An economic giant among the world’s 10 most flourishing economies in terms of gross domestic product (2009 GDP- US$1,796 trillion), Brazil also has the distinction of being the largest country in terms of area and population in both Latin America and the Caribbean.

GEOGRAPHY
Brazil covers nearly half of South America, and is the continent’s largest nation. It extends 2,965 mi (4,772 km) north-south; 2,691 mi (4,331 km) east-west; and borders every nation on the continent except Chile and Ecuador.
The country may be divided into the Brazilian Highlands, or plateau, in the south, and the Amazon River Basin in the north. Over a third of Brazil is drained by the Amazon and its more than 200 tributaries.
The Amazon is navigable for ocean steamers to Iquitos, Peru, 2,300 mi (3,700 km) upstream. Southern Brazil is drained by the Plata system –the Paraguay, Uruguay, and Paraná Rivers.
Brazil is an essentially urban country. According to the official census data, the percentage of the population living in urban areas sprang from 36 per cent in 1940, to 76 in 1991. That number rose again to 81 per cent in 2002. The census also indicates that more than 85 million Brazilians lived in cities of 100,000 or more in the early 1990s.
In terms of ethnic and cultural characteristics, the northern region is mostly populated by the descendants of native Indian groups. Known as caboclos, men and women of this sparsely populated Brazilian region (where most of the Amazon forest is located) live along the banks of the many rivers and creeks that constitute the Amazon River Basin.
Most of those caboclos rely on subsistence crops, fishing, and hunting as their main economic activity. Many of them still preserve much of the physical and cultural traits that characterized their native Brazilian ancestors. In the Northern region, the influence of Portuguese and other European immigrant groups can best be felt in larger cities, such as Belém and Manaus.

OVERVIEW

Although Brazil has had a history of economic boom-and-bust, and its development has been hampered by high inflation and excessive indebtedness, reforms in the 1990s, and ongoing sound macroeconomic and social policies have resulted in an extended period of stability, growth and social gains.
Sound economic policies and counter-cyclical measures helped the country weather the 2009 global financial crisis with relatively minor effect, and recover handily from it in 2010.
Brazil has immense natural resources, and strong industrial development potential, but still suffers from a wide gap between rich and poor. Innovative social programmes and a more inclusive growth in recent years have been gradually decreasing this inequality.
It  is the only Latin American nation that derives its language and culture from Portugal.
Brazil’s history as a nation goes back to 1500, when Portuguese navegadores (sailors) set foot on what is now the state of Bahia. Before the Portuguese, several different native populations occupied Brazil. Despite wildly divergent estimates, most historians believe the country was heavily populated along its lush 4,600-mile-long shoreline, and only sparsely occupied inland.
The native inhabitants mostly consisted of the nomadic Tupí-Guaraní Indians. Admiral Pedro Alvares Cabral claimed the territory for Portugal in 1500. The early explorers brought back a wood that produced a red dye, pau-brasil, from which the land received its name. Portugal began colonization in 1532, and made the area a royal colony in 1549.
Years before they discovered Brazil, the Portuguese had already claimed the eastern half of South America, when they signed the Treaty of Tordesillas with Spain in 1494. The colonization of Brazil, which started 30 years after discovery, was justified by economic, political and religious reasons. Portugal needed not only the abundant raw materials (wood, sugar cane, spices) free for the taking in the new colony, but it also took upon itself the duty of converting to Christianity the native population it encountered in the new land.
Portuguese colonization was very important in determining the future of the Brazilian press system.
A federal republic with 26 states and a federal district, the president holds office for four years, with the right to re-election for an additional four-year term, and appoints his own cabinet.

