.com.br Brazil Country Information Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is a country in South America. It is the fifth-largest country by geographical area, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. The official language is Portuguese. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion.
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of over 7,367 kilometers (4577 miles). Brazil borders every nation on the South American continent except Ecuador and Chile: Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and the department of French Guiana are to the north, Colombia to the northwest, Bolivia and Peru to the west, Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest, and Uruguay to the south. Numerous archipelagos are part of the Brazilian territory, such as Penedos de São Pedro e São Paulo, Fernando de Noronha, Trindade and Martim Vaz and Atol das Rocas.
Brazil is crossed by both the Equator and Tropic of Capricorn, and as such is home to a vast array of flora and fauna, natural environments, and extensive natural resources. The Brazilian population is concentrated along the coastline and in a few large urban centers in the interior. While Brazil is one of the most populous nations in the world, population density drops dramatically as one moves inland.
Brazil was a colony of Portugal from its discovery by Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until its independence in 1822. Initially independent as the Brazilian Empire, the country has been a republic since 1889, although the bicameral legislature (now called Congress) dates back to 1824, when the first constitution was ratified. Its current Constitution defines Brazil as a Federative Republic. The Federation is formed by the indissoluble association of the States, the Federal District, and the Municipalities. There are currently 26 States and 5,564 Municipalities.
One of the ten largest economies in the world, the country has a diversified middle-income economy with wide variations in development levels and mature manufacturing, mining and agriculture sectors. Technology and services also play an important role and are growing rapidly. Brazil is a net exporter, having gone through free trade and privatization reforms in the 1990s. 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 (3,265,076 sq mi) of land and 55,455 km² (21,411 sq mi) of water. Brazil is bordered by the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. It spans four time zones, the westernmost of which, in Acre State, is the same as Eastern Standard Time in the United States. The time zone of the capital (Brasilia) and of the most populated part of Brazil along the east coast 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 has one of the world's most extensive river systems, with eight major drainage basins, all of which drain into the Atlantic Ocean. Major rivers include the Amazon, the largest river in terms of volume of water, and the second-longest in the world; the Paraná and its major tributary, the Iguaçu River, where the Iguaçu Falls are located; the Negro, São Francisco, Xingu, Madeira and the Tapajós rivers. Several small islands and atolls in the Atlantic Ocean are part of Brazil: Abrolhos, Atol das Rocas, Penedos de São Pedro e São Paulo, and Trindade and Martim Vaz.
Brazilian topography is diverse, including hills, mountains, plains, highlands, scrublands, savannas, rainforests, and a long coastline. The extensive low-lying Amazon Rainforest covers most of Brazils terrain in the North, whereas small hills and low mountains occupy the South. Along the Atlantic coast there are several mountain ranges, with a highest altitude of roughly 2,900 meters (9,500 feet (2,900 m)). The highest peak is the 3,014 metres (9,890 ft) Pico da Neblina (Peak of Mist/Fog or Misty Peak) in Guiana's highlands.
Climate
Catarina, the first hurricane in the South Atlantic Ocean.Brazil's climate has little seasonal variation since most of the country is located within the tropics. However, although 90% of the country is located within the tropical zone, year-long climate 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, with averages above 25 °C (77 °F), and occasionally reaching the summer extremes of up to 40 °C (104 °F) in the temperate zones. Southern Brazil has a subtropical temperate weather, normally experiencing frost in the winter (June-August), and snowfall in the mountainous areas, such as Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. Precipitation levels vary widely. They are higher in the humid Amazon Basin, and lower in the somewhat arid landscapes of the northeast. Most of Brazil has moderate rainfall of 1,000 to 1,500 millimeters a year, with most of the rain falling in the summer (between December and April), south of the Equator. The Amazon region is notoriously humid, with rainfall generally of more than 2,000 millimeters per year, getting as high as 3,000 millimeters in parts of the western Amazon and near Belém. 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.
Wildlife
The Toco Toucan is a typical animal of the Brazilian rain forests.Main article: Wildlife of Brazil
Brazil's large area comprises different ecosystems, such as Amazon Rainforest, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado, which together sustain some of the world's greatest biodiversity. Because of the country's intense economic and demographic growth, Brazil's ability to protect its environmental habitats has increasingly come under threat. Extensive logging in the nation's forests, particularly the Amazon, both official and unofficial, destroys areas the size of a small country each year, and potentially a diverse variety of plants and animals. Brazil's environment is under threat because of the rapid economic and demographic rise. Extensive legal and illegal logging destroys forests the size of a small country per year, and with it a diverse series of species through habitat destruction and habitat fragmentation. Between 2002 and 2006, an area of the Amazon Rainforest equivalent in size to the State of South Carolina was completely deforested for the purposes of raising cattle and wood logging. By 2020, at least 50% of the species resident in Brazil may become extinct.
There is a general consensus that Brazil has the highest number of both terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates of any single country in the world. Also, Brazil has the highest primate diversity, the highest number of mammals, the second highest number of amphibians and butterflies, the third highest number of birds, and fifth highest number of reptiles. There is a high number of endangered species, many of them living in threatened habitats such as the Atlantic Forest.
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