Geography of Brazil

The country of Brazil occupies roughly half of South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil covers a total area of 8,514,215 km² (3,287,357 sq mi) which includes 8,456,510 km² (3,265,080 sq mi) of land and 55,455 km² (21,411 sq mi) of water. The highest point in Brazil is Pico da Neblina at 2,994 m (9,823 ft). Brazil is bordered by the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, and French Guiana.

Much of the climate is tropical, with the south being relatively temperate. The largest river in Brazil, and the second longest in the world, is the Amazon.

Brazil occupies most of the eastern part of the

In contrast to the Andes, which rose to elevations of nearly 7,000 meters (22,966 ft) in a relatively recent epoch and inverted the Amazon's direction of flow from westward to eastward, Brazil's geological formation is ancient.^[1] Precambrian crystalline shields cover 36% of the territory, especially its central area.^[1] The dramatic granite sugarloaf mountains in the city of Rio de Janeiro is an example of the terrain of the Brazilian shield regions, where continental basement rock has been sculpted into towering domes and columns by tens of millions of years of erosion, untouched by mountain-building events.

The principal mountain ranges average elevations under 2,000 meters (6,562 ft).

The Parcel de Manuel Luís Marine State Park off the coast of Maranhão protects the largest coral reef in South America.^[5]

Brazil has one of the world's most extensive

The major river system in the Northeast is the Rio São Francisco, which flows 1,609 kilometers (1,000 mi) northeast from the south-central region.^[1] Its basin covers 7.6% of the national territory.^[1] Only 277 kilometers (172 mi) of the lower river are navigable for oceangoing ships.^[1] The Paraná system covers 14.5% of the country.^[1] The Paraná flows south among the Río de la Plata Basin, reaching the Atlantic between Argentina and Uruguay.^[1] The headwaters of the Paraguai, the Paraná's major eastern tributary, constitute the Pantanal, the largest contiguous wetlands in the world, covering as much as 230,000 square kilometers (89,000 sq mi).^[1]

Below their descent from the highlands, many of the tributaries of the Amazon are navigable.^[1] Upstream, they generally have rapids or waterfalls, and boats and barges also must face sandbars, trees, and other obstacles.^[1] Nevertheless, the Amazon is navigable by oceangoing vessels as far as 3,885 kilometers (2,414 mi) upstream, reaching Iquitos in Peru.^[1] The Amazon river system was the principal means of access until new roads became more important.^[1] Hydroelectric projects are Itaipu, in Paraná, with 12,600 MW; Tucuruí, in Pará, with 7,746 MW; and Paulo Afonso, in Bahia, with 3,986 MW.^[1]

Natural resources in Brazil include bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin, clay, rare earth elements, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, and timber.^[6]

According to organs of the Brazilian government there are 12 major hydrographic regions in Brazil. Seven of these are river basins named after their main rivers; the other five are groupings of various river basins in areas which have no dominant river.

• 7 hydrographic regions named after their dominant rivers:
  • Amazonas
  • Paraguai
  • Paraná
  • Parnaíba
  • São Francisco
  • Tocantins
  • Uruguay
• 5 coastal Hydrographic Regions based on regional groupings of minor river basins (listed from north to south):
  • Atlântico Nordeste Ocidental (Western North-east Atlantic)
  • Atlântico Nordeste Oriental (Eastern North-east Atlantic)
  • Atlântico Leste (Eastern Atlantic)
  • Atlântico Sudeste (South-east Atlantic)
  • Atlântico Sul (South Atlantic)

The Amazon River is the widest and second longest river (behind the Nile) in the world. This huge river drains the greater part of the world's rainforests. Another major river, the Paraná, has its source in Brazil. It forms the border of Paraguay and Argentina, then winds its way through Argentina and into the Atlantic Ocean, along the southern coast of Uruguay.

