<text><span class="style42"></span><span class="style12">BRAZIL</span><span class="style14"></span><span class="style42">Official name: </span><span class="style13">A República Federativa do Brasil (the Federative Republic of Brazil)</span><span class="style42">Member of:</span><span class="style13"> UN, OAS, ALADI, Mercosur</span><span class="style42">Area:</span><span class="style13"> 8511996 km2 (3286482 sq mi)</span><span class="style42">Population:</span><span class="style13"> 156493000 (1993 est)</span><span class="style42">Capital: </span><span class="style13">Brasília 1864000 (city 1841000; 1991 est)</span><span class="style42">Other major cities: </span><span class="style13">São Paulo 18100000 (city 9700000), Rio de Janeiro 11141000 (city 5487000, Nova Iguacu 1325000), Belo Horizonte 3446000 (city 2103000), Recife 2924000 (city 1336000), Pôrto Alegre 2924000 (city 1255000), Salvador 2362000 (city 2075000), Fortaleza 2169000 (city 1709000), Curitiba 1926000 (city 1248000) (1991 est)</span><span class="style42">Language:</span><span class="style13"> Portuguese (official)</span><span class="style42">Religion:</span><span class="style13"> Roman Catholic (89%), Protestant Churches (nearly 7%)</span><span class="style42">GOVERNMENT</span><span class="style13">The President – who appoints a Cabinet – is elected for a five-year term by universal adult suffrage. The lower house of the National Congress (the Chamber of Deputies) has 503 members elected for four years by compulsory universal adult suffrage. The 91 members of the upper house (the Federal Senate) are elected directly for an eight-year term – one third and two thirds of the senators retiring alternately every four years. Each of the 26 states has its own legislature.</span><span class="style42">GEOGRAPHY</span><span class="style13">Nearly one half of Brazil is drained by the world’s largest river system, the Amazon, whose low-lying basin is still largely covered by tropical rain forest, although pressure on land has encouraged deforestation. North of the Amazon Basin, the Guiana Highlands contain Brazil’s highest peak – Pico da Neblina (3014 m / 9888 ft). A central plateau of savannah grasslands lies south of the Basin. In the east and south, a densely populated coastal plain adjoins the Brazilian Highlands, a vast plateau divided by fertile valleys and mountain ranges. </span><span class="style42">Principal rivers: </span><span class="style13">Amazon 6448 km (4007 mi), Paraná 4880 km (3032 mi). </span><span class="style42">Climate: </span><span class="style13">The Amazon Basin and the southeast coast are tropical with heavy rainfall. The rest of Brazil is either subtropical or temperate (in the savannah). Only the northeast has inadequate rainfall.</span><span class="style42">ECONOMY</span><span class="style13">Agriculture employs about one quarter of the labor force. The principal agricultural exports include coffee, sugar cane, soyabeans, oranges, beef cattle and cocoa. Timber was important, but environmental concern is restricting its trade. Rapid industrialization since 1945 has made Brazil a major manufacturing country. While textiles, clothing and food processing are still the biggest industries, the iron and steel, chemical, petroleum-refining, cement, electrical, motor-vehicle and fertilizer industries have all attained international stature. Brazil has enormous – and, in part, unexploited – natural resources, including iron ore, phosphates, uranium, copper, manganese, bauxite, coal and vast hydroelectric power potential. In the last two decades, rampant inflation has hindered development. </span><span class="style42">Currency: </span><span class="style13">Real.</span><span class="style42">HISTORY</span><span class="style13">In 1500, Pedro Cabral claimed Brazil for Portugal. Sugar was introduced in 1532. The plantations were dependent upon slaves, at first using native Indians, but gradually replacing them with Africans. In the 17th and 18th centuries, expansion south and west in search of gold and diamonds brought the Portuguese into conflict with Spain over borders. Threatened by a French invasion, the Portuguese royal family fled to Brazil (1808). The regent Dom João instituted reforms, making Brazil an equal partner with Portugal. In 1821, he returned to Portugal as king, leaving his son Dom Pedro as regent. When Portugal attempted to return Brazil to colonial rule, Pedro proclaimed Brazilian independence with himself as emperor (1822). After losing a war with Argentina (1828), Pedro abdicated (1831) in favor of his son, Pedro II, whose long reign brought stability and economic growth. Opposition from landowners (angered by the abolition of slavery in 1888) and the military (who were excluded from political power) led to a coup and the end of the monarchy in 1889.The republic was initially stable, but social unrest mounted and, in 1930, Getúlio Vargas seized power. Vargas attempted to model Brazil on Mussolini’s Italy, but was overthrown by the military in 1945. Vargas was elected president again (1950), but he committed suicide to avoid impeachment (1954). Short-lived civilian governments preceded a further period of military rule (1964–85), during which the economy expanded rapidly, but political and social rights were restricted. Civilian rule was restored in 1985 and in 1990 Brazilians were able for vote for a president for the first time in 29 years.</span></text>
