Geography
The Federative Republic of Brazil is continental South America's largest country having borders with every other South American nation except Chile and Ecuador. Those countries bordering Brazil are Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. Brazil's land area of over 8.5 million square kilometres (3.3 million square miles) makes it the fifth largest nation in the world after Russia, Canada, China and the United States of America.

Brasilia is the capital city and the seat of Federal Government and is situated at an average altitude of 1,100 metres (3,500 feet) above sea level and about 1,100 Km (680 miles) from Brazil's best known city, Rio de Janeiro, on the coast. Other major cities include Manaus, Recife, Santos and Sao Paulo, the third largest in the world with a population of over 20 million.

As Brazil is based on relatively stable continental crust, much of the country is below 500 metres (1,700 feet) and there is little or no volcanic or seismic activity. There are three key elements to the physical geography of Brazil: the low lying Amazon basin and Pantanal wetlands in the North and North West of the country; a rolling central plateau where the capital Brasilia is found and rugged hills and mountains in the south and along the Atlantic coast - the Brazilian Highlands near Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo where the highest point in Brazil can be found, the Pico de Neblina at 3,000 metres (9,900 feet). Over 66% of Brazil's land surface is still covered by forest.

The climate varies according to the terrain and latitude. Being in the Southern Hemisphere, Brazil has its winter from June to August. The Amazon basin has a tropical climate with high temperatures, rainfall and humidity.The Brazilian Highlands in the South and South East along the Atlantic coast are cooler and drier, having frequent frosts and snow. The central plateau is more temperate and contains rolling grasslands like the Pampas of Argentina, although it can still snow and some regions are also classed as sub-tropical.

Environment
The flora and fauna of Brazil are as diverse as its geography. Brazil has the highest number of species of primates, amphibians and plants in the world, and is in the top five in the world for number of birds and reptile species. Much of this biodiversity is due to the Amazon basin with its dense tropical rainforests and the Pantanal wetlands.

The rainforests support the highest concentration of different species in Brazil. Whilst appearing monotonous, a typical acre of rainforest will support around 250 species of tree, compared with around 10 species an acre in typical forests in Europe. In a constant fierce competition for light, canopies form a roof over the rainforests, allowing little light to penetrate below, resulting in little plant and animal life on the forest floor. In addition to the huge number of tree species, orchids and lianas live in the canopies, using trees as their anchors and as sources of nutrients. Cacti live in the more arid areas of Brazil.

The canopy also supports huge populations of birds, including Toucans and Macaws, mammals, including monkeys and bats, invertebrates, most notably butterflies and beetles, amphibians - especially the brightly coloured tree frogs - and reptiles like anacondas and boa constrictors. Breaks in the canopy along river courses host colonies of crocodiles and capybaras whilst the rivers themselves have over 1,500 identified fish species, manatees, pink freshwater dolphins and the world's largest freshwater turtles. Jaguars prey on the birds and larger mammals.

Architecture
Little remains of the architecture of pre-colonial Brazil. Megaliths, or standing stones in rings, have been discovered in the hills of southern Brazil, which bear striking resemblance to the Celtic relics found in Europe. The oldest remaining buildings include ruins of medieval style hill forts, essentially glorified trading posts, from around 1530 onwards. Older settlements were thought to be constructed from daub and wattle style or palm thatch.

The greatest influence on the 16th and 17th century buildings was from Portugal and the Jesuit missionaries, mainly preserved as churches and monasteries. As mining settlements grew in the interior churches and monasteries were built inland, such as Ouro Preto the old colonial capital of Minas Gerais province. Examples of Jesuit missions also survive in Brazil. These architectural styles persisted until the late 18th century. Early 19th century Brazilian architecture followed the early Neoclassical style then in vogue in Lisbon. Late 19th and early 20th century building closely followed the French styles.

During the 20th century Brazil's architecture has evolved its own style, whilst still drawing from major 20th century innovators like Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. Possibly the greatest example of 20th century architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture was the creation of Brasilia, the new capital from 1960. Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian born and having worked with Le Corbusier, was responsible for many of the great buildings in Brasilia. Another important architect in the late 20th century is Linda Bo Bardi, Italian born, whose works include the Museum of Art in Sao Paolo.

Population
The population of Brazil was 184,101,109 in July 2004. Given the colonial history of Brazil, there is a rich ethnic mix of white (mainly of European, mostly Portuguese origin) 55%, mixed white and black, or mulattos 38%, black 6% and the remaining 1% Amerindian (Indian), South East Asian or Arab in origin. With the exception of the Indian population, Brazilians consider themselves as one people with a single culture. This unusual assimilation of such diverse ethnic groups has been attributed to Brazil's colonial and immediate post-colonial history with the more recent distinctly and uniquely Brazilian cultural ties of music and dance, religion and sport in the form of football and Formula 1 motor racing.