Brazil's tropical soils produce almost 210 million tons of grain crops per year,^[7] from about 70 million hectares of crops.^[8] The country also has the 5th largest arable land area in the world.^[9] Burning also is used traditionally to remove tall, dry, and nutrient-poor grass from pasture at the end of the dry season.^[1] Until mechanization and the use of chemical and genetic inputs increased during the agricultural intensification period of the 1970s and 1980s, coffee planting and farming, in general, moved constantly onward to new lands in the west and north.^[1] This pattern of horizontal or extensive expansion maintained low levels of technology and productivity and placed emphasis on quantity rather than the quality of agricultural production.^[1]

The largest areas of fertile soils, called terra roxa (red earth), are found in the states of Paraná and São Paulo.^[1] The least fertile areas are in the Amazon, where the dense rainforest is.^[1] Soils in the Northeast are often fertile, but they lack water, unless they are irrigated artificially.^[1]

In the 1980s, investments made possible the use of irrigation, especially in the Northeast Region and in

The variety of climates, soils, and drainage conditions in Brazil is reflected in the range of its vegetation types.[1] The Amazon Basin and the areas of heavy rainfall along the Atlantic coast have tropical rain forest composed of broadleaf evergreen trees.^[1] The rain forest may contain as many as 3,000 species of flora and fauna within a 2.6-square-kilometer (1 sq mi) area.^[1] The Atlantic Forest is reputed to have even greater biological diversity than the Amazon rain forest, which, despite apparent homogeneity, contains many types of vegetation, from high canopy forest to bamboo groves.^[1]

In the semiarid Northeast,

Brazil, which is named after reddish dyewood (

Although 74% of the country is within the

High and relatively regular levels of precipitation in the Amazon contrast sharply with the dryness of the semiarid Northeast, where rainfall is scarce and there are severe droughts in cycles averaging seven years.[1] The Northeast is the driest part of the country.^[1] The region also constitutes the hottest part of Brazil, where during the dry season between May and November, temperatures of more than 38 °C (100 °F) have been recorded.^[1] However, the sertão, a region of semidesert vegetation used primarily for low-density ranching, turns green when there is rain.^[1] Most of the Center-West has 1,500 to 2,000 millimetres (59.1 to 78.7 in) of rain per year, with a pronounced dry season in the middle of the year, while the South and most of the year without a distinct dry season.^[1]

Hot semi-arid climate in the Caatinga, a biome that covers part of the Northeast Region of Brazil.

Snow in São Joaquim, Santa Catarina. The town has a subtropical highland climate

(Cfb).

Brazil's 26

Atlantic
Ocean

Pacific
Ocean

Northern Region

Northeast Region

Central-West Region

Southeast Region

South Region

Acre

Amazonas

Pará

Roraima

Amapá

Rondônia

Tocantins

Maranhão

Bahia

Piauí

Ceará

Rio Grande
do Norte

Paraíba

Pernambuco

Alagoas

Sergipe

Mato Grosso

Mato Grosso
do Sul

Federal
District

Goiás

Minas Gerais

São Paulo

Rio de Janeiro

Espírito Santo

Paraná

Santa Catarina

Rio Grande
do Sul

Argentina

Bolivia

Chile

Colombia

French Guiana

Guyana

Paraguay

Peru

Suriname

Uruguay

Venezuela

states and regions

.

The Center-West consists of the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul (separated from Mato Grosso in 1979) and the Federal District, where Brasília is located, the national capital.^[1] Until 1988 Goiás State included the area that then became the state of Tocantins in the North.^[1]

The Center-West has 1,612,077 square kilometers (622,426 sq mi) and covers 18.9% of the national territory.

The nine states that make up the Northeast are Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, and Sergipe.^[1] The Fernando de Noronha archipelago (formerly the federal territory of Fernando de Noronha, now part of Pernambuco state) is also included in the Northeast.^[1]

The Northeast, with 1,561,178 square kilometers (602,774 sq mi), covers 18.3% of the national terrest concentration of rural population, and its living standards are the lowest in Brazil.^[1] In 1994 Piauí had the lowest per capita income in the region and the country, only US$835, while Sergipe had the highest average income in the region, with US$1,958.^[1]

The equatorial North, also known as the Amazon or

In 1996 the North had 11.1 million inhabitants, only 7% of the national total.[1] However, its share of Brazil's total had grown rapidly in the 1970s and early 1980s as a result of interregional migration, as well as high rates of natural increase.^[1] The largest population concentrations are in eastern Pará State and in Rondônia.^[1] The major cities are Belém and Santarém in Pará, and Manaus in Amazonas.^[1] Living standards are below the national average.^[1] The highest per capita income, US$2,888, in the region in 1994, was in Amazonas, while the lowest, US$901, was in Tocantins.^[1]

