Brazil << bruh ZIHL >> is the largest country in South America in both area and population. It occupies almost half the continent and has about as many people as all other South American nations combined. Brazil ranks fifth worldwide in area and seventh in population.
Brazil has a varied landscape. The world’s largest tropical rain forest sprawls across much of the north. The mighty Amazon and other enormous rivers wind through this vast green area of towering trees and steamy jungles. Cloud-capped mountains rise north of the forests and border the Atlantic Ocean in the southeast. Dry plains extend across parts of northeastern Brazil. The low plateaus of central and southern Brazil have fertile farmlands and lush grazing areas. Broad, white beaches line glistening seashores on the nation’s long Atlantic coast.
The forests, rivers, and mountains of Brazil have long hindered travel inland, and the country’s vast interior remains little developed. Most Brazilians live within 200 miles (320 kilometers) of the Atlantic coast. Nearly all of Brazil’s big cities and towns are on or near the coast. One of the largest cities in Brazil’s interior is Brasília. Brasília is also the capital of the country. The city was built about 600 miles (970 kilometers) from the coast to help draw Brazilians inland.
São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are the country’s two largest cities. São Paulo is one of the largest cities in the world in terms of population. This modern, fast-paced urban area is also Brazil’s chief commercial and industrial center. Rio de Janeiro, often called simply Rio, is one of the most densely populated cities in South America. Rio is a major tourist attraction. The city is known throughout the world for its breathtaking coastline, exciting nightclubs, and colorful festivals.
Brazil’s people come from many backgrounds. About half the country’s population are of European ancestry—mostly German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Many other Brazilians are of mixed African and European ancestry, and some are entirely of African descent. Indigenous (native) Brazilians form less than 1 percent of the population.
Rich natural resources have helped make Brazil a growing economic power. Brazil is the world’s largest “coffeepot,” producing about a third of the total coffee crop each year. It also ranks among the world’s leading countries in the production of a wide variety of agricultural items, including bananas, cacao beans, cattle, corn, cotton, horses, lemons, oranges, pineapples, rice, soybeans, sugar cane, and tobacco. Huge supplies of nuts, timber, and other products come from its forests, and power plants on its rivers generate a great amount of electric power. Brazil produces large quantities of iron ore, manganese, and many other minerals needed by industry.
Rapid industrial growth during the mid-1900’s helped Brazil become one of the world’s top manufacturing nations. Brazil has one of the largest steel plants in Latin America, and the manufacture of metal products is the nation’s chief industrial activity. In addition, Brazil ranks among the world’s leading countries in the manufacture of automobiles.
In spite of Brazil’s productive economy, the great wealth of some Brazilians contrasts sharply with the great poverty of others. A small number of landowners, executives, and government leaders live in luxury. A small but fast-growing group of middle-class Brazilians, including business managers, government workers, and teachers, live comfortably. But most Brazilians are poor. Many live in rural areas continually troubled by drought and floods. Many others live in crowded city slums.
Brazil shares many traditions with Portugal. It was a Portuguese colony from 1500 to 1822 and is the only Portuguese-speaking nation in Latin America. The early Portuguese colonists also brought Roman Catholicism to Brazil. Today, Brazil has more Catholics than any other nation.
Brazil has been a republic since 1889. It has had periods of dictatorial rule, as well as many years of representative government.
For population and other key statistics, see the Brazil in brief feature that appears in this article.
Government
Brazil is a republic with a strong national government. It has 26 states and 1 federal district. The federal district consists of Brasília, the capital.
Brazil's national anthem
Brazil’s federal government has three branches. They are (1) an executive branch headed by a president, (2) a legislative branch called the National Congress, and (3) a judicial branch, or court system.
Brazil’s Constitution says that adults from ages 18 to 70 who can read and write must vote. Voting is voluntary for adults who cannot read and write and for people from ages 16 to 18 and over age 70. Drafted soldiers who are serving their required period of military service, however, may not vote.
National government.
The president is elected by the people to a four-year term. The president may not be elected to more than two terms in a row. Brazil’s Constitution gives the president tremendous powers. For example, the president may intervene in affairs of Brazil’s states.
Brazil’s Congress consists of an 81-member Senate and a 513-member Chamber of Deputies. Brazil’s 26 states and the federal district elect 3 senators each. Senators serve eight years. The number of deputies from each state and from the federal district varies, depending on population, but none has fewer than 8 deputies. Deputies serve four-year terms. Senators and deputies may be reelected to any number of terms.
Local government.
The states and the federal district each have a governor and legislature elected by the people. The states are divided into districts called municípios. An elected mayor and lawmaking body govern each município.
Politics.
Brazil’s vast differences in demographics have resulted in many contrasting political views, which, in turn, have led to the development of many political parties. Among the largest parties are the Brazilian Democratic Movement, the Workers’ Party, the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, the Progressives, and the Democratic Labor Party. These parties tend to be liberal in nature, and they try to balance economic goals with improved education, health care, infrastructure, and other social services. There are also many smaller parties that cater to specific causes or candidates. These smaller parties have few representatives in the National Congress, but they sometimes influence national elections.
Brazil does not hold primary elections. Party leaders choose their presidential candidates.
Courts.
The Supreme Federal Court is Brazil’s highest court. It has 11 justices. The president appoints them with the Senate’s approval. Once appointed, justices may remain in office until the age of 75. The states and the federal district all have lower federal courts. Each state also has local courts.
Armed forces.
Brazil has the largest military force in Latin America. The three main branches of Brazil’s armed forces are the Air Force, the Army, and the Navy. Brazilian men between 18 and 45 years of age may be drafted for 12 months of service.
