Brazil
Edited by:
Massimo Martini
Access
Brazil can be reached from Europe by air with direct flights from Lisbon, Madrid, London, Paris, Frankfurt and Milan to the Guarulhos International Airport (São Paulo) and to the Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport (Rio de Janeiro); flights with stopovers serve Brasilia, Manaus, Belém, Recife, Fortaleza and Salvador. The internal airport network is well developed, which is necessary for long distances: from São Paulo to Manaus it is about 3,000 km. The main land connections with neighbouring countries cross remote borders: with Argentina at Foz do Iguaçu-Puerto Iguazú, with Uruguay at Santana do Livramento-Rivera, with Paraguay at the Bridge of Fraternity between Foz do Iguaçu and Ciudad del Este. The borders with Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia cross areas of Amazon rainforest with difficult access. Intercity transport is mainly by bus over huge distances; the railway system is limited. For the Amazon, the main access centres are Manaus (which can be reached by plane or boat on the Amazon).
.Introduction
Brazil is the largest country in South America and the fifth largest in the world at 8.5 million km². It is the most populous Portuguese-speaking country in the world and the largest in Latin America. It borders all South American countries except Chile and Ecuador. The territory is dominated by the Amazon basin - the largest rainforest in the world, covering about 40% of the country - and the Brazilian plateau in the centre-east. The highest peaks are in the north on the border with Venezuela (Pico da Neblina, 2,994m) and in the Serra da Mantiqueira massif between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The Iguazú Falls on the border with Argentina and Paraguay have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986. Brazil's cultural diversity, the result of the mixing of indigenous peoples, Portuguese colonisers and African slaves, has produced unique artistic expressions - from carnival to samba, bossa nova and the muralist school.
Description
The Brazilian territory is structured into six large geographical regions. The north includes the Amazon basin, the world's largest tropical forest with over 6 million km²; the great biological diversity makes it one of the richest ecosystems on the planet, but progressive deforestation - with over 700,000 km² lost since the 1970s - is one of the major global environmental crises. The Guayana massif, in the north on the border with Venezuela and Suriname, is home to the Pico da Neblina (2,994m), Brazil's highest peak, which is only accessible with special permits in Yanomami territory and weeks of river navigation. The North-East is the semi-desert region of Sertão, with a history of drought and structural poverty, and Caribbean coasts with white sandy beaches. The Centre-West comprises the Cerrado - the Brazilian savannah, the second largest biome after the Amazon - and the Pantanal, the largest wetland in the world (UNESCO 2000) with over 150,000 km² of seasonal swamps rich in fauna. The south-east is the economic heart of the country, with São Paulo - the largest metropolis in the southern hemisphere - and Rio de Janeiro; the Serra da Mantiqueira is home to the Serra dos Órgãos with vertical rock formations (the Dedo de Deus, 1,692m) and the Serra do Itatiaia with the Pico das Agulhas Negras (2,787m), the second highest in the south of the country. The south is a region of European influence, with Iguazú on the border with Argentina and Paraguay.
Brazil was inhabited before the arrival of Europeans by hundreds of indigenous peoples; an estimated pre-colonial population of 2-5 million. Pedro Álvares Cabral touched the coast in 1500. Portuguese colonisation initially exploited pau-brasil wood, then introduced sugar cane plantations, fuelled by the slave trade from sub-Saharan Africa: it is estimated that Brazil received more than 4 million slaves between 1500 and 1888, more than any other country in the world. The transfer of the Portuguese court to Rio de Janeiro in 1808 - fleeing from Napoleon - and the subsequent independence in 1822 under Emperor Pedro I characterise the history of Brazil as the only case of an autonomous monarchy in Latin America. The abolition of slavery in 1888 led to the proclamation of the Republic the following year. The Brazilian 20th century was marked by the Getúlio Vargas presidency (1930-1954), the construction of Brasilia as the new capital in 1960, the military dictatorship (1964-1985) and the return to democracy with the 1988 Constitution. The Brazil of Lula and then Dilma Rousseff experienced a strong reduction in poverty with the Bolsa Família programmes; the Bolsonaro presidency (2019-2022) has seen deforestation of the Amazon increase to record levels.
The Brazilian economy is the first in Latin America and the ninth in the world by GDP. It is based on agro-industry (the world's leading exporter of soya, beef, orange juice, coffee, cane sugar, corn), mining (bauxite, iron, gold, nickel, manganese), manufacturing and oil (Petrobras is among the world's largest oil companies). São Paulo is the financial and industrial centre. Brazilian cuisine varies enormously by region: feijoada (black bean stew with pork) is the national dish; churrasco is the gastronomic tradition of the South; açaí, tapioca and maniçoba are typical of the North.
Brazil is home to 22 UNESCO sites, including the Iguazú Falls (1986), the Pantanal (2000), the Parque Nacional Serra da Capivara in Piauí (with 25,000-year-old cave paintings, 1991), the Parque Nacional do Iguaçu (1986), the Parque Nacional de la Serra Atlantica (1999), and the historic centres of Salvador, São Luís, Olinda and Goiás. The national park system includes the Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina (Bahia), the Parque Nacional Lençóis Maranhenses (white sand dunes with seasonal lagoons) and the Parque Nacional da Serra Gaúcha. The fauna is extraordinarily rich: the jaguar (Panthera onca), the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris), the anaconda (Eunectes murinus), the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), thearara azul (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) - the world's largest parrot - and the toucan (Ramphastidae spp.) are among the most iconic species.
Mountaineering in Brazil is mainly practised in the mountainous regions of the south-east. The Serra dos Órgãos and the Serra do Itatiaia, in the state of Rio de Janeiro and on the border with Minas Gerais, offer granite climbing routes and Brazilian high-altitude trekking; the Pico das Agulhas Negras (2,787m) and the Pico da Bandeira (2,892m, in Espírito Santo) are the highest points in southern Brazil. Access to Pico da Neblina requires planning months in advance, FUNAI/ICMBio permits and Yanomami guides.
Trail running is highly developed in Brazil, with international events in all biomes: the Ultratrail do Pantanal, the Maratona do Rio, the Serra Gaúcha Trail, the Chapada dos Veadeiros Ultra Trail and the Trilha dos Diamantes in Minas Gerais
.Information
General Data
Capital: Brasilia
Area: 8.510,418 km²
Minimum elevation: 0m (Atlantic coast)
Maximum elevation: 2,994m - Pico da Neblina [to be verified slug]
Number of inhabitants: 203,081.000 (2022 census)
Official name: República Federativa do Brasil
Name of inhabitants: Brazilians
Border countries: Venezuela - Guyana - Suriname - Colombia - Peru - Bolivia - Paraguay - Argentina - Uruguay - French Guiana
Institutional site: https://www.gov.br