Brasília (bräzēl`yä), capital city and federal district of Brazil (2,264 sq mi/5,864 sq km; 1996 pop. 1,817,001), an enclave in the southwest of Goiás state.Inaugurated in 1960, it is situated in the highlands of central Brazil, and its ultramodern public buildings (designed by Oscar Niemeyer Soares Niemeyer Soares, Oscar, 1907–2012, Brazil’s foremost 20th-century architect, b.

