Brazil

Brazil
Brazil,[b] officially the Federative Republic of Brazil,[c] is the largest and easternmost country in
South America and in Latin America. Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the
seventh most populous. Its capital is Brasília, and its most populous city is São Paulo. The
federation is composed of the union of the 26 states and the Federal District. It is the only
country in the Americas to have Portuguese as an official language.[10][11] Brazil is one of the
most multicultural and ethnically diverse nations, due to over a century of mass immigration
from around the world.[12]
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 kilometers (4,655
mi).[13] It borders all other countries and territories in South America except Ecuador and Chile
and covers roughly half of the continent's land area.[14] Its Amazon basin includes a vast
tropical forest, home to diverse wildlife, a variety of ecological systems, and extensive natural
resources spanning numerous protected habitats.[13] This unique environmental heritage
positions Brazil at number one of 17 megadiverse countries, and is the subject of significant
global interest, as environmental degradation through processes like deforestation has direct
impacts on global issues like climate change and biodiversity loss.
The territory which would become known as Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations
prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the discovered land
for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808 when the capital of
the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro. In 1815, the colony was elevated to
the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the
Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a
unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system. The
ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, now
called the National Congress. Slavery was abolished in 1888. The country became a presidential
republic in 1889 following a military coup d'état. An authoritarian military dictatorship emerged
in 1964 and ruled until 1985, after which civilian governance resumed. Brazil's current
constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic.[15] Due to its rich
culture and history, the country ranks thirteenth in the world by number of UNESCO World
Heritage Sites.[16]
Brazil is a regional and middle power[17][18][19] that is an emerging power[20][21][22][23] and

a major non-NATO ally of the United States.[24] Categorised as a developing country with a
high Human Development Index,[25] Brazil is considered an advanced emerging economy,[26]
having the ninth largest GDP in the world by nominal, and eighth by PPP measures, the largest
in Latin America.[6][27] As an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank[28] and a
newly industrialized country,[29] Brazil has the largest share of global wealth in South America
and is one of the world's major breadbaskets, being the largest producer of coffee for the last
150 years.[30] However, the country retains noticeable corruption, crime and social inequality.
Brazil is a founding member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, G4, Mercosul, Organization
of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States and the Community of Portuguese
Language Countries. Brazil is also an observer state of the Arab League.[31]
Etymology
Main article: Name of Brazil
The word "Brazil" likely comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew
plentifully along the Brazilian coast.[32] In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the
word brasil commonly given the etymology "red like an ember", formed from brasa ("ember")
and the suffix -il (from -iculum or -ilium).[33] It has alternatively been suggested that this is a
folk etymology for a word for the plant related to an Arabic or Asian word for a red plant.[34]
As brazilwood produces a deep red dye, it was highly valued by the European textile industry
and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil.[35] Throughout the 16th
century, massive amounts of brazilwood were harvested by indigenous peoples (mostly Tupi)
along the Brazilian coast, who sold the timber to European traders (mostly Portuguese, but also
French) in return for assorted European consumer goods.[36]
The official Portuguese name of the land, in original Portuguese records, was the "Land of the
Holy Cross" (Terra da Santa Cruz),[37] but European sailors and merchants commonly called it
the "Land of Brazil" (Terra do Brasil) because of the brazilwood trade.[38] The popular
appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name. Some early sailors
called it the "Land of Parrots".[39]
In the Guaraní language, an official language of Paraguay, Brazil is called "Pindorama", meaning
"land of the palm trees".[40]

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Brazil is a regional and middle power[17][18][19] that is an emerging power[20][21][22][23] and

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