People
Population.
Brazil ranks as the world’s seventh largest nation in population. Only China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Nigeria have more people. About half of South America’s people live in Brazil.
The population of Brazil is unevenly distributed. Most of Brazil’s people live within 200 miles (320 kilometers) of the Atlantic coast. By contrast, only about 10 percent live in the Amazon Region in northwestern and north-central Brazil. This region is larger than the United States west of the Mississippi River, but thick forests cover most of it.
Various economic developments have influenced patterns of settlement in Brazil. During the mid-1500’s, many Portuguese colonists came to northeastern Brazil and established large sugar cane plantations. The discovery of gold and diamonds in east-central Brazil in the 1690’s and early 1700’s drew settlers to that region.
During the 1800’s, the production of coffee in southeastern Brazil offered the chief hope for people seeking economic opportunity in Brazil, and large numbers of Brazilians and European immigrants rushed there. In the late 1800’s, many Japanese immigrants began to come to that area to grow coffee, cotton, and tea. About 1870, a rubber boom in the Amazon Region drew a wave of fortune-seeking Brazilians and foreigners. After World War II ended in 1945, fast-growing industries in the southeastern coastal cities attracted great numbers of Brazilians from rural areas.
The coastal cities, however, could not provide jobs for many of the newcomers. Unemployment, overcrowding, and other problems developed. As a result, the Brazilian government has tried to attract people from the crowded coastal cities to the underpopulated interior. In 1960, it moved the nation’s capital from Rio de Janeiro, on the coast, to Brasília, about 600 miles (970 kilometers) inland on the Central Plateau. The development of agricultural and mineral resources attracted many new settlers to the Amazon Region during the mid-1900’s. In the 1970’s, the government began to offer free land to people who would settle in the Amazon Region.
Ancestry.
Brazil has three main ethnic groups—people of African descent, people of European origins, and people of mixed ancestry. The mixed groups include people of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry and people of mixed African and European descent. Statistics on the ethnic composition of the population tend to be unreliable. According to the Brazilian government, people of European descent make up about half of the nation’s population, and people of African descent make up about 8 percent. But large numbers of people are of mixed African and European ancestry. Indigenous people and Asians account for less than 1 percent of the population.
The Tupi-Guarani and other Indigenous groups lived in what is now Brazil long before Europeans arrived. The country probably had from 2 million to 5 million Indigenous inhabitants when the first Portuguese arrived. The early Portuguese colonists tried to make the Indigenous people work on plantations. But these efforts failed, and so Africans were brought to Brazil and enslaved to replace the Indigenous labor. By the early 1800’s, Brazil had about 900,000 Europeans, 2 million Africans, and 1 million Indigenous and mixed-race people.
Brazil declared itself independent in 1822, and immigrants began to arrive from many European countries. The main groups included Germans, Italians, and Spaniards, as well as Portuguese. Most of the immigrants came to work in the rapidly growing coffee industry in southeastern Brazil. About half settled in what is now the state of São Paulo.
Today, most Brazilians of European descent live in the southern part of the country. Brazilians of African and mixed descent form the major groups in the coastal cities and towns north of Rio de Janeiro, particularly in the northeast. Brazil’s Indigenous population totals more than 1,500,000. Most of the Indigenous people live in the Amazon Region.
Brazil’s ethnic groups generally get along well with one another. Racial discrimination in Brazil is less widespread than in many other countries with people of several ethnic groups. But Brazilians of European descent have had better educational opportunities. As a result, they hold most of the higher jobs in government and industry. Many Brazilians of non-European descent have excelled in the arts, entertainment, and sports.
Almost all of Brazil’s people speak Portuguese, the nation’s official language. Indigenous groups in the Amazon area still use traditional languages.
Way of life
Lifestyles in Brazil’s urban areas differ greatly from those in its rural areas. In the large cities, life moves at a fast pace, and a variety of modern conveniences and government services are available. Although many Brazilian city dwellers live in deep poverty, there are a growing number of skilled, educated Brazilians who have good jobs and enjoy a decent standard of living in the cities. In the rural areas, the slow pace of life has changed little through the years. Large numbers of unskilled laborers continue to work long hours for low wages, and life remains hard. In general, the people in rich, industrialized southern Brazil have a higher standard of living than the people in the more rural northeast and the largely undeveloped Amazon forest area. 
City life.
Brazil’s big cities look much like those in the United States and Canada. Rows of impressive skyscrapers tower above busy downtown streets, and streams of cars and trucks jam wide expressways at rush hours. Elegant stores and restaurants attract crowds of customers. Sleek, new high-rise apartment buildings stand on broad avenues and contrast sharply with old houses that line narrow, winding streets. Many cities are working to preserve historic neighborhoods and revitalize elegant old downtown areas.
Large numbers of city dwellers work in banks, factories, hotels, office buildings, and stores. Many own businesses. Others hold government or professional jobs. Many middle-class urbanites live in modern apartments. Other middle-class Brazilians live in small suburban houses. Most executives and other wealthy Brazilians live in luxurious apartments or mansions. An increasing number of middle- and upper-class Brazilians are buying homes in North American-style gated communities (housing developments with restricted access) that provide some protection from crime.
Like most large North American cities, Brazil’s big cities face such problems as overcrowding, poverty, and slums. Rio is one of the world’s most densely populated cities. Poverty is widespread in Brazil’s cities. The poor include millions of unskilled and uneducated Brazilians who have moved from rural areas. Most of them earn low incomes, and many others are unemployed.
