Fun Facts about Brasil
If you spell it with an "s", it's in
Portuguese. If you spell it with a "z", it's in English. Portugal
claimed the land in 1500 by Pedro Álvares Cabral. It's the largest
country in South America and the only one that speaks Portuguese. Brazil
declared independence from Portugal in 1822.
The name "Brazil" comes from a tree, the brazilwood tree, that once grew
in abundance on the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, the name of
the tree "pau-brasil" means "red like an ember" which fit because a deep
red dye can be obtained from the tree.
Brasil ranks fifth in the world in both size and population.
Brazil is big, over 3 million square miles big! It crosses three
time zones and touches every other country in South America except Chile
and Ecuador. The population is over 200 million people (about half
of all South America's people) and there are thirteen cities with over a
million residents. Rio has around six million people and Sao Paulo
nearly doubles that. And, if you need to get somewhere fast, there
are about 4000 airports in the country.
The capital city used to be Rio de Janeiro. But, in 1960, it was
changed to Brasilia. It took 41 months to build the new capital city.
The second longest river in the world, the Amazon River, flows through
Brasil. About 60% of the Amazon Rainforest is in Brasil.
Brasilians love their football (soccer). They have won the World
Cup five times and perhaps their most famous player ever is Edson
Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele.
Brasil supplies about one third of the world's coffee. But, it is
also the world's largest producer of sugar, sugarcane, tropical fruits,
and orange juice concentrate.
The green on the flag represents the rainforests of Brasil while the
yellow diamond signifies the mineral wealth. The stars on the flag
depict the sky over Rio de Janeiro on November 15, 1889, when Brasil
declared itself a republic.
Most Brasilians are descendants of Amerindians, Europeans, and
Africans. It is estimated that 3.5 million African slave survived
the trip across the ocean to work in Brasilian sugar cane fields between
1500 and 1800.