Travel Reports » Brazil

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and, with a population of around 210 million, the fifth largest country in terms of population after China, India, the USA and Indonesia. The size of the country is gigantic: 4,345 kilometers from north to south and 4,330 kilometers from west to east. The country thus covers almost 50% of the continent of South America. While Spanish is spoken in most countries of the continent, Brazil is the only Portuguese-speaking country in America due to its colonial past. The capital of the country has been called Brasilia since 1960 and is located in the state of Goiás on a 1,100 m high plateau. Other important cities are Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Salvador da Bahia, Curitiba, Fortaleza and Recife. The Amazon is the largest river on earth with a water flow of over 200,000 m³/s. In the village of Blumenau there is an Oktoberfest, which is the second largest such festival outside Germany. Brazil has 22 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.