Brazil packages include complete geographical information and famous tourist destinations which is useful during Brazil travel deals & Brazil trips. Brazil is the only Latin American nation that derives its language and culture from Portugal. The native inhabitants mostly consisted of the nomadic Tupí-Guaraní Indians. Adm. Pedro Alvares Cabral claimed the territory for Portugal in 1500. The early explorers brought back a wood that produced a red dye, pau-brasil, from which the land received its name. Portugal began colonization in 1532 and made the area a royal colony in 1549.
During the Napoleonic Wars, King João VI, fearing the advancing French armies, fled Portugal in 1808 and set up his court in Rio de Janeiro. João was drawn home in 1820 by a revolution, leaving his son as regent. When Portugal tried to reimpose colonial rule, the prince declared Brazil's independence on Sept. 7, 1822, becoming Pedro I, emperor of Brazil. Harassed by his parliament, Pedro I abdicated in 1831 in favor of his five-year-old son, who became emperor in 1840 (Pedro II).

Brazil covers nearly half of South America and is the continent's largest nation. It extends 2,965 mi (4,772 km) north-south, 2,691 mi (4,331 km) east-west, and borders every nation on the continent except Chile and Ecuador. Brazil may be divided into the Brazilian Highlands, or plateau, in the south and the Amazon River Basin in the north. Over a third of Brazil is drained by the Amazon and its more than 200 tributaries. The Amazon is navigable for ocean steamers to Iquitos, Peru, 2,300 mi (3,700 km) upstream. Southern Brazil is drained by the Plata system-the Paraguay, Uruguay, and Paraná rivers.

3,265,059 sq mi (8,456,511 sq km); total area: 3,286,488 sq mi (8,511,965 sq km)

188,078,227 (growth rate: 1.0%); birth rate: 16.6/1000; infant mortality rate: 28.6/1000; life expectancy: 72.0; density per sq mi: 58

Brasília, 2,160,100

São Paulo, 18,333,000 (metro. area), 10,927,985 (city proper); Rio de Janeiro, 11,469,000 (metro. area), 6,094,183 (city proper); Salvador, 2,590,400; Belo Horizonte, 2,347,500; Recife, 1,485,500; Porto Alegre, 1,372,700

Real

Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French

White 53.7%, mulatto (mixed white and black) 38.5%, black 6.2%, other (includes Japanese, Arab, Amerindian) 0.9%, unspecified 0.7% (2000)

Roman Catholic 74%, Protestant 15%, Spiritualist 1%, none 7% (2000)

80% (2003 est.)

Bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, timber.

Coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus; beef.

Visas are not required by holders of passports of the following countries.
Andorra Argentina Austria Bahamas Barbados Belgium Bolivia Chile Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Denmark Ecuador Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malasia Mexico Monaco Morocco Namibia Netherlands New Zealand Norway S.M. Order of Malta Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal San Marino Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Surinam Sweden Switzerland Thailand Trinidad & Tobago Turkey United Kingdom Uruguay Vatican Venezuela
Everyone else can experience the process of obtaining a visa.