Most poor city dwellers live in slums called favelas. In some Brazilian cities, up to 30 percent of the people live in slums. Rio has nearly 300 favelas. Their residents are crowded together in shacks made of cardboard, metal, or wood. The favelas lack sewers and running water. Many people suffer from disease and malnutrition. The crime rate is high. Many poverty-stricken parents abandon their children because they cannot feed or clothe them. Every day, millions of children in Brazilian cities must beg, steal, or work long hours to get enough money to survive. Many of these children have no homes. They sleep in doorways, on benches, or under trees. 
The Brazilian government has torn down a number of favelas and replaced them with low-cost public housing. Public youth centers have taken in many abandoned children. But poverty remains a major problem.
Rural life.
Most of the people who live in Brazil’s rural areas work on large plantations or ranches. Some others have their own small farms. Most rural Brazilians earn little money and can barely feed their families. Malnutrition and poverty are especially widespread in the dry interior of the northeast.
Most rural families live in small one- or two-room houses made of stone or adobe with roofs of red or orange clay tiles. Some of the early colonial houses are decorated with painted tiles brought from Portugal. In the Amazon Region, most houses are made of wood or wild cane plants. They have roofs of palm leaves. Dwellings built near rivers stand on stilts to avoid flooding. Most rural houses are furnished simply. Many country people sleep in hammocks.
During the middle and late 1900’s, many farmworkers moved to the cities in hope of finding well-paying factory jobs. As a result, the percentage of Brazilians living in rural areas dropped sharply.
Clothing
in Brazil is similar to that worn in the United States and Canada on warm days. Some regional styles are distinctive. For example, women of African descent in the state of Bahia, in northeastern Brazil, are known for their colorful long skirts, bright blouses, and many bracelets and necklaces. The gauchos (cowboys) of southern Brazil wear ponchos and baggy trousers called bombachas. Wide-brimmed felt hats protect the gauchos’ heads from the sun.
Food and drink.
Brazilians who live in cities enjoy a much wider choice of food than people in the rural areas. Cola beverages, hamburgers, pizza, and wheat bread have become increasingly popular in Brazil’s larger cities. The diet of wealthy city dwellers includes a variety of meats. Farmers’ markets called feiras that offer fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, meat, cheese, and fish are held regularly throughout the cities. Fried meat pastries and sugar cane juice are popular at these markets. 
In the rural areas and in poor sections of the cities, the chief foods are beans, a starchy root called cassava or manioc, and rice. Feijoada, Brazil’s national dish, combines black beans, dried beef, and pork.
Brazilian food shows a strong African influence in Bahia, where many people prepare dishes with bananas, coconuts, fish, palm oil, and hot peppers. Southern Brazil is known for churrasco, a selection of charcoal-broiled meats. Coffee is Brazil’s chief drink. Brazilians also like batidas (sweet fruit beverages made with rum), beer, and a tealike drink called mate.
Recreation.
Thousands of people flock to Brazil’s broad, white beaches on weekends. Many Brazilians enjoy fishing, skin diving, swimming, and boating. 
Soccer, called futebol in Brazil, is the country’s favorite sport. Brazil has thousands of soccer teams. Some games attract more than 150,000 spectators to Rio’s Maracana Stadium, the world’s largest stadium. Many Brazilian soccer stars have become national heroes. One of them, Pelé, became known as the world’s greatest soccer player during the 1960’s. Other popular sports include automobile racing, basketball, volleyball, and horse racing.
A number of colorful festivals brighten life in Brazil. The best known is Carnival, celebrated each year during the four days before the Christian observance of Lent. In the Carnival of Rio de Janeiro, thousands of richly costumed Brazilians ride magnificent floats that compete for prizes in dazzling parades. Energetic dancers, their bodies swaying to the rhythms of the samba, crowd the streets. Joyful singers and lively musicians add to the fun.
Religion.
The early Portuguese colonists brought the Roman Catholic religion to Brazil. Today, Catholics form about 65 percent of the population. Brazil has more Catholics than any other country does. However, many of them do not actively practice their religion.
Many Brazilians, mostly people of African and mixed ancestry, practice such local religions as Macumba and Candomblé. These religions combine African spiritual beliefs and Catholicism. Protestants make up about 20 percent of Brazil’s population. Brazil also has small numbers of Spiritists and Jews. 
Education.
Most of Brazil’s adults can read and write. But educational levels vary widely throughout the nation. In general, they are highest in southern Brazil and lowest in the northeast.
Brazil has a free public elementary school system. According to the law, children from ages 7 through 14 must attend school, but the law is difficult to enforce. Many children leave school after completing the requirement and begin work. Most of these children are from poor rural families. Many rural areas of Brazil lack schools and teachers. In some of these areas, the government broadcasts instruction over the radio. University student volunteers teach in other areas. Government programs to teach adults how to read and write are widespread.
Public high schools are free, but most of Brazil’s high schools are private and charge tuition. The Catholic Church operates many high schools. Brazil has about 65 colleges and universities. The largest is the University of São Paulo.
Brazil has many fine libraries, museums, and research centers. The National Library in Rio de Janeiro, the largest library in South America, has about 3 million books. The Municipal Public Library of São Paulo is known for its collection of children’s books. The National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio and the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art have notable collections of Brazilian and European paintings. The Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio specializes in medical research. Rio also has one of the world’s largest botanical gardens. At the Butantan Institute of São Paulo, lifesaving snakebite serums are prepared and sent to countries around the world. 
The arts
Traditional Indigenous handicraft items—such as baskets, pottery, and jewelry—were the earliest expressions of art in Brazil. The sculpture of Antonio Lisboa ranks among the earliest and best-known examples of Brazil’s colonial art. During the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, he created many beautiful religious figures for churches in the state of Minas Gerais. Mestre Ataide, who lived at the same time as Lisboa, painted rococo-style masterpieces to decorate the interiors of these churches.
