14/12/2022, 21:16 Brazil | History, Map, Culture, Population, & Facts | Britannica

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Alternate titles: Brasil, Federative Republic of Brazil, República Federativa do Brasil
By E. Bradford Burns See All • Last Updated: Dec 12, 2022 • Edit History
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flag of Brazil

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Audio File: National anthem of Brazil

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Head Of State And Government: President: Jair Bolsonaro
Capital: Brasília
Population: (2022 est.) 214,891,000
Currency Exchange Rate: 1 USD equals 5.242 Brazilian real
Form Of Government: multiparty federal republic with two legislative houses (Federal Senate [81]; Chamber of
Deputies [513]) ...(Show more)
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Recent News
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14/12/2022, 21:16 Brazil | History, Map, Culture, Population, & Facts | Britannica
Oct. 3, 2022, 10:06 AM ET - Former president and leftist icon Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva won a narrow victory  over far-
right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the first round of voting in Brazil’s presidential election October 2, but because neither
candidate captured more than 50 percent of the vote, they will meet again in a runoff on October 30. Lula claimed 48.4
percent of the vote, compared with 43.2 percent for Bolsonaro. The remainder was divided between nine other
candidates.
Summary
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Brazil, officially Federative Republic of Brazil, Portuguese República Federativa do Brasil,

country of South America that occupies half the continent’s landmass. It is the fifth largest country in
the world, exceeded in size only by Russia, Canada, China, and the United States, though its area is
greater than that of the 48 conterminous U.S. states. Brazil faces the Atlantic Ocean along 4,600
miles (7,400 km) of coastline and shares more than 9,750 miles (15,700 km) of inland borders with
every South American country except Chile and Ecuador—specifically, Uruguay to the south;
Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia to the southwest; Peru to the west; Colombia to the northwest; and
Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana to the north. Brazil stretches roughly 2,700 miles
(4,350 km) from north to south and from east to west to form a vast irregular triangle that
encompasses a wide range of tropical and subtropical landscapes, including wetlands, savannas,
plateaus, and low mountains. Brazil contains most of the Amazon River basin, which has the world’s
largest river system and the world’s most-extensive virgin rainforest. The country contains no desert,
high-mountain, or arctic environments.

Brazil is the fifth most-populous country on Earth and accounts for one-third of Latin America’s
population. Most of the inhabitants of Brazil are concentrated along the eastern seaboard, although
its capital, Brasília, is located far inland and increasing numbers of migrants are moving to the
interior. Rio de Janeiro, in the eyes of many of the world, continues to be the preeminent icon of
Brazil. The nation’s burgeoning cities, huge hydroelectric and industrial complexes, mines, and
fertile farmlands make it one of the world’s major economies. However, Brazil struggles with
extreme social inequalities, environmental degradation, intermittent financial crises, and a
sometimes deadlocked political system.

Brazil is unique in the Americas because, following independence from Portugal, it did not fragment
into separate countries as did British and Spanish possessions in the region; rather, it retained its
identity through the intervening centuries and a variety of forms of government. Because of that
hegemony, the Portuguese language is universal except among Brazil’s native Indians, especially
those in the more-remote reaches of the Amazon basin. At the turn of the 21st century, Brazilians
marked the 500th anniversary of Portuguese contact with a mixture of public celebration and
deprecation.

Ronald Milton Schneider

The land

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Physical features of Brazil

The Brazilian landscape is immense and complex, with interspersed rivers, wetlands, mountains,
and plateaus adjoining other major features and traversing the boundaries of states and regions.

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Geographic regions
The Brazilian government has grouped the country’s states into five large geographic and statistical
units called the Major Regions (Grandes Regiões): North (Norte), Northeast (Nordeste), Central-
West (Centro-Oeste), Southeast (Sudeste), and South (Sul). The tropical North—comprising the
states of Acre, Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Roraima, and Amapá—covers more than two-
fifths of Brazilian territory and includes the largest portion of Amazon rainforest and parts of the
Guiana and Brazilian highlands; however, the region accounts for a limited proportion of the
nation’s population and economic output.

