Net Worth. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
Jump up ^ EU countries observe the "life + 70" copyright standard.
Jump up ^ 537 US 186, Justice Breyer, dissenting, II, C.
^ Jump up to: a b Brauneis (2010).
Jump up ^ Blistein, Jon (9 February 2016). "Warner Music Settles 'Happy Birthday' Lawsuit for $14 Million". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
^ Jump up to: a b Good Morning to You Productions v. Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. (U.S. District Court for the Central District of California 2016) (“The Court hereby declares that, as of the Final Settlement Date, the Song entitled Happy Birthday to You! will be in the public domain.”). Text
Jump up ^ "Rupa Marya, et al. v. Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., et al." (PDF). United States District Court for the Central District of California. September 22, 2015. Case Number CV-13-4460-GHK. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
Jump up ^ Konstantinides, Anneta (May 12, 2015). "That's Not What She Wished For! Grandma, 102, Blows Out Her Birthday Candles... and Ends Up Losing Her Teeth Instead". The Daily Mail. London. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
Jump up ^ Brauneis (2010), pp. 12–14.
Jump up ^ Feaster, Patrick (June 20, 2014), "Edith Goodyear Alger: Lyricist of 'Happy Birthday to You'?" Griffonage-Dot-Com.
Jump up ^ US District Court CA (2015), pp. 3.
Jump up ^ Romeo, Dave (2009). Striving for Significance: Life Lessons Learned While Fishing. iUniverse. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-4401-2213-2. Retrieved June 14, 2013 – via Google Books.
Jump up ^ Russell, Carrie (2004). Complete Copyright: An Everyday Guide for Librarians. American Library Association. p. 15. Retrieved June 14, 2013 – via Google Books.
Jump up ^ Brauneis, Robert (October 14, 2010). "Copyright and the World's Most Popular Song". Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 392. George Washington University Law School. 56: 335. SSRN 1111624  . doi:10.2139/ssrn.1111624.
Jump up ^ Brauneis (2010), pp. 4, 68.
Jump up ^ Balme, Charlie (22 December 2015). "US Happy Birthday copyright case settles after protracted legal battle". Marks & Clerk. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
Jump up ^ "'Happy Birthday to You' Belongs to Everyone: Lawsuit". New York Post.
Jump up ^ "Class Action Complaint: Good Morning to You Productions v. Warner/Chappell Music". June 13, 2013 – via Scribd.com.
Jump up ^ "Case docket: Rupa Marya v. Warner Chappell Music Inc". archive.org. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
Jump up ^ Notice of Voluntary Dismissal, Good Morning To You Productions Corp. v. Warner/Chappell Music, Docket No. 1:13-cv-04040 (S.D.N.Y. filed July 26, 2013).
Jump up ^ Third Amended Consolidated Complaint, Good Morning to You Productions Corp. v. Warner/Chappell Music, Docket No. 2:13-cv-04460 (C.D. Cal. November 6, 2013).
Jump up ^ Masnick, Mike (September 3, 2013). "Warner Music Reprising the Role of the Evil Slayer of the Public Domain, Fights Back Against Happy Birthday Lawsuit". Techdirt.
Jump up ^ Johnson, Ted (October 7, 2013). "Court Keeps Candles Lit on Dispute Over 'Happy Birthday' Copyright". Variety.
Jump up ^ Dkt. 89 (Joint Report Rule 26(f) Discovery Plan)
Jump up ^ Amended Complaint, Dkt. 75.
Jump up ^ "'Happy Birthday' Lawsuit: 'Smoking Gun' Emerges in Bid to Free World's Most Popular Song". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
Jump up ^ "Warner Lawyers: 1922 Songbook with 'Happy Birthday' Lyrics Wasn't 'Authorized'". Ars Technica. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
^ Jump up to: a b c US District Court CA (2015).
^ Jump up to: a b c Mai-Duc, Christine (September 22, 2015). "'Happy Birthday' Song Copyright Is Not Valid, Judge Rules". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
Jump up ^ Gardner, Eriq (September 22, 2015). "'Happy Birthday' Copyright Ruled to Be Invalid". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
^ Jump up to: a b Hunt, Elle (September 23, 2015). "Happy Birthday Ruled Public Domain as Judge Throws out Copyright Claim". The Guardian. London. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
^ Jump up to: a b Calamur, Krishnadev (September 22, 2015). "Unchained Melody". The Atlantic. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
Jump up ^ US District Court CA (2015), pp. 14-16.
Jump up ^ Mai-Duc, Christine (September 23, 2015). "Filmmaker Picks a Fight with a Corporate Giant and Sets 'Happy Birthday' Free". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
Jump up ^ Quinn, Gordon (May 8, 2009). "Truth and Consequences". On the Media (Transcript). Interview with Bob Garfield. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
Jump up ^ "'Happy Birthday', 'Hoop Dreams', and the Fight for Fair Use". Kartemquin Films. September 22, 2015. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
