Brazil

Stretching over 2,500 miles form east to west and 2,700 miles from north to south, Brazil is the world's largest tropical country. The only nations that are larger are the lands of Russia, Canada, China and the United States. Brazil has more then 150 million people spread unevenly over its huge land area, making it the fifth most populated country in the world. (Encyclopedia.com) More then two thirds of Brazil's people live in the cities and towns and more then 29 percent of them are in the ten cities with more then a million people. These include the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo with more then 15 million people and Rio de Janeiro with more then 9 million people. The rural population is mostly concentrated on the East Coast or in the highlands of the more southern states. Settlement however among the other states is sporadic through the other sectors of the country, but no matter where the majority may reside or continue to move, one unitary government still shelters them under the flag of Brazil. The Spanish navigator Vicente Yanez Pinzon was the first known European in the region now constituting Brazil and with this discovery placed the newly discovered land in the hands of Portugal. In April 1500, the Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral also reached the coast of present-day Brazil and formally claimed the surrounding region in the name of Portugal. The territory was named Terra da Vera Cruz, Portuguese for "Land of the True Cross"). An expedition under the command of the Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci was sent to Terra da Vera Cruz by the Portuguese government in 1501. In the course of his explorations Vespucci named many capes and bays, including a bay which he called Rio de Janeiro. He returned to Portugal with a cargo of brazilwood, and from that time forward Terra da Vera Cruz bore the name of the valuable wood Brazil. (Encyclopedia.com ) Later through the passing years Brazil has undergone a series of political rulers from the autocratic rule... [continues]

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