The Northeast, which experiences some of the nation’s driest and hottest conditions, has nearly one-
fifth of Brazil’s land area and more than one-fourth of the population. It contains the states of
Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahia, and Pernambuco,
the latter including the island of Fernando de Noronha, some 225 miles (360 km) off the Atlantic
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coast. The region’s oldest cities date from the 16th century, when the Portuguese first established
sugarcane plantations there. The Northeast accounts for one-fifth of the nation’s agricultural
production, but the industrial and service sectors lag far behind those of the Southeast and South,
and the unemployment rate remains high.

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The Southeast covers only one-tenth of Brazil’s territory but has two-fifths of its population and the
greatest concentration of industrial and agricultural production in the nation. The region includes
São Paulo state, which is the nation’s economic and demographic heartland, landlocked Minas
Gerais, whose very name (meaning “Extensive Mines”) testifies to great mineral wealth, and the
populous coastal states of Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro. The city of Rio de Janeiro, the national
capital from 1763 to 1960, remains Brazil’s main cultural and tourist centre.

The South, which stretches below the Tropic of Capricorn, includes the states of Paraná, Santa
Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul. It occupies an area nearly as large as the isle of Britain but is the
smallest of Brazil’s regions. Its diversified economy includes strong manufacturing, agriculture, and
service sectors. The South has about one-seventh of the nation’s population, including many people
of European ancestry, particularly from Germany and Italy. The South’s tourist trade partly depends
on the spectacular Iguaçu Falls, at the Argentine border.

The Central-West consists of the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul, as well as the
Federal District, in which Brasília is located. The region covers roughly one-fourth of Brazil,
including forested valleys, semiarid highlands, and vast wetlands. A small proportion of the nation’s
population lives there, but an increasing number of settlers have been moving into the region and
extending its agricultural frontiers.

Relief
Brazil is a predominantly tropical country famous for its extensive Amazon lowlands; however,
highlands cover most of the national territory. Brazil’s physical features can be grouped into five
main physiographic divisions: the Guiana Highlands in the North, the Amazon lowlands, the
Pantanal in the Central-West, the Brazilian Highlands (including the extensive coastal ranges), and
the coastal lowlands.

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Guiana Highlands
Brazil shares the rugged Guiana Highlands with Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.
Forested mesas and mountain ranges, scenic waterfalls, and white-water rivers characterize the area.
The highest point in Brazil is Neblina Peak, which reaches 9,888 feet (3,014 metres) along the
Venezuelan border in the Serra do Imeri. The Serra da Pacaraima, farther east, rises to 9,094 feet
(2,772 metres) at Mount Roraima, where the borders of Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil meet. The
less rugged Acaraí and Tumuc-Humac (Tumucumaque) ranges border on the Guianas.

Amazon lowlands
The Amazon lowlands are widest along the eastern base of the Andes. They narrow toward the east
until, downstream of Manaus, only a narrow ribbon of annually flooded plains (várzeas) separates
the Guiana Highlands to the north from the Brazilian Highlands to the south. The várzeas fan out
again as the watercourse approaches the Atlantic, but no delta extends into the ocean. The basin’s
most widespread topographical features are gently undulating hills called terra firme (“solid
ground”), composed of layers of alluvial soil that were deposited as much as 2.5 million years ago
and subsequently uplifted to positions above flood level. Shallow oxbow lakes and wetlands are
found throughout the region.

Pantanal
The immense Pantanal, an extension of the Gran Chaco plain, is a region of swamps and marshes in
northwestern Mato Grosso do Sul and southern Mato Grosso states and, to a lesser extent, in
northern Paraguay and eastern Bolivia; it is one of the largest freshwater wetlands in the world,
covering some 54,000 square miles (140,000 square km). The Pantanal is dissected by the effluents
of the upper Paraguay River, which overflows its banks during the rainy season, inundating all but
the tops of scattered levees and low hills. (See also Drainage.)

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