Brazil - A Country with too many faces!

            Find yourself  at home, surfing  on all links available on this web about Brazil, places to go, adventures to live, nature to see. Brazil is  a vast tropical country with unique historical characteristics. It possesses  a wealth of natural resources and a dynamic and expanding population. In  Brazil the old and the new often coexist side by side. The country is dotted with  modern world-class  cities that contrast with less developed areas and even primitive indian communities.
            Brazil's population  reached 153.7 million in 1994. The population is composed of a  variety of peoples and races, whose characteristics, including resilience, natural warmth and profound  artistic sensibility, contribute to the unique Brazilian identity. Brazil is the largest of the Latin  American countries, covering nearly  half (47.3%) of South America. It is the fifth largest country in the world after Russia, Canada China, and the United States. Brazil shares common borders with all the nations of South America except Ecuador  and Chile. The  Atlantic  Ocean  extends  along  the  entire  eastern  side  of  the  country  giving it a coastline of 4,578 miles. Brazil  has  a  vast  river  network  with 31,042 miles of navigable waterways. Most  important of these are in the Amazon Basin, which is the largest river system in the world, and the Tocantins-Araguaia Basin, followed by the São Francisco and Paraná River Basins.
            The  landscape  of  Brazil  is dominated by two prominent features - The Amazon River with its surrounding lowland  basin  of  1,544,400sq. miles  and  the  Central Highlands, a  plateau that rises southward from the great  river. A  network  of  high  mountain  ranges  runs  roughly   parallel to the coast from the south of the country to the northeast forming a Great Divide between the Atlantic Ocean and the interior.
            Although  90%  of  the  country  is  within  the  tropics, more than 60% of the population live in areas where altitude, sea winds, or colds fronts moderate the temperature.
            There are five climatic regions in Brazil: equatorial, tropical, semi-arid, highland  tropical, an  subtropical. Plateau  cities, such as  São Paulo, Brasilia and  Belo Horizonte, have  very  mild  climates  averaging  66  degrees Fahrenheit. In the Southern Brazilian cities  of  Porto  Alegre  and  Curitiba, the  subtropical  climate  is  similar  to  parts of the United States and Europe, with frosts occurring with some frequency.
            Use the map on the right side to learn a little more about some specific place you would like to visit in Brazil, and enjoy your staying!