Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil or República Federativa do Brasil, Some possible pronunciations:IPA: , , , , . It should be noticed that standard brasilian portuguese pronunciantion allows variant realisations of some phonemes, and that those variations do not necessarily imply any regional accent. European Portuguese pronunciation of the official name of Brazil is: . See Portuguese Phonology for more details.), is the largest and most populous country in South America, and fifth largest in the world in both area and population. Spanning a vast area between central South America and the Atlantic Ocean, it is the easternmost country of the Americas and it borders Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French department of French Guiana. In fact, it borders every South American nation except for Ecuador and Chile. The country's name is generally believed to be derived from pau-brasil (brazilwood), a tree highly valued by early colonists, though some credit the name to a mythical land mentioned in Europe during Middle Ages. Brazil is home to both extensive agricultural lands and rain forests. Exploiting vast natural resources and a large labor pool, it is South America's leading economic power and a regional leader. Because this country was a former colony of Portugal, Portuguese is its official language. Brazil has the world's second largest Christian population (151 million, behind that of the United States), and also is the world's largest Roman Catholic-majority nation in terms of both number of adherents and land mass --- a strong cultural legacy left behind by the Roman Catholic Portuguese colonists.

History

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Brazil is thought to have been inhabited for at least 10,000 years by semi-nomadic populations before the first Portuguese explorers, led by Pedro Álvares Cabral, disembarked in 1500. Over the next three centuries, it was resettled by the Portuguese and exploited mainly for brazilwood (Pau-Brasil) at first, and later for sugarcane (Cana-de-Açúcar) agriculture, coffee beans and gold mining. The colony's source of manpower was initially on enslaved Amerindians, and after 1550, mainly African slaves. In 1808, Queen Maria I of Portugal and her son and regent, the future João VI of Portugal, fleeing from the armies of Napoleon, relocated to Brazil with the royal family, nobles and government.

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#ooyyo Gebrauchter L 200 Mitsubishi, Brazil S%E3o Paulo http://www.ooyyo.ch/
ooyyo_ch (OOYYO Switzerland ) Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:52:06 -0000
#ooyyo Gebrauchter L 200 Mitsubishi, Brazil S%E3o Paulo http://www.ooyyo.ch/
Check Point at Av. das Américas-pista Central - Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 22793-080, Brazil http://trapster.com/_ZqI
edutrevisan (Eduardo Trevisan) Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:51:56 -0000
Check Point at Av. das Américas-pista Central - Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 22793-080, Brazil http://trapster.com/_ZqI
@justinbieber follow me please ! 'm your fan from Brazil! Brazil loves you @justinbieber @justinbieber @justinbieber @justinbieber xxx
JFMahmoudh (Felipe Mahmoudh ) Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:51:24 -0000
@justinbieber follow me please ! 'm your fan from Brazil! Brazil loves you @justinbieber @justinbieber @justinbieber @justinbieber xxx
@muse http://twitpic.com/u9uh0 - Matt, I'm desperate to hear you singing here in Brazil Please, come on!! #BrazilneedsMuse !!!
fabresende (Fabrício Resende) Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:51:14 -0000
@muse http://twitpic.com/u9uh0 - Matt, I'm desperate to hear you singing here in Brazil Please, come on!! #BrazilneedsMuse !!!
Just added myself to the http://wefollow.com twitter directory under: #chicago_il #science #history #brazil #chemistry #technology
ChicagOChemO (Matthew ) Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:51:11 -0000
Just added myself to the http://wefollow.com twitter directory under: #chicago_il #science #history #brazil #chemistry #technology
@McCartneyBieber im from brazil, hb u ?
JessLSM (Jéssica m.) Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:51:09 -0000
@McCartneyBieber im from brazil, hb u ?

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