Brazilian literature has long been known for its revealing descriptions of the country’s people. In the mid-1800’s, Indigenous and enslaved people appeared as themes in many notable works, including poems by Antonio Goncalves Dias and Antonio de Castro Alves, and the book O Guarani (1857) by Jose de Alencar. In the early 1900’s, the novelists Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis and Euclides da Cunha won fame for realistic portrayals of Brazil’s changing society. Machado de Assis’s best-known novel, Dom Casmurro (1900), has been translated into many languages. Cunha’s famous novel Os Sertoes (Rebellion in the Backlands, 1902) describes an actual peasant rebellion of the 1890’s.
After 1930, Brazilian literature began to show a strong regional influence. Famous novels dealing with the struggles of people in the northeast and Minas Gerais were Jubiaba (1935) by Jorge Amado, Barren Lives (1938) by Graciliano Ramos, and The Devil to Pay in the Backlands (1956) by Joao Guimaraes Rosa. After 1950, as cities grew, literature reflected the themes of migration to cities and modernization. Two well-known books about urban society are Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon (1958) by Jorge Amado and The Hour of the Star (1977) by Clarice Lispector.
During the 1900’s, several Brazilians won fame for their distinctive styles in other arts. The architect Oscar Niemeyer designed strikingly modern public buildings for Brasília. The painter Candido Portinari created bold murals that now hang in the United Nations General Assembly Building in New York City and in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The composer Heitor Villa-Lobos beautifully combined classical and Brazilian music in his series of orchestral suites Bachianas Brasileiras (1930-1945).
Popular music from Brazil won international attention during the 1900’s. Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto composed songs in the style of lilting Brazilian dance music called bossa nova. Sergio Mendes also wrote many tunes based on the bossa nova style. The composers and singers Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso became known for a style of music called tropicalism, the lyrics of which dealt with social issues. Milton Nascimento composed and sang songs in a style that blended aspects of traditional Brazilian folk music with elements of jazz, rock, bossa nova, and classical music. Musicians such as Marisa Monte and Chico Cesar continued the tradition of Brazilian popular music that originated in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Brazilian motion pictures and plays also have gained world attention. The work of filmmakers Carlos Diegues, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Walter Salles, and Glauber Rocha and playwrights Dias Gomes and Nelson Rodrigues have won particular acclaim.
Land and climate
Brazil is one of the largest countries in the world in area. It covers nearly half of South America. Low mountains and broad plateaus occupy two-thirds of the country. Forested lowlands cover most of the rest. Brazil has over 1,000 rivers. The largest include the Amazon, Paraná, and São Francisco.
All but the southernmost part of Brazil lies in the tropics, and most of the country has a warm to hot climate all year long. The mountains and plateaus are cooler than the lowlands. Sea breezes cool some coastal areas. Rain falls heavily in much of Brazil, and the country’s warm, wet climate has helped make it one of the leading crop-growing nations in the world.
Brazil has three main land regions: (1) the Amazon Region, (2) the Northeast Region, and (3) the Central and Southern plateaus.
The Amazon Region
extends across most of northern Brazil. It occupies over half the country and consists chiefly of lowlands covered by jungle and tropical rain forest called Selva. The region has two mountain areas, the Guiana Highlands in the far north and the Brazilian Highlands in the south. Pico da Neblina, Brazil’s highest mountain, rises 9,888 feet (3,014 meters) near the Brazilian-Venezuelan border.
Manaus, the largest city in the central Amazon, has an average annual temperature of 81 °F (27 °C). Rain falls throughout the year in the Amazon Region and is especially heavy from December to May. The western part of the region is always hot and humid. It gets more than 160 inches (400 centimeters) of rain a year. The eastern part averages from 40 to 80 inches (100 to 200 centimeters). The Amazon Region is little developed and thinly populated because of a lack of resources. Only about 7 percent of Brazil’s people live there. The region’s name comes from the Amazon River, which has its source in Peru. The muddy-brown Amazon flows 1,962 miles (3,158 kilometers) through Brazil’s rain forests. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The Amazon is the world’s second longest river. Only the Nile is longer. Oceangoing ships can travel the Amazon’s entire length within Brazil.
Brazil’s rain forests have more than 40,000 varieties of plants. More species of trees grow in these forests than in any other area in the world. Scientists have found more than 3,000 kinds of trees in 1 square mile (2.6 square kilometers). These trees include the giant Brazil-nut tree, which grows 150 feet (46 meters) tall. Other trees include cannonball, cedrela, cordia, kapok, mahogany, purpleheart, rosewood, and rubber trees. The forests yield drugs, fruits, latex, nuts, and timber.
The Amazon Region also has a great variety of animals. More than 1,500 kinds of birds live in the forests. They include parakeets, parrots, toucans, and other beautiful, rainbow-colored birds that sing and squawk from the high branches. Many kinds of screeching, howling monkeys jump from tree to tree and add to the chorus. Anacondas up to 30 feet (9 meters) long, wide-jawed boa constrictors, and other snakes dwell in the branches and near the rivers. Ants, beetles, butterflies, mosquitoes, and other insects live throughout the region. Other Amazon animals include anteaters, jaguars, sloths, tapirs, caimans (alligatorlike reptiles), and capybaras. Capybaras are the world’s largest rodents and may weigh as much as 100 pounds (45 kilograms).
The Northeast Region
consists of the part of Brazil that bulges into the Atlantic Ocean. It extends south from the state of Maranhao through Bahia. The region occupies less than a fifth of Brazil’s area. About 30 percent of the nation’s people live there. 
