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Brazil covers nearly half of South America and is the continent's
largest nation. It extends 2,965 miles (4,772 kilometers) from north to south,
2,691 miles (4,331 kilometers) from east to west, and borders every nation on
the continent except Chile and Ecuador.
Brazil may be divided into the Brazilian Highlands, or plateau, in
the south and the
Amazon River Basin in the north. Over a third of
Brazil is drained by the Amazon and its more than 200 tributaries.
The Amazon is navigable for ocean steamers to
Iquitos,
Peru, 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) upstream. Southern Brazil is
drained by the Plata system - the Paraguay, Uruguay, and Paraná
rivers.
Fast facts:
- Land area: 3,265,059 square miles (8,456,511 square kilometers),
total area: 3,286,470 square miles (8,511,965 square kilometers).
- Population (2007 est.): 190,010,647 (growth rate: 1.0%); birth
rate: 16.3/1000; infant mortality rate: 27.6/1000; life expectancy:
72.2; density per sq mi: 58.
Capital (2003 est.): Brasília,
2,160,100
- Largest cities: São Paulo, 18,333,000 (metro. area), 10,927,985
(city proper); Rio de Janeiro, 11,469,000 (metro. area), 6,094,183
(city proper); Salvador, 2,590,400; Belo Horizonte, 2,347,500;
Recife, 1,485,500; Porto Alegre, 1,372,700.
- Monetary unit: Real.
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Languages: Portuguese
(official), Spanish, English, French.
-
Ethnicity/race: white 53.7%,
mulatto (mixed white and black) 38.5%, black 6.2%, other (includes
Japanese, Arab, Amerindian) 0.9%, unspecified 0.7% (2000).
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Religion: Roman Catholic 74%,
Protestant 15%, Spiritualist 1%, none 7% (2000) |