The Southeast consists of the four states of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo.^[1] Its total area of 927,286 square kilometers (358,027 sq mi) corresponds to 10.9% of the national territory.^[1] The region has the largest share of the country's population, 63 million in 1991, or 39% of the national total, primarily as a result of internal migration since the mid-19th century until the 1980s.^[1] In addition to a dense urban network, it contains the megacities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, which in 1991 had 18.7 million and 11.7 million inhabitants in their metropolitan areas, respectively.^[1] The region combines the highest living standards in Brazil with pockets of urban poverty.^[1] In 1994 São Paulo boasted an average income of US$4,666, while Minas Gerais reported only US$2,833.^[1]

Originally, the principal biome in the Southeast was the Atlantic Forest, but by 1990 less than 10% of the original forest cover remained as a result of clearing for farming, ranching, and charcoal making.

The three states in the temperate South: Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina—cover 577,214 square kilometers (222,864 sq mi), or 6.8% of the national territory.^[1] The population of the South in 1991 was 23.1 million, or 14% of the country's total.^[1] The region is almost as densely settled as the Southeast, but the population is more concentrated along the coast.^[1] The major cities are Curitiba and Porto Alegre.^[1] The inhabitants of the South enjoy relatively high living standards.^[1] Because of its industry and agriculture, Paraná had the highest average income in 1994, US$3,674, while Santa Catarina, a land of small farmers and small industries, had slightly less, US$3,405.^[1]

In addition to the Atlantic Forest and Araucaria moist forests, much of which were cleared in the post-World War II period, the southernmost portion of Brazil contains the Uruguayan savanna, which extends into Argentina and Uruguay.^[1] In 1982, 83.5% of the region had been altered by anthropic activity, with the highest level (89.7%) in Rio Grande do Sul, and the lowest (66.7%) in Santa Catarina.^[1] Agriculture—much of which, such as rice production, is carried out by small farmers—has high levels of productivity.^[1] There are also some important industries.^[1]

In contrast to the Andes, which rose to elevations of nearly 7,000 meters (22,966 ft) in a relatively recent epoch and inverted the Amazon's direction of flow from westward to eastward, Brazil's geological formation is very old.^[1] Precambrian crystalline shields cover 36% of the territory, especially its central area.^[1] The dramatic granite sugarloaf mountains in the city of Rio de Janeiro are an example of the terrain of the Brazilian shield regions, where continental basement rock has been sculpted into towering domes and columns by tens of millions of years of erosion, untouched by mountain-building events.

The principal mountain ranges average elevations just under 2,000 meters (6,562 ft).

The Parcel de Manuel Luís Marine State Park off the coast of Maranhão protects the largest coral reef in South America.^[10]

Brazil has one of the world's most extensive

The major river system in the Northeast is the Rio São Francisco, which flows 1,609 kilometers (1,000 mi) northeast from the south-central region.^[1] Its basin covers 7.6% of the national territory.^[1] Only 277 kilometers (172 mi) of the lower river are navigable for oceangoing ships.^[1] The Paraná system covers 14.5% of the country.^[1] The Paraná flows south among the Río de la Plata Basin, reaching the Atlantic between Argentina and Uruguay.^[1] The headwaters of the Paraguai, the Paraná's major eastern tributary, constitute the Pantanal, the largest contiguous wetlands in the world, covering as much as 230,000 square kilometers (89,000 sq mi).^[1]

Below their descent from the highlands, many of the tributaries of the Amazon are navigable.^[1] Upstream, they generally have rapids or waterfalls, and boats and barges also must face sandbars, trees, and other obstacles.^[1] Nevertheless, the Amazon is navigable by oceangoing vessels as far as 3,885 kilometers (2,414 mi) upstream, reaching Iquitos in Peru.^[1] The Amazon river system was the principal means of access until new roads became more important.^[1] Hydroelectric projects are Itaipu, in Paraná, with 12,600 MW; Tucuruí, in Pará, with 7,746 MW; and Paulo Afonso, in Bahia, with 3,986 MW.^[1]

Brazil occupies most of the eastern part of the