Brazil, South American Political Geography

Related Category: South American Political Geography

Brazil[bruzil´] Pronunciation Key, Port. Brasil, officially Federative Republic of Brazil, republic (1997 pop. 159,800,000), 3,286,470 sq mi (8,511,965 sq km), E South America. By far the largest of the Latin American countries, Brazil occupies nearly half the continent of South America, stretching from the Guiana Highlands in the north, where it borders Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, to the plains of Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina in the south. In the west it spreads to the equatorial rain forest, bordering on Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia; in the east it juts far out into the Atlantic toward Africa. It is a federation of 26 states and BrasIlia, the federal district and site of the capital city of the same name. Its largest cities are SAo Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.