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 Brazil| Facts & Figures |
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| President: Luiz
Inácio Lula da Silva (2003)
Land area: 3,265,059 sq mi (8,456,511 sq
km); total area: 3,286,470 sq mi (8,511,965 sq km) Population (2009 est.): 198,739,269 (growth
rate: 1.2%); birth rate: 18.4/1000; infant mortality rate: 22.5/1000;
life expectancy: 72.0; density per sq km: 22
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 More Facts & Figures |
GeographyBrazil covers nearly half of South America and
is the continent's largest nation. It extends 2,965 mi (4,772 km)
north-south, 2,691 mi (4,331 km) east-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 mi (3,700 km) upstream. Southern Brazil is drained by
the Plata system—the Paraguay, Uruguay, and Paraná
rivers.
GovernmentFederal republic.
HistoryBrazil is the only Latin American nation that
derives its language and culture from Portugal. The native inhabitants
mostly consisted of the nomadic Tupí-Guaraní Indians. Adm.
Pedro Alvares Cabral claimed the territory for Portugal in 1500. The early
explorers brought back a wood that produced a red dye,
pau-brasil,
from which the land received its name. Portugal began colonization in 1532
and made the area a royal colony in 1549.
During the Napoleonic Wars, King João VI,
fearing the advancing French armies, fled Portugal in 1808 and set up his
court in Rio de Janeiro. João was drawn home in 1820 by a
revolution, leaving his son as regent. When Portugal tried to reimpose
colonial rule, the prince declared Brazil's independence on Sept. 7, 1822,
becoming Pedro I, emperor of Brazil. Harassed by his parliament, Pedro I
abdicated in 1831 in favor of his five-year-old son, who became emperor in
1840 (Pedro II). The son was a popular monarch, but discontent built up,
and in 1889, following a military revolt, he abdicated. Although a
republic was proclaimed, Brazil was ruled by military dictatorships until
a revolt permitted a gradual return to stability under civilian
presidents.
President Wenceslau Braz cooperated with the
Allies and declared war on Germany during World War I. In World War II,
Brazil again cooperated with the Allies, welcoming Allied air bases,
patrolling the South Atlantic, and joining the invasion of Italy after
declaring war on the Axis powers.
After a military coup in 1964, Brazil had a
series of military governments. Gen. João Baptista de Oliveira
Figueiredo became president in 1979 and pledged a return to democracy in
1985. The election of Tancredo Neves on Jan. 15, 1985, the first civilian
president since 1964, brought a nationwide wave of optimism, but when
Neves died several months later, Vice President José Sarney became
president. Collor de Mello won the election of late 1989, pledging to
lower hyperinflation with free-market economics. When Collor faced
impeachment by Congress because of a corruption scandal in Dec. 1992 and
resigned, Vice President Itamar Franco assumed the presidency.
A former finance minister, Fernando Cardoso, won
the presidency in the Oct. 1994 election with 54% of the vote. Cardoso
sold off inefficient government-owned monopolies in the
telecommunications, electrical power, port, mining, railway, and banking
industries.
In Jan. 1999, the Asian economic crisis spread
to Brazil. Rather than prop up the currency through financial markets,
Brazil opted to let the currency float, which sent the real
plummeting—at one time as much as 40%. Cardoso was highly praised by
the international community for quickly turning around his country's
economic crisis. Despite his efforts, however, the economy remained sluggish throughout 2001, and the country also faced an energy crisis. The IMF
offered Brazil an additional aid package in Aug. 2001. And in Aug. 2002,
to ensure that Brazil would not be dragged down by neighboring Argentina's
catastrophic economic problems, the IMF agreed to lend Brazil a phenomenal
$30 billion over fifteen months.
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