The Northeast has two subregions—the coastal plain and the Sertão, or interior backlands. The coastal plain lies along the Atlantic and has large areas of fertile red soil. Farmers there grow cacao beans, sugar cane, and tobacco. Several big cities stand along the coast. They include Fortaleza, Recife, and Salvador.
The Sertão consists of thinly populated plateaus and hilly portions of the Brazilian Highlands. Farmers in the Sertão mainly raise cattle. They also grow beans, cassava, corn, and cotton. But good grazing lands are scarce, and most of the soil is poor. As a result, agricultural production is generally low. Two main rivers cross the interior, the Parnaiba and the São Francisco.
The Northeast Region has a wide range of temperatures. Temperatures in the interior vary from 53 to 107 °F (12 to 42 °C) during the year. But in Recife, on the coast, the temperature remains much the same throughout the year, averaging about 80 °F (27 °C).
Annual rainfall in the Northeast varies from about 65 inches (169 centimeters) in some coastal areas to only about 10 inches (26 centimeters) in parts of the interior. Almost all the rain in the interior falls from December to April. Heavy rains often cause rivers to flood farmland. The interior also suffers from frequent droughts. Some severe droughts have lasted up to two years and have made the area as dry as a desert.
Most nordestinos, as the people of the Northeast are called, have a hard life. In the interior, many nordestinos live in small clay houses with dirt floors. Because of the droughts, floods, and poor soil, they struggle to make a living from farming. Much of the land is used mainly for subsistence agriculture—that is, for growing food crops only for the family’s own use. Life is also harsh in the Northeast’s cities. There are few large industries, and unemployment is high. Millions of people suffer from malnutrition and sickness. Life expectancy at birth in the Northeast is only 49 years, well below the national average.
The Central and Southern plateaus
lie south of the Amazon and Northeast regions. This area covers about a fourth of Brazil and includes most of the Brazilian Highlands. The highlands rise between 1,000 and 3,000 feet (300 and 900 meters). The highest elevations are near the coast. A steep slope known as the Serra do Mar runs along the coast on the southeastern edge of the highlands. It has prevented easy access to the interior and promoted the growth of coastal cities.
More than half of Brazil’s people live in the plateau region. Much of the population is concentrated in and around São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The region, known as Brazil’s economic heartland, also has the country’s most fertile farms, finest cattle ranches, and some of its richest mines. Farmers in the plateau region grow coffee—one of Brazil’s top farm exports—on large plantations called fazendas. Farmers also grow cotton, grapes, oranges, potatoes, rice, soybeans, sugar cane, and wheat. The region has large deposits of gold, iron ore, manganese, and other minerals. 
The Paraná River is the chief river in the plateau region. Brazil’s biggest hydroelectric power project, the Itaipú Dam plant, lies on the Paraná. Nearby, on the Iguaçu (also spelled Iquazú) River at the border between Brazil and Argentina, the majestic Iguaçu Falls drops 237 feet (72 meters).
The plateau region has a cooler climate than the Amazon Region and the Northeast. Daily temperatures in São Paulo average about 73 °F (23 °C) in January and about 60 °F (16 °C) in July. Winter frosts often occur in the state of Paraná, and light snow sometimes falls in the state of Santa Catarina. Rainfall averages about 50 inches (130 centimeters) a year in the plateau region. The rainy season lasts from November to May.
Along the Paraguay River, where Brazil borders Bolivia and Paraguay, lies a vast swampy area called the Pantanal. Only a few people, mostly cattle ranchers, inhabit the Pantanal. The area has huge flocks of water birds and many other animals. Large numbers of tourists visit the Pantanal to view its wildlife.
Economy
Brazil’s farms, forests, and mines have long produced an enormous amount of valuable exports. But today, factories and service industries contribute the most to Brazil’s gross domestic product (GDP). The GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced within a country in a year. Brazil’s GDP is the highest in South America and one of the highest in the world.
Brazil’s economy is based on private enterprise. Heavy foreign investment in industry during and after World War II (1939-1945) helped bring about a huge increase in manufacturing. Brazil doubled its economic output during the 1960’s and 1970’s. However, Brazil also faces major economic problems, including widespread poverty and unemployment.
Service industries
account for about two-thirds of both Brazil’s employment and its total GDP. Many Brazilians work in education and health care and for the government. Hotels and restaurants benefit from the millions of tourists who visit the country each year. Many of these tourists come from Argentina, Germany, Italy, the United States, and Uruguay.
Manufacturing
accounts for about a sixth of Brazil’s gross domestic product. The state of São Paulo is Brazil’s chief industrial region.
Brazil is one of the leading industrial nations of the world. The nation ranks among the world’s major automobile producers. One of Latin America’s largest iron and steel plants is at Volta Redonda, near Rio. Brazil also is one of the world’s top producers of raw sugar. Other chief Brazilian industries make airplanes, cement, chemicals, electronics, food products, machinery, petroleum, shoes, and transportation equipment.
Agriculture
accounts for 5 percent of Brazil’s economic output. Brazil is a world leader in the production of crops and livestock, and it is one of the world’s leading exporters of farm products. About an eighth of Brazil’s workers are employed in agriculture. Most of them work on big farms and ranches owned by corporations and wealthy Brazilians.
Brazil grows about a third of the world’s coffee crop. Brazil is also the world’s leading grower of oranges and sugar cane. It is one of the world’s top producers of bananas, cacao beans, cashews, cassava, coconuts, corn, cotton, lemons, papayas, pineapples, rice, soybeans, and tobacco. Brazil is a world leader in raising cattle, chickens, hogs, and horses. In addition, it is Latin America’s top producer of meat and milk. Brazil’s chief farming and grazing areas are in the south.
