Information about Brazil.

BRAZIL

Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil is the largest and most populous country in South America, and fifth largest in the world in both area and population. Spanning a vast area between central South America and the Atlantic Ocean, it is the easternmost country of America and it borders Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French department of French Guiana. In fact, it borders every South American nation except for Ecuador and Chile.

NAME

The country's name is generally believed to be derived from pau-brasil (brazilwood), a tree highly valued by early colonists, though some credit the name to a mythical land mentioned in Europe during Middle Ages.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

The capital of Brazil is Brasília. According to the Constitution promulgated in 1988, Brazil is a federal presidential representative democratic republic, wherein the President is both head of state and head of government.
The Union's Executive power is exercised by the government, headed by the president.
Legislative power is vested in the National Congress, which is bicameral. The deputies of the Chamber of Deputies are elected every four years in a system of proportional representation by states. The members of the Federal Senate are elected for an eight-year term.
The legal system is based on Roman Law.

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS

Brazil is a federation consisting of 26 states (estados) and 1 federal district (distrito federal), making a total of 27 Federate Units. The Brazilian states enjoy a significant autonomy of government, law making, public security and taxation. The government of a state is headed by a Governor. Each state is divided into municipalities (municípios) with their own legislative council (câmara de vereadores) and a mayor (prefeito), which are autonomous and hierarchically independent from both Federal and State Government.

GEOGRAPHY

Brazil is characterized by the extensive low-lying Amazon Rainforest in the north and a more open terrain of hills and low mountains to the south — home to most of the Brazilian population and its agricultural base. Along the Atlantic seacoast are also found several mountain ranges, reaching roughly 2,900 metres (9,500 ft) high. The highest peak is the Pico da Neblina (Myst's Peak) reckoning 3,014 metres (9,735 ft) of altitude, in Guiana's highlands. Major rivers include the Amazon, the largest river in the world in flowing water volume, and the second-longest in the world; the Paraná and its major tributary, the Iguaçu River, where the impressive Iguaçu falls are located; the Negro, São Francisco, Xingu, Madeira and the Tapajós rivers.
Located mainly within the tropics, Brazil's climate has little seasonal variation. In southern most Brazil, however, there is subtropical temperate weather, occasionally experiencing frost and snow in the higher regions. Precipitation is abundant in the humid Amazon Basin, but more arid landscapes are found as well, particularly in the northeast.

ECONOMY

Possessing large and well-developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors, as well as a large labor pool, Brazil's GDP (PPP) outweighs that of any other Latin American country.
Major export products include aircraft, coffee, vehicles, soybean, iron ore, orange juice, steel, textiles, footwear and electrical equipment.
According to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Brazil has the ninth largest economy in the world at Purchasing Power Parity and eleventh largest at market exchange rates.
Although Brazil's economy is progressive and regionally important, the problems of widespread corruption, poverty and illiteracy are still major barriers to development.

DEMOGRAPHICS

The 2000 IBGE census found Brazil to be made up of: white 53.7%; multiracial 38.5% (mostly of mixed black-African and white-European ancestry); black 6.2%; Asian 0.5%; Amerindian 0.4%; unspecified 0.7%.
The European ethnic groups with the largest numbers are in order the Portuguese (36 million), Italians (25 million), Germans (20 million) and Spaniards (15 million). Minority groups include Slavs (mostly Poles, Ukrainians, Russians and Czechs). and other Germanic groups like the Continental West Germanics (Dutch people) and Germanic Scandinavians. Smaller groups include Brazilians of Lithuanian, Armenian, Finnish, French, Greek, Hungarian, Romanian, British and Irish origin. Included in this group are about 200,000 Jews, mostly Ashkenazi followed by the Sephardi Jews. In addition, Brazil's population includes: 78 million African descendants and multiracial people; 13 million Arabs, mostly from Syria (5 million) and Lebanon (8 million); 2 million Asians, mostly from Japan (1.5 million), but also groups from China, Korea and other East and South Asian countries; 700,000 Native Americans.

LANGUAGE

Portuguese is the only official language of Brazil. Many indigenous languages are spoken daily in indigenous communities. The most important are the Brazilian German dialects, such as Riograndenser Hunsrückisch and the Pomeranian language, and the Talian, based on the Italian Venetian language. In the city of São Paulo, Japanese can be heard in the immigrant neighborhoods, like Liberdade.
English is part of the official high school curriculum, but just a few Brazilians are truly fluent in the language. Spanish is understood to varying degrees by some Portuguese speakers.

RELIGION

Brazil's main religion since the 16th century has been Christianity, predominantly Roman Catholicism.
Brazil also has many other offshoots of Christianity.
African syncretic religions such as Candomblé have millions of followers, mainly Afro-Brazilians. In addition to Candomblé which is the survival of West African religion, there is also Umbanda which blends Kardecist spiritism, Indigenous and African beliefs. There's still lots of prejudice about "African cults" in Brazil's south, but there are lots of Catholics, Protestants and other kinds of Christians who also believe in the Orishas, so they use to go both to Churchs and Terreiros.
Buddhism, Shinto, Judaism, Islam and a few other religions are observed by approximately 5% of the total population of Brazil.

CULTURE

The culture of Brazil is rooted in the culture of Portugal. The Portuguese colonists and immigrants brought the Catholic faith, the Portuguese language and many traditions and customs that still influence the modern-day Brazilian culture. As a multiracial country, its culture also absorbed other influences. The Amerindian peoples influenced Brazil's language and cuisine and the Africans, brought as slaves, largely influenced Brazil's music, dance, cuisine and language. Italian and German immigrants came in large numbers and their influences are felt closer to the South of Brazil.

BRAZILIAN CARNIVAL

The Brazilian Carnival (Portuguese: Carnaval) is an annual celebration in Brazil held forty days before Easter and marking the start of Lent. During Lent, Roman Catholics, which constitute the majority in Brazil, are to abstain from bodily pleasures. Carnival, which is celebrated as a profane event, can thus be likened to a farewelling of the pleasures of the flesh.
During the Carnival, a fat man is elected to represent the role of Rei Momo, the "king" of Carnival. Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is known worldwide for the elaborate parades staged by the city’s major samba schools in the Sambódromo and is one of the world’s major tourist attractions.

SPORTS

The most popular sport in Brazil is football (soccer), and the country is renowned for the quality of its players, including Ronaldo, Pelé, Jairzinho, Rivelino, Zico, Romário, Carlos Alberto, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Garrincha, Kaká and the current holder of the title of best football player in the world, Ronaldinho. The Brazilian national football team has been victorious in the World Cup tournament a record five times.
Brazil has also achieved success in other international sports, mainly volleyball, basketball, tennis, gymnastics and auto racing.

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