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The world’s fifth largest country Brazil.
By Mark on July 12, 2008
As in the title Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and the largest country in South America. Even though it does not have a huge population to with it. The population of Brazil is roughly 186,757,608 which for the size of the country is small. It is also the largest speaking Portuguese country in the world. Set on the eastern side of South America, with the northwest of the country being the Amazon forest but the forest does cover big chunks of the country. Other parts of Brazil are made up of vast plateau’s of rock and woodlands, including mountains, fertile valley,s and coastal plaines. The Amazon Basin is very hot, humid and wet part of the country where as the rest of Brazil is much cooler and drier over the seasons. The north-east of the country is a drought zone. The Amazon river is the the worlds longest river, with a much greater volume than any other river. There has mean many a discussion on wether the Amazon or the Nile in North Africa is the longest. The majority of Brazilians live in the urban areas like the coast or central plateau. Alot of the population that live in the south-east of Brazil, live close to the river Parana which flows south down towards their neighbours Argentina. Being as well a developed agricultural, mining, service sector and the largest economy in South America, it is doing quite well for herself.
This is a picture taken from Google Earth of the Country of Brazil.
A huge industrialized country Brazil, the major parts of the industrial areas are in the south, south-east and central parts of the country where the north is still undeveloped compared to the south even though there is money in the country and maybe one day the whole of the country will be fully developed lets hope. Even though argriculture is not as big as industrialization in Brazil, and food imports are not like they used to be, crops such as sugar, cocoa, soya beans, coffee and orange concentrates still remain important for Brazil and the rest of the world. Brazil is very in minerals such as , Iron ore, managanese, tin, beryllium, columbian, bauxite and gold. And with tin, iron ore, machinery and other industrial products, builds up a huge amount of exports from Brazil. But with all theses exports and wealth coming into the country, there are still children and adults on the streets, just looking for shelter. Brazil did used to have a high inflation and debt problem, which has now been helped out, but the country is still not completely free from social and debt problems.
This is a picture of the Brasilia the capital city of Brazil taken from Google Earth.
Brazil is the only South American country established as a Portuguese colony. Being established in 1494, by the Treaty of Tordesillas. The settlement of the country began in 1532 with the establishment of Sao Vincente by man named Martin Afonso de Sousa. During the 16th century Brazil was split up into 12 sections a bit like states, where they had their own mini heads and governments. It was not until 1549 when a man named Thomas de Sousa became the governor-general and a capital city was created in the name of Salavador(Bahia). In the 17th century the north-east of Brazil was taken over by the Dutch for a short while, but was then regained by the Brazilians. By the 1800’s the prosperity of the colony of Brazil had out stripped Portugal and as a result of the Napolenic wars the Portuguese court was sent to Rio de Janeiro, which then went on to become the Portuguese Empire. In 1821 when king John VI returned back to Portugal, his son Pedro I stayed behind as a regent, but by 1822 he had become Emperor Pedro I and the reign continued until 1889, when Pedro II was abdictcated in 1889. In 1891 Brazil became a republic with a federal constitution. But by the 1930’s, Brazil was going through a hard time, and the Brazilian military steppped in, and the appointment of the provisional governor Getulio Vargas. Vargas remained in power until 1945, even after that time he was still a powerful figure in the country, until he committed suicide in 1954. His successor Juscelino Kubitschek, went on to build a futuristic city in Brasilia the then new capital of Brazil. But more financial problems were brought on and coups began, and alot of landowners, concerned they were going to lose their land decided to back the military and in 1964 a coup began and a series of authoritarian regimes grew and started attracting foreign finance into their own land. But in 1978 President Figueiredo re-established the civilian rule and democracy and under his successor and a new constitution was made through the 1980’s and with rapid growth in industrialization, Brazil started to become richer. In the 1990’s problems began again with high inflation and economic recession brought the Brazilian government and their success’s to an end and with the then president Collor de Mellor faced with allegations and corruption, the president resigned in 1992, he was then taken over by president Itamar Franco he served until 1995 and then was replaced by president Fernando Cardoso who went on to pursue privatization, but the economy remained weak. Brazil’s current president is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, elected in 2002 and reelected in 2006. Brazil is doing well at the moment but it did have to apply for a loan, but fingers crossed the country will start to boom once more.
This ia a picture taken from panoramio of Copacabana beach, Rio de Janeiro.
This is a scenic view of mountains and countryside in Brazil taken from panoramio.
The Brazilian Carnaval is a religious celebration, which is held by Roman catholics 4 days before Ash Wednesday and marks the beginning of Lent. The festival is for the Roman Catholics to give up bodily pleasures and eating of meat. The carnival, celebrated as a main event and is believed to have come from pagan festivals. Brazilian Carnival differs in different parts of the world.Brazilian citizens used to riot until the Carnival was accepted by the government as an expression of culture. That was because the Brazilian carnival had its origin in a Portuguese festivity called “entrudo”. With it’s nightlife of clubs, bars, pubs, restaurants, shows and lots and lots of live music, hotels, beaches and galons and galons of history, beautiful weather and seas. Brazil is the all round holiday destination and what a country it is.
This is a picture taken from panoramio from the river of Sao Paulo.
- Learn about Brazil on wikipedia:
- Find Brazil on Google Maps:
- Find Brasilia capital city on Google Maps:
- Find Rio de Janeiro on Google Maps:
- Find Sao Paulo on Google Maps:
- Learn about the Brazilian Carnival on wikipedia:
Posted in South America | 2 Comments
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2 Responses to “The world’s fifth largest country Brazil.”
Comments
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Nick Ramsay, exploring the world from a zabuton in Japan.
11:45 am on July 13th, 2008
There’s a rumor that Brazil couldn’t pay back the loan they got from the World Bank, and had to give up the Amazon basin. If true, that means the Amazon isn’t owned by Brazil anymore. Amazing, eh?
8:47 am on July 14th, 2008
Yes i know it just goes to show that if you get into debt other countries will help out as long as there is something for them. Plus being such a large country, it would take many years for Brazil to be really wealthy all over the country not just in parts like now.