Mining.
Brazil is rich in minerals. It ranks among the world’s top producers of amethysts, asbestos, bauxite, graphite, iron ore, magnesium, manganese, quartz crystals, and tin. Brazilian mines also yield barite, bauxite, clays, coal, copper, diamonds, gemstones, gold, gypsum, lead, lime, marble, mica, nickel, phosphates, talc, tungsten, and zinc. Wells along the coast produce petroleum and natural gas. Brazil has one of the largest reserves of iron ore in the world. Most of the country’s iron ore and other minerals come from the state of Minas Gerais. Brazil’s Amazon Region also has vast mineral deposits. 
Forestry.
Brazil ranks as one of the world’s leading producers of forest products. One of the country’s chief forest products is timber from an araucaria tree called the Paraná pine, which grows in the south. Much timber is made into charcoal, an important source of fuel in rural areas of Brazil and in the country’s iron and steel industry. Besides timber, the forests of Brazil yield carnauba wax, fibers, gums and resins, medicines, nuts, oils, and rubber.
Fishing.
Brazilians fish along the Atlantic coast and in the rivers of the Amazon Basin. Among the leading catches are catfish, croakers, sardinellas, shrimp, and tuna. The rivers yield tropical fish, such as characins. Aquaculture, the commercial raising of animals and plants that live in water, is a growing industry in Brazil. Carp, shrimp, and tilapias are the chief aquaculture products.
Energy sources.
Hydroelectric power stations produce nearly all of Brazil’s electric power. Large power plants operate on the Paraná, São Francisco, Tocantins, and other rivers. The Itaipú Dam power plant on the Paraná River is one of the most powerful hydroelectric plants in the world. 
Brazil produces most of the oil it needs each year. Coal, natural gas, and nuclear power also provide some energy in Brazil.
In the mid-1970’s, the high cost of imported oil led Brazil to develop a program that substitutes ethanol, a type of alcohol, for fuels made from petroleum. Under this program, Brazilian farmers “grow” fuel—that is, they raise sugar cane that distilleries make into ethanol fuel. Brazil and the United States lead all countries in the production of ethanol. Most new automobiles made in Brazil run entirely on ethanol or on an ethanol-gas mixture. 
International trade.
Brazil exports more goods than it imports. Airplanes, cars, coffee, iron ore, meat, shoes, soybeans and soy meal, steel, and sugar rank as Brazil’s most valuable exports. Brazil’s leading imports include chemicals, food, machinery, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, and transportation equipment and parts.
China and the United States are Brazil’s chief trading partners. Brazil belongs to a trade organization known as Mercosur or Mercosul and engages in much trade with the group’s other members and associate members, all in South America. Brazil’s other important trading partners include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Transportation.
Brazil has a good road network in the Central and Southern plateaus. The Interoceanic Highway links Brazil’s Atlantic coast with Peru’s Pacific coast. The highway passes through the Central and Southern Plateaus and the Amazon Region. Most Brazilians travel by bus. In remote areas, some people travel on horseback. Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and other cities have commuter rail systems. Rivers serve as the chief transportation routes in the Amazon Region.
Brazil leads Latin America in commercial aviation. The country’s busiest airports are in Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo. New low-cost airlines have been established to accommodate a growing demand for air travel.
Communication.
Brazil is a major producer of television programs. Hundreds of daily newspapers are published in Brazil. Most are privately owned, and they represent a variety of political opinions. The best-known newspapers include Folha de São Paulo and O Estado de São Paulo of São Paulo, and O Globo and Jornal do Brasil of Rio de Janeiro. Radio and television stations are both publicly and privately owned.
History
Early days.
Indigenous people lived in what is now Brazil long before the first Europeans arrived. Major Indigenous groups in the country included the Guarani and Tupinamba. The Indigenous people hunted and fished for much of their food. They also gathered fruits from the forests and grew crops. Cassava was their most important crop.
Some Indigenous groups lived in villages of from two to six long, thatched houses. Each house provided shelter for 30 or more families. Each family had its own section in one house. Indigenous Brazilians believed in many gods and celebrated numerous religious festivals. They made baskets, pottery, and other handicraft items.
Portuguese rule.
In 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas divided the Americas between Spain and Portugal. Portugal gained the right to claim land in what is now eastern Brazil. Portugal claimed possession of Brazil on April 22, 1500, when the Portuguese fleet commander Pedro Álvares Cabral landed on the coast. The Portuguese called certain trees that they found there brazilwoods because their wood had the color of a glowing ember, called brasa in Portuguese. They named the land after the trees.
Portuguese colonists began to settle Brazil during the 1530’s. The most successful early settlements developed at Recife and Salvador in the northeast and at São Vicente in southern Brazil. Salvador served as the colonial capital from 1549 to 1763. The colonists in the northeast soon established large sugar cane plantations. Brazilian sugar, sold in Europe, brought wealth to Portugal. Cattle hides, cotton, and tobacco also were exported.
The colonists enslaved local Indigenous people to work on the plantations, but large numbers of them died from European diseases. Many others fought the Portuguese and were killed. To replace the Indigenous labor, the Portuguese began bringing African people to Brazil and enslaving them.
In 1630, Dutch settlers seized control of the Portuguese land in northeastern Brazil. The Portuguese drove the Dutch out of Brazil in 1654. In the 1690’s and early 1700’s, adventurers from São Paulo discovered diamonds and gold in what are now the states of Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso. These discoveries attracted thousands of Portuguese to the interior and further enriched Portugal.
