Brazil

When you think of Brazil, what do you think of? Brightly colored birds, like those in the animated movie Rio? Or maybe you think of tropical rainforests, street carnivals or white sand beaches? Brazil has all those things and much more. Brazil is the largest country in South America, and the fifth largest country in the world. Its coastline stretches 4,500 miles along the Atlantic Ocean. It borders every South American country except Ecuador and Chile.

Because Brazil is south of the equator, its seasons are opposite ours. When it’s summer in the United States, it’s winter in Brazil – and vice versa. Imagine going to the beach for Christmas! Sao Paulo and de Janeiro are the largest cities in Brazil. More than 43 percent of the people in Brazil live here.

The Amazon River runs through Brazil, creating a vast rainforest. Brazil also has grassy flatlands, called pampas, wetlands and coastal plains. Brazil has more varied animal life than any other country in the world. There are 600 mammal species, 1,600 bird species, 1,500 fish species, and over 100,000 different types of insects. Wow! That’s a lot of bugs!

In the Pantanal, a huge wetland, live huge anaconda snakes and giant relatives of the guinea pig, the capybaras. Watch out for caimans and alligators too. Most of the rainforests in Brazil have been destroyed to make room for houses and farming. The government has made laws to protect the remaining rainforests.

When Spanish explorers arrived in Brazil in the 1500s, there were over 30 million native people, or Amerindians. Today, there are less than 300,000. Portugal claimed Brazil in 1530. Brazil remained a sovereign nation until 1888, when it gained its freedom. The Portuguese brought slaves from Africa to work on the huge sugar plantations and to mine for diamonds and gold.

Fun Facts About Brazil for Kids

• 210,000,000 people live in Brazil.
• Jair Bolsonaro is the current President of Brazil after winning the October 2018 elections.
• Brasilia is the capital of Brazil. Over 4 million people live here.
• Sao Paulo is the largest city in Brazil with a population of over 14 million people.
• Brazil has 3,300,169 square miles of land. 47.3% of South America is covered by Brazil.
• Portuguese is the language in Brazil most people speak. Although people also speak German, Italian and English.
• The Brazilian currency is called Real.
• The oldest city in Brazil is Sao Vicente.
• The Roman Catholic Church is the largest church in Brazil. Many people have converted to Mormonism in recent years.
• People in Brazil can expect to live for 75 years.
• 93 percent of adults can read.
• At 2,994 m Pico da Neblina is the highest mountain in Brazil.
• The Amazon river is the longest river 6,992 km, although it also travels through many other south American countries.
• Well in excess of 100 different languages are spoken in Brazil.
• Have you ever wondered where the name name Brazil came from? Well, it’s derives from the tree “brazilwood”.
• The FIFA football World Cup was held here in 2014. Germany won the cup that year but Brazil have won it 5 times.
• There are more than 4,000 airports in Brazil.
• Brazil has 3 time zones.
• Christ the Redeemer statue was named as one of the “New Seven Wonders of the World”. It is 38 m high and weighs a whopping 635 tonnes.
• Over 6 million tourists visit Brazil every year.
• In 2016 Brazil hosted the Olympic Games.
• The capital Brasilia is shaped like an airplane when viewed from the air.
• Do you like oranges? Well over 30% of the world’s oranges are produced in Brazil.
• The most popular surname in Brazil is “Silva”.

Brazil Vocabulary

1. Carnival: festival, party
2. Border: touches
3. Coastline: land that meets an ocean or sea
4. Caiman: similar to alligators and crocodiles, but smaller
5. Native: originally living in a certain location

All About Brazil Video for Kids

Watch this awesome Brazil video for kids:

Brazil Q&A

Question: What is the favorite sport in Brazil?

Answer: Lots of people in the world love soccer, but the Brazilian people probably love it the most. Brazil’s soccer team has won the World Cup finals five times – the most of any country. Brazil hosted this event in 2014.

People love soccer so much that they don’t go to work during the World Cup. Better not knock on their doors or bother them while they’re watching soccer.

Map of Brazil

Here’s a map of the country of Brazil and all its cities and villages. Zoom in to get into street level or zoom out to see other countries around Brazil! You can see the terrain, but also see the roads, images of the buildings and even take a 3D tour through the streets of the cities of Brazil, as though you are actually there!

 

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