LEADER   (Photo saved as President Lula )
PRESIDENT LUIZ INACIO LULA da SILVA

BORN Luiz Inácio da Silva on October 27, 1945 at Garanhuns, in the hinterland region of Pernambuco State, the seventh of eight children to Aristides Inácio da Silva and Eurídice Ferreira de Mello, he later — by Brazilian legislation in cases where a person becomes better known by a nickname than the real name — added ‘Lula’ to his name of birth.
The name Lula, in Portuguese, means squid (the marine animal), but is also the nickname of many people called ‘Luiz’.
In December 1952, the family travelled 13 days on the back of a truck (‘pau-de arara’) and settled in Vicente de Carvalho, a poor neighbourhood of the city of Guarujá, in São Paulo State. Lula received basic schooling at the Marcílio Dias Public School. In 1956, the family moved into a bedroom at the back of a bar in the Ipiranga neighbourhood.
At age 12, he landed his first job at a local cleaner’s. Later, he became a shoeshine and an office boy. At 14, he got his first fixed employment at a warehouse. He later transferred to a metal parts factory, and got a placement in a lathe worker-training course offered by the National Service of Industry – SENAI, a training scheme for industrial workers funded by the public and private sectors. After a three-year course, Lula graduated as a metal worker.
In the strife that followed the 1964 military coup, Lula worked in various factories before joining the Villares Industries, one of the major metal works in the country. It was located in São Bernando do Campo, in the ABC region (ABC is an acronym of the three large cities which compose that industrial cluster: Santo André, São Bernardo and São Caetano), the industrial heartland of São Paulo State. There, his brother José Ferreira da Silva, better known as Frei Chico, brought him into contact with the labour movement.
In 1969, Lula sought a seat on the council of the Metalworkers Union of São Bernardo do Campo and Diadema.
In 1972, he was elected first-secretary, and in 1975 became president of the 100-thousand-strong union with 92% of the votes. It was at this time that Lula gave a new direction to the Brazilian labour movement. In 1978, Lula was reelected union president, and there soon followed the first work stoppages in 10 years since a government-sponsored clampdown on union activities.
In March 1979, 170,000 metalworkers paralyzed the ABC region. Under his charismatic leadership, memorable meetings were held in the local stadium (in Vila Euclides) in defiance of police intimation. Repression against striking workers amidst almost absolute absence of political representation of worker rights in the National Congress led Lula to first consider creating a workers party.
At this time, Brazil was undergoing a gradual process of political decompression under the reins of the Armed Forces, then holding power. On February 10 1980, Lula founded the Workers Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores – PT) together with other union members, intellectuals, politicians and representatives of social movements, such as rural and religious leaders.  From then on it was no turning back.
On October 27, 2002, at the age of 57, Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva was elected President of the Federative Republic of Brazil with almost 53 million votes
In his first term in office, Lula oversaw a highly successful two-pronged strategy that linked economic stabilization, growth incentives and social inclusion.
He was re-elected in 2006, and under his astute leadership, the country has assumed a higher international profile, with leadership roles in areas such as south-south cooperation, trade, bio-fuels, AIDS, biodiversity, and social technologies.
He will end his second term on December 31, 2010. Because of term limits, he could not run for a third consecutive term.

First Woman President-Elect
In October 2010’s second round of presidential elections, Dilma Rousseff, an acolyte of Lula’s and his former chief of staff, defeated José Serra 56% to 44% to become the country’s first woman president.
Rousseff is expected to follow through with Lula’s agenda, but faces the task of improving the country’s education, health, and sanitation systems. The vote was seen as an endorsement of Lula and his social and economic policies.

MEDIA
Number of Daily Newspapers:
465

Number of Television Sets:
36,500,000

Television Sets per 1,000:
209.2

Number of Radio Stations:
1822

Number of Radio Receivers:
71,000,000

Number of Individuals with Computers:
75,000,000

Number of Individuals with Internet Access:
5,000,000

The four top newspapers by circulation, in the country are: Folha de São Paulo (560,000); O Globo (350,000); O Dia (250,000); and O Estado de São Paulo (242,000). Located in the southeast region are Folha and Estado in São Paulo, and Globo and Dia in Rio.

FACTS AND FIGURES
Name: Federative Republic of Brazil
Population: 193.73 million (2009)
Capital: Brasilia
Largest city: Sao Paulo
Other cities: Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Recife
Area: 3.3 million sq miles
Currency: Real
GNI per capita (Atlas method, 2009): US$7,770
GDP Per Capita (PPP, 2009): US$10,427
Main exports: Transport equipment, iron ore, soybeans, footwear, coffee, autos
Language: Portuguese
Religion: Roman Catholic (74%)
Life expectancy: 69 years (men), 76 years (women)

NOTE: In 2016, Brazil will host the Summer Olympics and Paralympics, making it the first country in South America to do so.