Despite its huge land area, it is estimated that at the time of the 1996 census, 80% of the population lived in cities. Fourteen Brazilian cities have populations of over 1 million, and São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are two of the world's largest cities with populations of more than 20 million and 12 million respectively.

The population growth rate has slowed considerably in the 30 years. In the 1960s and early 1970s the average Brazilian woman had 6.4 children and now are estimated to have 2.3 children.

Languages
Portuguese is the official language of Brazil. English, French and Spanish are also spoken, but English is Brazil's second language. Brazil is unusual in being South America's only non-Spanish speaking country, a legacy of the Portuguese colonial past.

The Brazilian Indians also have a rich linguistic heritage, although a fraction of what they had 500 years ago when the first Portuguese explorers arrived. Researchers estimate that over 1,000 Indian languages were spoken in the 15th century and before. This total is believed to have been reduced to around 170 languages spoken by the 200 or so tribes now in existence.

Religion
The early European settlers were overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. Jesuit missionaries who arrived during the period of Portuguese and Spanish union attempted to educate and convert the Indian population. The influx of African slaves during the 16th century and their contact with the Indians led to hybrid beliefs drawing from African, Brazilian Indian and Catholic cult known as the catimbo. The African slaves continued to worship their own gods in the guise of Catholic saints.

The 20th century has seen predominantly fundamentalist protestant missionaries gaining converts, the "crente" as the Brazilian protestant is known. In 1960, 90% of Brazilians gave Roman Catholicism as their religion. By the early 1990s this had dropped to just over 70% with only an estimated 10 million attending Mass regularly, although Brazil is the world's largest Roman Catholic country.

Food
Brazilian cuisine is heavily influenced by the huge range of foodstuffs available. Whilst European and North American diets heavily depend on a relatively small range of grains, root vegetables, fruits and pulses, agriculture in Brazil produces a wide variety of beans, root, vegetables and tropical fruit. The kiwi is the only new fruit to have become popular in the West over the past century, whereas the Amazon region alone offers tropical fruits like acai, bacuri, caju, cupaucu, muruci, graviola and genipapo. Meals are very much social occasions and part of the culture in Brazil, rather than a process of fuelling the body. The long Moorish occupation of Portugal has led to some North African style of cuisine being introduced by Portuguese colonists.

Given that one of Brazil's major exports is still coffee, it is no surprise that coffee is the most popular beverage, called cafezinho. The huge range of tropical fruits also results in a large range of fruit juices being available at road side juice bars. Brazil also has a wine industry mainly in the south where the climate is better suited to growing grapes, although there is some wine production in the west

 

Geografie .Het landschap
Brazilië heeft twee typen landschappen. Het zuiden en midden is een grote hoogvlakte met afgetopte tafelbergen en ligt hoog boven de zeespiegel, tot drieduizend meter. Bekender is de Amazone laagvlakte.
Rivieren
Brazilië is een land doorsneden met rivieren. De bekendste rivier is de Rio São Francisco, 3161 kilometer lang. Deze rivier ontspringt in centraal Brazilië en mondt uit in de Atlantische oceaan. De Rio Amazones is een hoofdader in het Amazone riviergebied. Deze rivier mondt uit bij Belem in de Atlantische oceaan, 7025 kilometer vanaf de eerste bron in Peru. In de regentijd kan deze rivier 36 kilometer breed worden.
Klimaat
Brazilië is groot en dus zijn er verschillen in klimaat. De evenaar loopt door de noordelijke Amazone. Dat gebied is tropisch warm, ook in de regentijd. Het noordoosten is ook tropisch warm, maar erg droog. De centrale hooglanden kennen een subtropisch, gematigd klimaat met een gemiddelde temperatuur van 25 graden. In het zuiden is het klimaat te vergelijken met Nederland met gemiddelde temperaturen rond 20 graden en 's winters sneeuw en nachtvorst.
Flora en Fauna
Brazilië is een paradijs voor mensen die belangstelling hebben voor flora en fauna. Vooral het Amazonegebied en de Pantanal zijn gebieden waar ontelbaar veel soorten bomen en planten, zoogdieren, vogels en vissen en vlinders hun thuis hebben. Er zijn dertig nationale parken waar flora en fauna extra bescherming krijgen.
De bevolking
Er zijn welgeteld 155 miljoen Brazilianen. Eigenlijk is dat niet zo nauwkeurig geteld, want er zijn honderdduizenden zwervers die zonder adres en fiscaal nummer naamloos leven en sterven. De bevolking bestaat- in volgorde van opkomst- uit indianen (nog maar ongeveer een procent) en Portugezen die het land gekoloniseerd hebben en daarbij het werk lieten doen door Afrikanen. Deze slaven spelen een hoofdrol in de Braziliaanse cultuur.