Brazil

Federative Republic of Brazil




Motto: "Ordem e Progresso"
(Portuguese)
"Order and Progress"
Anthem: Hino Nacional Brasileiro
(Portuguese)
"Brazilian National Anthem"

National seal
Selo Nacional do Brasil
(Portuguese)
"National Seal of Brazil"

Capital Brasília
15°45′S 47°57′W / 15.75°S 47.95°W / -15.75; -47.95
Largest city São Paulo
Official language(s) Portuguese
Demonym Brazilian
Government Presidential Federal republic
 -  President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT)
 -  Vice-President José Alencar (PRB)
 -  President of the Chamber of Deputies Michel Temer (PMDB)
 -  President of the Senate José Sarney (PMDB)
 -  Chief Justice Cezar Peluso
Legislature National Congress
 -  Upper House Federal Senate
 -  Lower House Chamber of Deputies
Independence from Kingdom of Portugal 
 -  Declared 7 September 1822 
 -  Recognized 29 August 1825 
 -  Republic 15 November 1889 
 -  Current constitution 5 October 1988 
Area
 -  Total 8,514,877 km² (5th)
3,287,597 sq mi 
 -  Water (%) 0.65
Population
 -  2009 estimate 192,272,890 (5th)
 -  2007 census 189,987,291 
 -  Density 22/km² (182nd)
57/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2009 estimate
 -  Total $2.013 trillion 
 -  Per capita $10,513 
GDP (nominal) 2009 estimate
 -  Total $1.574 trillion 
 -  Per capita $8,220 
Gini (2009) 49.3 
HDI (2007) 0.813 (high) (75th)
Currency Real (R$) (BRL)
Time zone BRT (UTC-2 to -4)
 -  Summer (DST) BRST (UTC-2 to -4)
Date formats dd/mm/yyyy (CE)
Drives on the right
Internet TLD .br
Calling code +55

Brazil (pronounced /brəˈzɪl/ ( listen); Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, listen (help·info)), is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population. It is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas and the largest lusophone country in the world.

Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of over 7,491 kilometers (4,655 mi). It is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana; on the northwest by Colombia; on the west by Bolivia and Peru; on the southwest by Argentina and Paraguay and on the south by Uruguay. Numerous archipelagos form part of Brazilian territory, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and Trindade and Martim Vaz. It has borders with all other South American countries apart from Ecuador and Chile.

Brazil was a colony of Portugal from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until 1815, when it was elevated to United Kingdom with Portugal and Algarves. The colonial bond was in fact broken in 1808, when the capital of the Portuguese Kingdom was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, after Napoleon invaded Portugal. The independence from Portugal was achieved 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 Federal Republic. The Federation is formed by the union of the Federal District, the 26 States, and the 5,564 Municipalities.

The Brazilian economy is the world's eighth largest economy by nominal GDP and the ninth largest by purchasing power parity. Brazil is one of the world's fastest growing major economies. Economic reforms have given the country new international recognition. Brazil is a founding member of the United Nations, the G20, CPLP, Latin Union, the Organization of Ibero-American States, Mercosul and the Union of South American Nations, and is one of the BRIC Countries. Brazil is also home to a diversity of wildlife, natural environments, and extensive natural resources in a variety of protected habitats.

History

Portuguese colonization and territorial expansion

The land now called Brazil (the origin of whose name is disputed), was claimed by Portugal in April 1500, on the arrival of the Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral. The Portuguese encountered stone age natives divided into several tribes, most of whom shared the same Tupi-Guarani linguistic family, and fought among themselves.

Colonization was effectively begun in 1534—though the first settlement was founded in 1532—, when Dom João III divided the territory into twelve hereditary captaincies, but this arrangement proved problematic and in 1549 the king assigned a Governor-General to administer the entire colony. The Portuguese assimilated some of the native tribes while others were enslaved or exterminated in long wars or by European diseases to which they had no immunity. By the mid 16th century, sugar had become Brazil's most important export and the Portuguese imported African slaves to cope with the increasing international demand.

Through wars against the French, the Portuguese slowly expanded their territory to the southeast, taking Rio de Janeiro in 1567, and to the northwest, taking São Luís in 1615. They sent military expeditions to the Amazon rainforest and conquered British and Dutch strongholds, founding villages and forts from 1669. In 1680 they reached the far south and founded Sacramento on the bank of the Rio de la Plata, in the Eastern Strip region (present-day Uruguay).

At the end of the 17th century, sugar exports started to decline but the discovery of gold by explorers in the region that would later be called Minas Gerais (General Mines) around 1693, and in the following decades in current Mato Grosso and Goiás, saved the colony from imminent collapse. From all over Brazil, as well as from Portugal, thousands of immigrants came to the mines.

The Spanish tried to prevent Portuguese expansion into the territory that belonged to them according to the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, and succeeded in conquering the Eastern Strip in 1777. However, this was in vain as the Treaty of San Ildefonso, signed in the same year, confirmed Portuguese sovereignty over all lands proceeding from its territorial expansion, thus creating most of the current Brazilian borders.

In 1808, the Portuguese royal family, fleeing the troops of the French Emperor Napoleon I that were invading Portugal and most of Central Europe, established themselves in the city of Rio de Janeiro, which thus became the seat of the entire Portuguese Empire. In 1815 Dom João VI, then regent on behalf of his incapacitated mother, elevated Brazil from colony to sovereign Kingdom united with Portugal. In 1809 the Portuguese invaded French Guiana (which was returned to France in 1817) and in 1816 the Eastern Strip, subsequently renamed Cisplatina (but Brazil definitely lost it in 1828 when it became an independent nation known as Uruguay).

Independence and empire