Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and also Latin America. At 8.5 million square kilometers (3,300,000 sq mi) and with over 211 million people, Brazil is the globe’s fifth-largest country by location and also the sixth most heavily populated. Its resources is Brasília, and its most populated city is São Paulo likewise one of the most populated city in the Western Hemisphere. The federation is composed of the union of the 26 states as well as the Federal Area. It is the biggest country to have Portuguese as a main language and the just one in the Americas; it is also one of one of the most multicultural and also ethnically varied nations, due to over a century of mass migration from around the globe; in addition to the most populated Roman Catholic-majority country.

Bounded by the Atlantic Sea on the eastern, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 kilometers (4,655 mi). It borders all other countries and regions in South America except Ecuador and Chile and also covers 47.3% of the continent’s acreage. Its Amazon.com container consists of a substantial exotic forest, home to diverse wild animals, a variety of eco-friendly systems, and also substantial natural deposits covering various safeguarded habitats. This one-of-a-kind environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, and also is the subject of considerable worldwide passion, as ecological degradation through procedures like deforestation has direct effect on global issues like environment change and also biodiversity loss.

Brazil was inhabited by countless tribal countries prior to the touchdown in 1500 of traveler Pedro Álvares Cabral, that asserted the location for the Portuguese Realm. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony till 1808 when the resources of the realm was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro. In 1815, the colony rose to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the UK of Portugal, Brazil as well as the Algarves. Freedom was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and also a legislative system. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the development of a bicameral legislature, now called the National Congress.

The country came to be a presidential republic in 1889 complying with an army coup d’état. A tyrannical military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, after which noncombatant governance returned to. Brazil’s current constitution, created in 1988, specifies it as an autonomous government republic. Due to its rich culture as well as history, the country rates thirteenth on the planet by number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.