Brazil detailed geographic map

Brazil is the fifth-largest country in the world. Only Russia,  Canada, China, and the United States are bigger. The country's main  regions are the Amazon Basin, the dry northeast, where farmers rear  cattle, and the southeast, Brazil's most thickly populated region. Until  1822 the country was a Portuguese colony. Today Brazil is a rapidly  developing country, but many Brazilians are poor. Farming employs 23  percent of the people, and Brazil is one of the world's leading  producers of crops and livestock.    

Area: 8,547,403 sq km (3,300.156 sq miles)    

Highest point: Pico da Neblina, 3,014 m (9,888 ft)    

Population: 161,365,000    

Capital: Brasilia (pop, including suburbs,1,778.000)    

Largest cities: Sao Paulo (pop 16,417,000), Rio de Janeiro (pop  9,888.000), Salvador (pop 2,819,000) Official language: Portuguese  Religions: Christianity (Roman Catholic 72%, Protestant 23%). other 5%  Government: Federal republic Currency: Real    

Poisonous frogs and various plants contain chemical substances  used by the people of the Amazon for hunting and medicines. Curare, a  drug used in anesthetics, comes from the Amazon. Other useful  substances, as yet undiscovered, may also exist in the rainforest.    

Native Americans live in decreasing numbers in the vast  rainforests of the Amazon Basin. Many have given up their traditional  way of life and now work in mines. The future of these people is  threatened because their forest home is being destroyed. Some groups  have already died out.    

Corumba Cars, aircraft, chemicals, processed food, iron and  steel, paper, and textiles are leading industries in Brazil. The  country's rich mineral reserves include bauxite, chrome, diamonds, gold,  iron ore, manganese, and tin.  

Amazon Basin The world's second-longest river after the Nile,  the Amazon has more water than any other. The Amazon Basin contains the  world's largest rainforest. In recent years, about one-tenth of the  forest has been destroyed. Plants and animals are vanishing before  scientists have had a chance to study them.    

Sloths are strange hairy mammals that live in the forests. They  use their hook-like claws to hang upside down from branches and rarely  move except to reach more of the leaves on which they continuously feed.  They remain so still that lichens and mosses grow on their fur.    

Sugar Loaf Mountain is a landmark of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's  second-largest city. The city has magnificent scenery and is famous for  its beaches, nightlife, and colorful carnivals.