BRAZIL
Overview
Brazil, officially the Federal Republic of Brazil (: Brasil or República Federativa do Brasil), is a country in South America. It is the fifth-largest country by geographical area, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world.
Geography
Brazil occupies roughly half of South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil covers a total area of 8,514,215 km² (3,287,357 sq mi) which includes 8,456,510 km² (3,265,076 sq mi) of land and 55,455 km² (21,411 sq mi) of water. Brazil borders every nation on the South American continent except Ecuador and Chile. By comparison, Brazil is slightly smaller in land mass than the United States. It spans four time zones. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of over 7,367 kilometres (4577 miles).
Economy
Brazil's GDP (PPP and Nominal) is the highest of Latin America. The country has been expanding its presence in international financial and commodities markets, and is regarded as one of the group of four emerging economies called BRIC. Major export products include aircraft, coffee, automobiles, soybean, iron ore, orange juice, steel, ethanol, textiles, footwear, corned beef and electrical equipment. According to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Brazil has the ninth largest economy in the world by purchasing power parity (PPP) and tenth largest at market exchange rates.
Political division
Politically, Brazil is a Federation of twenty-six states (estados) and one federal district (Distrito Federal) which contains the capital , Brasília. The states are subdivided into 5,564 municipalities (cities). There are currently 20 cities with over 1,000,000 inhabitants, 80 cities with over 300,000 inhabitants, 50 cities with 150,000 inhabitants and 100 cities with 100,000 inhabitants. Largest cities: São Paulo (11 million), Rio de Janeiro (6 million), Salvador (2.7 million), Fortaleza (2.4 million), Belo Horizonte (2.4 million), Brasília (2.4 million).
Climate
Although 90% of the country is located within the tropical zone, Brazil has five climatic regions: equatorial, tropical, semiarid, highland tropical, and subtropical.
Road Network
Brazilian Highway System
The Brazilian national network of highways is the fourth largest of the world. It is almost 2 million km long, with approximately 200,000 km of them paved, as of 2004. Brazilian fleet amounts to 30 million vehicles, out of which 22.3 million are cars, 3.35 million are light goods vehicles, 1.5 million are trucks and 350 thousand are buses. Around 2 million vehicles run on ethanol.
