Brasil is a country of contrasts from
remote tropical rainforests to international tourist destinations, from small
villages to one of the largest urban areas in the world, from extreme wealth to
excruciating poverty and from places with all of the modern conveniences to areas
with virtually none of them.
The country is slightly smaller than the United States. Its northern, mostly flat-to-rolling lowlands transition to hills, mountains and a narrow coastal belt which altogether border every South American country except Ecuador and Chile.
Brasil is comprised of 26 states and the distrito federal (federal district) which holds the country's capital city, Brasilia. Yet despite boasting cosmopolitan cities such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, twenty-two per cent of Brasil's people are estimated to live below the poverty line and as recently as 2001 unemployment stood at approximately 6.4%. Nevertheless, the future is looking bright for this emerging hemispheric and third world leader.
"We no longer accept participation in international politics as if we were the wretches of Latin America, a no-account Third World country, a worthless country that has homeless children, a minor country where people only know how to play soccer and dance samba at Carnaval time. This country has much more than that." - Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brasil, Thursday, September 18, 2003, Itamaraty Palace (Brasilian Foreign Relations Ministry)
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Maps of Brasil
