BRAZIL

The most populous nation in all of South America is Brazil. It encompasses almost half of the continent in its entirety. From the 16th to the 19th century, it was under the dominion of the Portuguese. They chose to honor the brazilwood tree by giving it that name. Deserts can be found in the region's northeast. Rain forests can be found in the north and west of the region. There are undulating meadows in the southern region. Because of the wide range of temperatures, nearly every kind of plant may be cultivated here. There are large cities in Brazil that are teeming with people and sites that have never been explored before. The Itaip Dam is one of the largest hydroelectric projects in the world, and it is located in the south of the country. The water from the Paraná and Paraguay rivers is utilized to power the dam.

CITY LIFE

About 80% of Brazilians call a city home, the majority of them are located in close proximity to the water. Many people from rural areas have made the journey into the city over the years in search of employment opportunities and a higher quality of life. The cities had rapid expansion for a number of years, but that pace has since tapered down. More than 20 million people call the city of Sao Paulo or its surrounding area home. This is a greater number than the sum of all of the individuals who live in London and Paris combined.

PEOPLE OF BRAZIL

Brazil is home to a diverse collection of individuals from all walks of life. Some of them have ties to the indigenous Indians who have always inhabited Brazil, while others have ties to the Portuguese who dominated the country for the first three hundred years of its history. A significant number of Brazilians can trace their lineage back to African slaves who were brought to Brazil in the 17th century to work on the country's sugar plantations. As a result of the failure of harvests in Japan at the beginning of the 20th century, many people emigrated to Brazil. A significant number of immigrants from Europe emigrated to the southern region of the United States during the 20th century.

SHANTYTOWNS

Around 25 million people in Brazil are forced to live in overcrowded slums known as favelas, which are located on the outskirts of the country's major cities. The majority of the houses are built by the family living in them, and while they occasionally make use of discarded materials, more often than not they use wood, bricks, and cement that they have purchased from local hardware stores. The availability of clean water and sanitary facilities is minimal.

AGRICULTURE

Coffee is grown on enormous estates in the states of Paraná and So Paulo, which makes Brazil the greatest producer and exporter of coffee in the world. Coffee is grown in Brazil. However, coffee is not the sole important export crop of the country; soy beans, sugarcane, and cotton are also abundantly farmed throughout the country. Oranges, bananas, and cocoa beans are three of Brazil's most important exports around the world. Over one-quarter of the Brazilian population is employed in agriculture, and the size of farms in the country ranges from little plots of land to vast estates. A large number of laborers toil in the fields for a meager wage, while a small number of affluent landowners reap enormous financial rewards.

SOCCER

In Brazil, virtually everyone plays or watches soccer, and every city has a stadium dedicated to the sport. In preparation for the 1950 World Cup, the enormous Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro was built. It has the capacity to hold 200,000 spectators. The most World Cup titles belong to Brazil, who most recently took home the trophy in 2002. Many of Brazil's best soccer players are currently doing their trade in Europe, primarily in England, Spain, and Italy.

FISH PIRANHA

The rivers of the rainforest are home to a variety of poisonous fish. They have teeth as sharp as razors and are capable of killing and skinning a large animal in a matter of minutes if hundreds of them attack at once.

AMAZON

The Andes Mountains in Peru are the place where the Amazon River begins its journey. It then flows across South America for a total of 4,001 miles (or 6,439 kilometers) before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil is home to more than half of the Amazon River's length, which makes it its namesake country. It is the most major canal in the country due to the fact that large ships can navigate interior as far as the contemporary city of Manaus, which is almost 1,600 kilometers (or 994 miles) from the coast. Every year, the river goes over its banks, depositing fertile silt on the surrounding environment.

JOY OF THE RISING SUN

There are 7,400 kilometers of coastline along the Atlantic Ocean that go along Brazil's eastern coast (4,598 miles). People from Rio de Janeiro and tourists from around the world flock to the city's large sandy beaches to socialize and play volleyball. Sugarloaf Mountain stands in the background of Copacabana, which is often considered to be Rio de Janeiro's most famous beach. On the other hand, due to the strong currents, only experienced swimmers should attempt to brave the waves.

The pattern of growth experienced by the Brazilian economy might be aptly characterized as BOOM AND BUST. The decade of the 1960s and the decade of the 1970s was a time of great industrial progress for the nation. The boom eventually came to an end, Brazil filed for bankruptcy, and it became the country with the highest total amount of debt in the world. At the moment, the repayment of loans is the primary concern of the government. Mining is one of the most important industries in Brazil because to the country's rich natural resources such as gold and iron ore. Despite this, Brazil's population continues to grow rapidly. Both wealthy and impoverished people live in the South American nation of Brazil. The vast majority of individuals who live in rural areas are considered to be among the poorest in the country, although certain landowners and businesses in these areas are highly wealthy. Even though Brazil has had a democratic government since 1985, the country still has a problem with bribery and other forms of corruption.

CARNIVAL

Every year, the Brazilian celebration of carnival lasts for four days and nights (in February or March). People come from all over the world to take part in the carnival celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, which include street parties, balls, and a contest to determine who has the best costume. Day and night, the streets are packed with people dressed in incredible costumes who are dancing to the beat of the music. The parade of brightly colored floats that have been constructed by local samba schools is the primary attraction of the carnival.