Jump up ^ Gardner, Eriq (February 9, 2016). "Warner Music Pays $14 Million to End 'Happy Birthday' Copyright Lawsuit". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
Jump up ^ "Happy Birthday: Warner Offers up to $14M to Settle Copyright Dispute". CBC News. February 9, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
Jump up ^ "Documentary About Freeing Happy Birthday From Copyfraud Comes Out The Day After Happy Birthday Officially Declared Public Domain". Techdirt. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
Jump up ^ "'Happy Birthday' Legal Team Turns Attention to 'We Shall Overcome'". Billboard. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
Jump up ^ Farivar, Cyrus (18 June 2016). "Lawyers who yanked 'Happy Birthday' into public domain now sue over 'This Land'". Ars Technica. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
Jump up ^ Bates, Daniel (November 25, 2011). "Happy Birthday Mr President, I'm a Bit Out of Breath: Secret Behind Marilyn Monroe's Most Memorable Moment". The Daily Mail. London. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
Jump up ^ Higham, Nick (December 24, 2000). "Victor Borge: The Great Dane". BBC News. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
Jump up ^ Logan, Brian (March 14, 2012). "Rainer Hersch's Victor Borge". The Guardian (Review). London. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
Jump up ^ "Sports Night "Intellectual Property" Quotes". imdb.com. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
Jump up ^ Dean, Katie (August 30, 2005). "Cash Rescues Eyes on the Prize". Wired. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
Jump up ^ "PBS News: PBS Celebrates Black History Month with an Extensive Lineup of Special Programming" (Press release). PBS. January 10, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
Jump up ^ "Zubin Mehta, Happy Birthday Variation, Symphony" (Video). Retrieved June 6, 2015 – via You Tube.
Jump up ^ "Zubin Mehta Does Variations on 'Happy Birthday'". Best Jon Bon. Retrieved June 6, 2015 – via YouTube.
Jump up ^ "Happy Birthday, Curiosity!". NASA. August 4, 2013. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
Jump up ^ "Stephen Colbert Creates Royalty-Free Alternative to 'Happy Birthday' For 'Happy Birthday's Happy Birthday". Techdirt. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
Jump up ^ "The Stephen Colbert Audience Experience". Worcester Telegram & Gazette. March 10, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
Works cited[edit]
Brauneis, Robert (2010). "Copyright and the World's Most Popular Song". GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1111624. SSRN 1111624  .
"Rupa Marya, et al. v. Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., et al." (PDF). United States District Court for the Central District of California. September 22, 2015. Case Number CV-13-4460-GHK. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
External links[edit]
[hide]
Find more aboutHappy Birthday to Youat Wikipedia's sister projects
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Learning resources from Wikiversity
Free sheet music of Happy Birthday to You from Cantorion.org
The original edition of Song Stories For The Kindergarten in PDF (public domain). It contains the song "Good morning to you".
The Happy Birthday Song and The Little Loomhouse
"Happy Birthday" at MusicBrainz (information and list of recordings)
Mars rover Curiosity plays "Happy Birthday" to itself on YouTube in 2013
The Happy Birthday Song provides access to the "Good Morning and Birthday Song" from the 1927 edition of The Everyday Song Book held by the University of Pittsburgh Library System.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Happy_Birthday_to_You&oldid=804361760"
Categories:
1912 songs
American songs
Birthdays
Copyright infringement
Folk songs
History of Louisville, Kentucky
Public domain music
Hidden categories:
Wikipedia pending changes protected pages (level 1)
Use mdy dates from February 2016
Pages using deprecated image syntax
All articles with unsourced statements
Articles with unsourced statements from September 2017
Articles with too many examples
Articles with unsourced statements from April 2016
MusicBrainz work same as Wikidata
Articles with MusicBrainz work links
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Languages
العربية
Azərbaycanca
বাংলা
Bân-lâm-gú
Català
Čeština
Cymraeg
Deutsch
Ελληνικά
Español
Esperanto
Euskara
فارسی
Français
Galego
客家語/Hak-kâ-ngî
한국어
Հայերեն
हिन्दी
Bahasa Indonesia
Italiano
עברית
Latviešu
Magyar
മലയാളം
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk
Polski
Português
Русский
සිංහල
Slovenčina
Suomi
Svenska
தமிழ்
తెలుగు
ไทย
Türkçe
Українська
اردو
Tiếng Việt
Walon
Winaray
中文
Edit links
This page was last edited on 8 October 2017, at 14:07.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

attrs: id class style

attrs: alt src width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values: Page protected with pending changes level 1

attrs: href title

values: All edits by unregistered and new users are subject to review prior to becoming visible to unregistered users

attrs: class id

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

attrs: class src alt title

values: Changes must be reviewed before being displayed on this page.

attrs: id class src style alt

attrs: class href

value: i

attrs: id style class

values: flaggedrevs_short flaggedrevs_stable_synced plainlinks noprint nomobile

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

attrs: role class

values:
note
hatnote navigation-not-searchable

attrs: href class title

values: Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

values: \relative c' { \key f \major \time 3/4 \partial 4 c8. c16 | d4 c f | e2 c8. c16 | d4 c g' | f2 c8. c16 | c'4 a f | e( d) bes'8. bes16 | a4 f g | f2 \bar "|." } \addlyrics { Hap -- py birth -- day to you, Hap -- py birth -- day to you, Hap -- py birth -- day dear [NAME], __ Hap -- py birth -- day to you. }

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (September 2017)

values:
noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact
white-space:nowrap;

values: position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 110px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; height: 0px; width: 0px;

values: left: 50%; top: 50%; margin-left: -35px; margin-top: -27.5px;

values: mediaContainer mwPlayerContainer k-player videoHolder

values: width:220px width: 220px; position: relative;

values: C.C. Birchard & Company (page does not exist)

values: Birch Tree Group Limited (page does not exist)

values: United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

values:
/wiki/Central_District_of_California
mw-redirect
Central District of California

values:
plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content
presentation

values:
/wiki/U.S._President
mw-redirect
U.S. President

values:
/wiki/Moonlight_Sonata
mw-redirect
Moonlight Sonata

values: Parallels (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (April 2016)

values:
/wiki/Civil_Rights_Movement
mw-redirect
Civil Rights Movement

values:
/wiki/Public_Broadcasting_Service
mw-redirect
Public Broadcasting Service

values:
/wiki/Western_Classical_music
mw-redirect
Western Classical music

values:
/wiki/Curiosity_rover
mw-redirect
Curiosity rover

values: display:table-cell;padding:0.2em 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em;vertical-align:middle

values: margin:0.5em 0 0.5em 1em;border:solid #aaa 1px

values:
nofollow
http://www.slate.com/id/2298271/
external text

values:
/wiki/Slate_magazine
mw-redirect
Slate magazine

values:
nofollow
external text
http://laws.findlaw.com/us/537/186.html

values:
nofollow
external text
//ssrn.com/abstract=1111624

attrs: alt src title width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.2139%2Fssrn.1111624

values:
/wiki/The_Daily_Mail
mw-redirect
The Daily Mail

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;

values: clear: both; padding-bottom: 0.75em; text-align: center;

attrs: alt src width height style srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values: display: inline-block; width: 31px; line-height: 31px; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;

values: display: inline-block; margin-left: 4px; width: 182px; vertical-align: middle;

values: border-top:1px solid #aaa; padding-top: 0.75em;

values: metadata plainlinks plainlist mbox-small mw-collapsible

values: border:1px solid #aaa; padding:0.75em; background:#f9f9f9;

values: Category:History of Louisville, Kentucky

values: Category:Wikipedia pending changes protected pages (level 1)

values: Category:Use mdy dates from February 2016

values: Category:Pages using deprecated image syntax

values: Category:All articles with unsourced statements

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from September 2017

values: Category:Articles with too many examples

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from April 2016

values: Category:MusicBrainz work same as Wikidata

values: Category:Articles with MusicBrainz work links

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/Happy_Birthday_to_You
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: عيد ميلاد سعيد – Arabic

values: হ্যাপি বার্থডে টু ইউ – Bangla

values: Chiok Lí Seⁿ-ji̍t Khoài-lo̍k – Chinese (Min Nan)

values: تولد شما مبارک – Persian

values: Chuk Ngì Sâng-ngit Khoai-lo̍k – Hakka Chinese

values: 생일 축하합니다 – Korean

values: हैप्पी बर्थ डे टू यू – Hindi

values: יום הולדת שמח – Hebrew

values: ഹാപ്പി ബർത്ത്ഡേ റ്റു യു – Malayalam

values: ハッピーバースデートゥーユー – Japanese

values: interlanguage-link interwiki-ru badge-Q17559452 badge-recommendedarticle

values: හැපි බර්ත්ඩේ ටු යූ – Sinhala

values: ஏப்பி பர்த்டே டூ யூ – Tamil

values: హ్యాపీ బర్త్‌డే టూ యూ – Telugu

values: แฮปปีเบิร์ธเดย์ทูยู – Thai

values: ہیپی برتھ ڈے ٹو یو – Urdu

values: 祝你生日快乐 – Chinese

values:
suggestions
display: none; font-size: 13px;

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Happy_Birthday_to_You rootpage-Happy_Birthday_to_You vector-nav-directionality skin-vector action-view