Brasil
Have you ever seen the above spelling of Brazil and wondered whether or not it was a typographical error or not? Rest assured it is not an error. Most of us spell the name of the country ‘Brazil’ but that is because we are spelling it in English. The official language of Brazil is Portuguese, and in Portuguese the spelling is ‘Brasil’.
We see many colorful images of Brazil and hear references to it but despite its size and influence on the world many people do not know much about its history or its culture. Brazil was actually a colony of Portugal from the years 1500 to 1822. At the time of colonization there were already three million people living in Brazil. Today there are around two hundred million people living in Brazil. That gives it the fifth largest population of any country.
When people think of Brazil they often conjure up images of beaches and of Carnival, but there is a lot more to this vast country than that. It also ranks fifth largest in the world in terms of land mass and is recognized as having the most diverse wildlife and plant life on the globe. Much of the country is tropical as we would believe, but it actually encompasses five different climatic subtypes. It may not come as much of a surprise that there are parts of Brazil that are semi-arid, but you probably didn’t know that there are areas that experience frost and occasionally even snow at high altitudes. For the most part the temperature does not vary greatly between the seasons.
Along with the Amazon rainforest, well-known throughout the world because of its importance to the world’s climate, Brazil boasts some of the most diverse geographical regions. It is home to the largest wetland area in the world, Pantanal and also to the largest savanna, the Cerrado. Brazil is also home to the Amazon River which is the world’s largest in terms of volume. It is certainly an amazing place for just its natural beauty alone.
There is also a rich culture in Brazil that stems from both the indigenous people and from settlers that have come from Italy, Germany and Portugal to name just a few. The population is predominantly Roman Catholic. It is also a little-known fact that the country has more uncontacted people than any other country in the world. The immense size of the Amazon, the Atlantic forest and the Cerrado all contribute to the fact that there are a tremendous amount of people living in Brazil that do not have contact with civilization. This unspoiled nature is part of what is so compelling about Brazil, and it has also been the focus of worldwide attention as the rainforest is probably the greatest barrier to global warming in the world today.
Brazil is also home to bustling cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and you can find every amenity there. The cities are modern and boast museums, fascinating architecture and history that will amaze visitors to the country. It is truly a diverse land in so many respects and if you ever have the opportunity to go, you should.