The Federal District is almost completely surrounded by the state of Goiás, but it shares a small border with Minas Gerais.

In 1891 the Exploration Commission of the Central Highlands of Brazil was appointed, led by astronomer Luiz Cruls and composed of doctors, geologists and botanists, who made a study on topography, climate, geology, flora, fauna and other material resources of the region of the Central Highlands The area was known as Quadrilateral Cruls and was presented in 1894 to the Republican Government.

In 1956, after being elected to the presidency, JK, on his own initiative, sent a message to Congress proposing the creation of the New Capital Urbanization Company (Novacap).

[5] As a result, Novacap, a public company, was given the task of planning and executing the construction of the federal capital in the region delimited by General José Pessoa.

After a public competition to select the city's pilot plan, a judging committee chose the urban design by architect Lúcio Costa, which was unanimously approved by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

[6][7] This also made the name Brasília official, as well as the choice of Oscar Niemeyer as architect and Joaquim Cardozo as structural engineer.

The Bandeirante Nucleus was then formed, with candangos (workers who worked on the construction of Brasília, initially from Goiás, Minas Gerais and mainly the Northeast).

The Federal District is located in the Brazilian Highlands, having an altitude between 600 and 1,100 meters above sea level, with its highest point being the Pico do Roncador, in Serra do Sobradinho.

[14][15] In area, the Federal District is more than double the size of Tokyo (Japan) or the island of Maui (Hawaii, United States).

Comparing dry land areas, it is slightly larger than French Polynesia, the US State of Rhode Island, or Cape Verde.

During the dry season (winter), the humidity can reach very low level with dangerous fire risks, mainly during the peak hours of the hottest days.

The artificial Paranoá Lake, with almost 40 km2 (15 sq mi) and 500 million cubic metres (410,000 acre⋅ft) of water, was built to minimize the severe drought and consequent flammability of the dry season in the cerrado region.

It includes landscape works of Burle Marx, and wall tiles that decorate restrooms in the park designed by Athos Bulcão.

The pillars evoke reversed praying hands that deconstruct the gothic traditional church window pattern, but conserves the triangular vaginal shape of the stained-glasses.

Praça dos Três Poderes concentrates some of the most important and significant buildings in the work and career of Oscar Niemeyer — the Planalto Palace, headquarters of Brazilian Presidency; the National Congress, hosting the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate; and the Higher Courts of Justice.

The Square also hosts: the Panteão da Pátria (Pantheon of the Fatherland), the Lúcio Costa Space and three important sculptures — "Pombal", by Niemeyer; "Justice", by Alfredo Ceschiatti; and "Os Candangos", by Bruno Giorgi.

The third floor of the main building, with 12 thousand square meters, has a panoramic deck, a food court, shops, four movie theaters with total capacity of 500 people, and space for exhibitions.

Águas Claras is well served by the metro, making it one of the fastest growing areas and the most dense in the Federal District.

The Federal District is home to two nationally-recognized football clubs: Brasiliense Futebol Clube (from Taguatinga) and Sociedade Esportiva do Gama (or simply Gama), both of which have played in the first division of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the best result in their history being Brasiliense's runner-up finish in the 2002 edition of the Copa do Brasil.

[31] In the Federal District, the city of Brasília is the site of the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet, which hosted a non-championship round of the 1974 Formula One Grand Prix season.

The four yellow arrows symbolize the native nations of Brazil, whereas their pointing into the four cardinal directions of the compass stands for the centralized emanating political power of Brasília, as the capital of the country.