Welcome to the Brazil
portion of our website! |
Welcome to our
Brazil pages! On this portion of our site,
you'll find information, travelogues, and photos
from the locations in Brazil that we've visited
so far - Rio de Janeiro, Iguassu Falls, and Fernando
de Noronha. We've included photos, reviews,
trip reports, journals, and our popular link directories.
See the links at left. Brazil is an amazing
country - we have rarely seen a country with
such diversity of cultures, such a melting pot
of distinct cultural regions, with the exception
I suppose of the United States.
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Brazil is the fifth largest country
in the world, behind only Russia, Canada, the United
States and China, and has the world's fifth largest
population behind only China, India, the United States,
and Indonesia. It is truly an amazing country,
both culturally and geographically.
ECONOMY
While those in North America may not
know much about Brazil, and many even think of Brazil as
third world, that is not really the whole story. Brazil
is a very industrialized country, home to the 10th largest
economy in the world. Unlike the United States, Brazil
also has a trade surplus, meaning it exports more than it
imports. However, the wealth is not shared equally.
There stands extreme poverty in Brazil, with half the population
living on less than $2.00 USD a day. Only South Africa
has higher income inequality than Brazil in the world.
LARGEST CITIES IN BRAZIL
Brazil's largest city is Sao Paulo, the
third largest city in the world by population, with nearly
18 million people. Rio de Janeiro ranks #16 on the
list, with nearly 11 million. Only India has more
cities in the top 10. However, the vast land
area of Brazil keeps the rural areas high. Other large
cities in Brazil include Belo Horizonte with 4 million,
Recife with 3 million, Porto Alegre with 2.8 million, Fortaleza
with 2.6 million, Curituba with 2.5 million, and Campinas
with 1.7 million.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Nearly half of Brazil's population is
white, with another 43% or so being Pardo (mixed race of
indigenous descent). 7% of the nation's population
is black, with Asians and Indigenous people making up less
than 1% of the total population. Brazil has the largest
catholic population in the world. The country is a
melting pot of Portuguese, Italian, German, African, and
Native cultures, which have merged differently depending
on which part of the country you visit.
TOURISM
Brazil is emerging as a major tourist
destination. With over 5 million visitors a year and
growing, Brazil is looking to it's Northeast coast to provide
more tourism than ever before. The glowing beaches
of Natal are rapidly expanding. Rio de Janeiro is
the most visited area followed by Santa Catarina, Parana,
Sao Paulo, Amazonas, and Bahia. The most visited city
is Foz do Iguacu, home to the incredible Iguassu Falls,
followed by Sao Paulo, Manaus, Florianopolis and Salvador.
More Argentinans visit Brazil than any other nationality,
followed by the United States and Portugal. Approximately
800,000 visitors from the United States come to Brazil each
year.
Use the navigation at left to navigate this
portion of our website, or visit the pages directly below:
