BRAZIL

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, behind Russia, Canada, China, and the U.S.A., with an area of eight and a half million square kilometers. There are around 155 million Brazilians, but there must be thousands of nameless tramps who live and die in the country without ever having been registered officially.  

The official language is Portuguese, albeit the Brazilian version of this language. Brazilian Portuguese sounds more musical than the original European version. The official currency of Brazil is the REAL and is valued basically on par with the U.S. dollar, although the exchange rate tends to vary. Mr. Fernando Henrique Cardoso was elected president, by a democratic presidential election, on October 3, 1994 by the widest popular margin in a Brazilian election since 1945. Brazil is a Federal Republic consisting of 26 states and a Federal District, where Brasilia, the country's capital, is located. 

The Brazilian summer lasts from December to February, a period frequently bringing stifling humidity to the far south. Brief rain showers are common, given Brazil's tropical climate, but the dry interior has only a few months of heavy rainfall a year. Of course, the Amazon Basin is the wettest area, with damp, moist temperatures averaging 27 C. Brazil's winter lasts from June to August, with temperatures between 13°C  and 18°C, but it only gets really cold south of Rio.   

Some of the most important cities and states are :  26 states (estados in Portuguese) and 1 federal district (distrito federal); Acre, Alagoas, Amapa, Amazonas, Bahia, Ceara, Distrito Federal*, Espirito Santo, Goias, Maranhao, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Para, Paraiba, Parana, Pernambuco, Piaui, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondonia, Roraima, Santa Catarina, Sao Paulo, Sergipe, Tocantins.Brazil has five distinctive regions: North, formed by the states of Rondonia, Acre, Amazonas, Roraima, Para, Amapa and Tocantins States. This region is responsible for 6% of Brazil's total GNP.

The basin of the Amazon River and its tributaries covers almost half of Brazil's territory. This region is one of the world's largest rainforest ecologies.  The ongoing exploitation of the rainforest has brought with it that a large proportion of this area has suffered the effects of modernization in recent years. From the Amazon's mouth on the Pacific to Manaus, the region's bustling main city, the river is heavily traveled, and  wildlife is scarce. Away from the cities and the main course of the Amazon, however, smaller tributaries lead past unspoiled habitat and traditional villages.

Brazil's population is concentrated in the major cities of its coast, despite its vast expanse of territory. The urban agglomerations of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo dominate the southern coast. Further north, towns such as Salvador and João Pessoa retain the colonial atmosphere of the early Portuguese settlers. The great interior, much of which is covered by the rainforest basin of the Amazon, remains sparsely settled.

South of the Amazon region, the country's interior is dominated by the Brazilian Shield, an expansive bedrock flat that is slowly falling victim to the elements.  The Mato Grosso, a smooth, grassy plain in Brazil's center, slowly gives way to the Planalto, a low-rise plateau that extends across the central and western regions. In the far west, along the border with Paraguay and Bolivia, is the Pantanal, one of the most extensive swamplands in the world.