The cuisine of Bahia

The Brazilian state of Bahia, located in the country's north, was the first part of the country to be colonized by Europeans. Later on, African slave cooks came up with a range of mouthwatering meals using fish and spices that were endemic to their home continent of Africa. Along the beaches of Bahia, women still provide these meals, in addition to candy made from coconut and excellent hot fish patties. These can also be found for sale.

ECONOMY

Although it is responsible for the production of the majority of its own food and manufactured commodities, Brazil is still in need of financial assistance to pay off its enormous debts. In addition to the large quantities of Brazilian automobiles that are sold in Argentina, which are represented above, coffee, minerals, and airplanes are also among the country's most important exports. The cities of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Belo Horizonte form a large triangle that is home to the majority of Brazil's industrial sector.

RELIGION

Nearly 80% Brazilians adhere to Roman Catholicism, the faith that the Portuguese brought with them to the country. Every city, town, and hamlet in the country has its own patron saint who watches over it. Additionally, millions of Brazilians enjoy their right to religious freedom by worshiping African deities and spirits as part of their spiritual practice. During the months of December and January, for example, people make offerings on beaches such as flowers, soap, and fruit in honor of Iemanjá, the African goddess of the sea. They do this in the belief that Iemanjá will grant their wishes for the new year. The figure of worship linked with the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Christian religion.

RAINFOREST OF AMAZON

The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rain forest that still exists on Earth, occupying an area that is comparable in size to Australia. Around one-third of South America is dedicated to its cultivation, with the majority of this taking place in Brazil around the Amazon River. Both food and shelter are provided by the trees for a wide variety of animals, including birds, insects, and reptiles, as well as Amazonian Indian tribes that have lived in the forest for thousands of years. However, because the rain forest is such a fragile ecology, vast areas of it are currently being cleared for development, which puts both people and animals in danger.

INDIA'S VARIOUS TRIBES

At one point, there were nearly 5 million native Indians residing in the jungle; currently, there are only approximately 220,000 native Indians left. The most populous of these groups are shown on the map that is shown above. The majority of people live as shifting cultivators, which means that they only settle down for a little amount of time in order to hunt and cultivate basic food crops before moving on to the next location. It is possible that the fertility of the forest soil will be restored in this way. Indians have been at risk of contracting infectious diseases such as influenza and measles ever since people from the outside world began entering the forest because they lack the necessary immunity.

BRASÍLIA

In the late 1950s, as part of a government initiative to entice people to relocate to more rural areas of the country, the capital city of Brasilia was established. It succeeded Rio de Janeiro as Brazil's capital in 1960. The city is laid out in the form of an airplane, with the commercial districts located in the fuselage, residential areas on each side of it, and the administrative districts in the center. This contemporary city is well-known for the daring architecture that it features, such as the glass church that can be seen here.

SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA

The climates of the countries that make up southern South America are quite diverse, ranging from the tropical heartland of Paraguay to the warm Mediterranean environment of central Chile to the freezing conditions that may be found around the glaciers in Argentina. Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay make up this portion of South America's mainland continent. This portion of the continent is frequently referred to as the "southern cone" because to the shape it has. The pampas are a significant area of land because they are a vast, fertile plain that span Argentina and Uruguay and produce a significant amount of wheat. All four of these nations were governed by repressive military dictatorships throughout the 1970s. Since that time, these autocratic regimes have been toppled, and the countries are now led by democratic administrations.

MIGRANT GROUPS

There are a significant number of people who originated from Europe and now live in South America. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Italy was in a state of economic need, people traveled to Argentina to assist in the harvesting of wheat. A significant number of them never even visited Italy again. Workers from Spain emigrated to countries such as Argentina and Uruguay. Mennonites are a German religious sect that relocated from Canada to Paraguay in search of more religious freedom. People from Wales fled to Argentina in order to escape English authority and maintain the Welsh language after it was nearly extinct.

ATACAMA DESERT

This desert in northern Chile is the driest place on Earth because it doesn't get any rain for years at a time. When it rains, it often leads to flash floods. The Atacama Desert is a barren wasteland with sun-baked rocks and shifting sand dunes. At night, the temperature can drop a lot in just one hour. The only paved road that goes through this dry area is the Pan-American Highway.

HOW DO PEOPLE LIVE?

People have moved from the country to the city to find work in the last 50 years, which has caused a lot of change. Huge numbers of immigrants had already made cities in Argentina and Uruguay very crowded. In each country, the number of people living in the capital city has grown quickly, while the number of people living in other cities has stayed about the same. About 40 percent of Argentinians,

I live in Buenos Aires, which is shown in the picture below. Since the 1970s, the rate of people moving to cities has slowed.

BREEDING CATTLE

Argentina and Uruguay get a lot of their money from exporting beef from cattle farms. Huge herds of cattle graze on the pampas. Many of them eat alfalfa plants, which make the meat leaner. The main breeds are Aberdeen Angus and Herefords, which came from Europe over the last hundred years. Patagonia's cooler areas are where sheep graze, and Argentina and Uruguay are two of the best countries in the world for making wool.

DAM ITAIP

To build the Itaip Dam on the Paraná River in Paraguay, huge amounts of land had to be cleared. The dam is one of the biggest hydroelectric projects in the world. It was built by Paraguay and Brazil together, and it can make a lot of electricity. Unfortunately, the lake created by the dam covered up a number of waterfalls and became a breeding ground for mosquitoes that spread malaria.

LARGE ANTEATER

The huge anteater is one of the most interesting animals in South America. It spends the day in the pampas looking for ants and termites. If it finds an insect nest, it breaks it up with its strong claws and eats the bugs with its long, sticky tongue.