During the early 1700’s, fortune seekers and settlers moved westward into land that the Treaty of Tordesillas had identified as Spanish territory. In 1750, Portugal and Spain signed the Treaty of Madrid, which recognized Portugal’s claim to almost all of what is now Brazil. During the mid-1700’s, Rio de Janeiro became a major seaport. Miners sent loads of diamonds and gold to Rio, and ships there took the treasure to Portugal. In 1763, the capital of Brazil was moved from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro. By about 1800, more than 31/2 million colonists and enslaved people lived in Brazil. The enslaved people made up more than half the population. Most of the colonists lived in small farming settlements. Rio, with a population of about 100,000, was the largest town.
Portugal profited tremendously from Brazil’s farm products and mineral wealth. It limited the country’s economic growth, however, by discouraging the development of manufacturing. Portugal wanted Brazilians to buy Portuguese manufactured goods, rather than to make these products themselves.
Independence.
In 1807, France invaded Portugal because the Portuguese had supported Britain in a war between the French and British. Prince John, Portugal’s ruler, fled to Rio de Janeiro with his family. In 1808, Rio became capital of the Portuguese Empire. In 1815, the prince raised Brazil to the status of a kingdom. The royal family returned to Portugal in 1821. John left his son Pedro to rule Brazil.
On Sept. 7, 1822, Pedro declared Brazil independent. A few months later, he was crowned emperor as Pedro I. He granted Brazil a constitution in 1824. But Pedro ruled harshly and became unpopular. In 1828, Brazil lost a war against Argentina and gave up the territory that is now the nation of Uruguay. In 1831, Pedro was forced to resign. He left his throne to his 5-year-old son, Pedro II.
The reign of Pedro II.
In 1840, when he was 14 years old, Pedro II was declared old enough to rule on his own, and he began to head the government. Pedro II helped bring about a period of great progress. New railroads connected coastal cities and inland areas, and new telegraph lines improved communications. A modern banking system developed, and a textile industry grew. In addition, many new schools opened, including schools for agriculture and mining.
During the mid-1800’s, thousands of immigrants from Germany, Italy, and other European nations started to settle in southern Brazil. Coffee growing spread rapidly in this region. A great worldwide demand for rubber products led to the development of the Amazon Region’s vast natural rubber resources.
In the War of the Triple Alliance (1865-1870), Brazil joined Argentina and Uruguay in defeating Paraguay. The war resulted in the establishment of Brazil’s present boundary with Paraguay. See Paraguay (History) .
In 1888, a law abolished slavery in Brazil and freed about 750,000 enslaved people. Most of them had worked on plantations, and Brazil’s powerful slaveowners became angry at Pedro when they were not paid for their slaves. In 1889, Brazilian military officers supported by the plantation owners forced Pedro to give up his throne. He died in Paris two years later. In 1922, his body was brought back to Brazil. Brazilians still honor Pedro II as a national hero.
Birth of the republic.
Brazil became a republic on Nov. 15, 1889. In 1891, the people adopted a constitution modeled after the Constitution of the United States. General Manoel Deodoro da Fonseca won election as Brazil’s first president. He and some of Brazil’s other early presidents ruled as dictators. The presidency soon began to alternate between political leaders from São Paulo and Minas Gerais, the two most powerful states.
During the early 1900’s, new rubber supplies from Asia ended the great demand for Brazilian rubber. However, coffee gained importance and brought wealth to Brazil. Industrial production began to grow in the 1890’s because of government policies that benefited domestic businesses. However, World War I (1914-1918) disrupted the growth of Brazilian industry. Many of Brazil’s trading partners fought in the war and could no longer supply machinery and other needs to Brazil. After the war, however, Brazilian industry resumed its growth.
In 1917, Brazil joined the Allies in the war. Brazilian ships watched for German vessels in the South Atlantic Ocean. After the war ended, Brazilian military officers began to question why their country was less developed than others in the region, and several military revolts broke out. In 1924, Captain Luís Carlos Prestes led a rebellion by a group of soldiers who were disillusioned because the government seemed to favor the interests of the rich at the cost of modernization. About the same time, the price of coffee fell, and thousands of plantation workers lost jobs.
Political unrest also increased. The practice of alternating presidents from São Paulo and Minas Gerais led to a crisis in the election of 1930. The retiring president, Washington Luís Pereira da Sousa, favored Júlio Prestes, an associate from São Paulo, as his successor instead of a candidate from Minas Gerais. Prestes won the election. But a group of military officers supported by political leaders from Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, and other smaller states overthrew the republic. They gave the presidency to Getulio Vargas, governor of Rio Grande do Sul.
The Vargas dictatorship.
In 1934, Vargas wrote a new constitution that helped make him a national hero. The constitution increased wages, shortened work hours, and gave labor unions many powers. It also gave the right to vote to all citizens over the age of 18 who could read and write. This provision allowed Brazilian women to vote for the first time.
Like most other nations, Brazil suffered a major economic slump during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Vargas gradually became convinced that he lacked the authority to deal effectively with Brazil’s economic problems. In 1937, he prepared a new constitution that permitted him to rule Brazil as a dictator. Then he censored the press, banned political parties, and took over Brazil’s labor unions. Brazilians lost most of their constitutional freedoms. Vargas created a variety of public works projects to give jobs to the unemployed. His government built many airports, highways, hydroelectric power plants, and schools. It also developed a national radio network and built the Volta Redonda steel plant.
World War II (1939-1945) brought a great surge in demand for Brazilian industrial goods. Brazil declared war on Germany and the other Axis powers in 1942. About 25,000 Brazilian troops fought on the side of Allied forces in Italy.
Return to constitutional government.
In October 1945, military leaders forced Vargas to resign as head of the government. Eurico Gaspar Dutra, an army officer, was elected president. In 1946, a new constitution restored individual rights and gave an elected legislature the authority to make the nation’s laws.
Vargas was elected president again in 1950. His government faced tough economic problems, including severe inflation. Brazil’s economy improved little under Vargas. In 1954, the armed forces demanded his resignation. He took his own life and was succeeded by his vice president, Joao Cafe Filho.
In 1955, Juscelino Kubitschek was elected president. He built a new capital, Brasília, a day’s drive from the Atlantic coast. He hoped that the new city would help develop Brazil’s interior. The government moved from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília in 1960.
Manufacturing in Brazil began to thrive under Kubitschek in the mid-1950’s. Big foreign investments helped bring about rapid growth in the automobile, chemical, and steel industries. During the 1960’s, millions of Brazilians moved from rural areas to urban centers to seek jobs in the new factories. As a result, São Paulo became the major industrial center of South America. 
Political tension increased in Brazil after Janio Quadros was elected president in 1960. Quadros believed Brazil should trade with all nations, and he worked to increase trade between Brazil and Communist countries. But the Brazilian legislature opposed many of his economic plans. After about seven months in office, Quadros resigned. Vice President Joao Goulart succeeded him. Brazilian military leaders feared that Goulart’s economic policies would open the way for a Communist take-over of Brazil. In 1964, troops led by General Humberto Castelo Branco forced Goulart from office. The general became head of the government.
Under military rule.
Military officers gave Castelo Branco many powers, including authority to suspend citizens’ rights. The Brazilian people continued to elect a Congress, but the military limited the number of political parties to two and controlled the elections. By the late 1960’s, the military was regularly using repression and censorship to quiet its opponents.
Brazil’s economy flourished during the late 1960’s. The opening of new factories in the cities continued to attract rural farmworkers. By 1970, for the first time, more Brazilians lived in urban areas than in rural areas.
General Ernesto Geisel became president in 1974, but he faced congressional opposition to military government. In 1977, Geisel proposed a reform of the court system. But opponents in Congress blocked the reform. Geisel temporarily closed Congress, arrested some legislators, and barred others from politics. In 1979, General Joao Baptista Figueiredo succeeded Geisel. High inflation and labor unrest troubled his administration. Many city workers demanded pay raises. Figueiredo allowed unions to stage strikes, and about 300 of them did so in 1979. Figueiredo also allowed new political parties to form.
Return to civilian government.
Military rule ended in Brazil in 1985. In January, the electoral college, made up of the members of Congress and the state legislatures, elected a civilian president, Tancredo de Almeida Neves. But Neves became too ill to take office. Jose Sarney, the vice president-elect, became interim president. Neves died in April and Sarney became president. A 1985 constitutional amendment provided for direct popular election of future presidents. In 1986, Brazilians elected a new national Congress and new state legislatures and governors. In 1989, they elected Fernando Collor de Mello president.
In 1992, Brazil’s Senate opened an impeachment trial against Collor on charges of corruption. Collor resigned soon after the trial began. He was convicted and barred from office for eight years. Vice President Itamar Franco replaced Collor as president. Fernando Henrique Cardoso was elected president in 1994 and 1998. Cardoso worked to stabilize Brazil’s currency, reduce inflation, and promote economic growth.
The early 2000’s.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the liberal Workers’ Party was elected president in 2002 and reelected in 2006. While in office, he promoted policies that addressed poverty. His policies, like Cardoso’s, focused on economic growth and social services.
In 2007 and 2008, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, Petrobras, announced it had discovered huge oil fields deep in the Atlantic Ocean off the country’s southeast coast. Experts estimated these fields could contain billions of barrels of oil.
Dilma Rousseff, President Lula da Silva’s chief of staff from 2005 to 2010, became Brazil’s first woman president in 2011. Also in 2011, mudslides caused by flooding in Rio de Janeiro state killed more than 800 people. In 2014, Brazil hosted the World Cup soccer competition amid protests over the cost of the event. The same year, Rousseff was narrowly reelected president.
In 2016, Rio de Janeiro hosted the Summer Olympic Games. It was the first time a South American city had been chosen as the site for the Olympics.
Also in 2016, Brazil’s Congress impeached Rousseff and ended her term as president. The Senate convicted Rousseff of manipulating the federal budget to cover up a deficit in 2014. At the time of the impeachment proceedings, Brazil was experiencing economic difficulties and a corruption scandal involving the state oil firm Petrobras and many prominent politicians. Vice President Michel Temer became president and finished Rousseff’s term.
Jair Bolsonaro was elected president in 2018 and took office in 2019. He was the candidate of the far-right Social Liberal Party. During Bolsonaro’s administration, deforestation and fires in the Amazon rain forest rose sharply. Fires also increased sharply in the Pantanal wetlands region in southwestern Brazil, during a period of unusually dry conditions. Critics blamed Bolsonaro’s policies for contributing to such environmental destruction.
The COVID-19 pandemic (global outbreak of disease) that began in 2020 greatly impacted Brazil’s public health and strained its economy. COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by a coronavirus. Efforts to curb the outbreak in Brazil included restricting public activities and vaccinating most of the people. As of early 2023, there had been about 36 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Brazil, and about 700,000 confirmed deaths from COVID-19. Throughout the pandemic, Brazil ranked among the nations with the most confirmed cumulative infections and deaths from COVID-19. During his presidency, Bolsonaro drew strong disapproval for downplaying the threat of the disease and undermining measures to contain it.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was reelected as president of Brazil in October 2022. He took office in January 2023.
