Student: Alex Kearney, 2nd Class

Geography Project – Brazil

Location of Brazil:

Brazil is located in the eastern part of South

America (it’s the yellow section).

It is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the

east, and by Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay,

Bolivia, Peru, Columbia, Venezuela,

Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

The Brazilian people speak mainly

Portuguese, but a small number also speak

German, indigenous languages, Spanish,

Italian and English.

Here are some words in Portuguese:

Olá (Hello), Escola (School), Amigos

(Friends), Feriados (Holidays), Tchau (Bye).

The population of Brazil in 2017 was 209.3

million, which is 43 times the population of

Ireland.

Brazil’s largest city is Sao Paulo with a

population of over 10 million. Rio de Janeiro

is next with over 6.5 million people, followed

by Brasilia with nearly 3 million. Other large

cities include Salvador, Fortaleza and Belo

Horizonte. You can see the location of these

cities in the picture below:

Language and Population:

Natural Environment:

Brazil has five main ecosystems:

1. Amazon Rain Forest

This covers approx. 40% of the country’s

total land area, and the Amazon river flows

through it as the 2nd longest river in the

world (River Nile is the longest). The

rainforest is very important to us as it takes

carbon dioxide out of the air and releases

oxygen back in, reducing climate change.

2. Atlantic Rain Forest

This is another tropical rain forest along the

Atlantic Ocean, but only 7% of it is still there.

3. Caatinga

This is semiarid land with only cacti / thorny

shrubs growing in it, as it has very little rain.

It produces coal and wood for fuel and has

birds such as the falcon and macaw.

4. Central Cerrado

The cerrado is an open savanna grassland

with a lot of different plants (10,000

species). It has endangered animals such

as the maned wolf (below), giant anteater,

armadillo and the largest bird in Brazil, rhea.

5. Pantanal

It’s the worlds largest tropical wetland, that

fills with rainwater every year before

draining away to leave small pools for

wildlife to feed on. Unlike the Amazon’s thick

jungle, it is very open and bright.

Culture:

The Brazilian culture is obvious in the food,

music, history and bright colours used by

them. They have a great history with native

Brazilian, European and African cultures.

They like eating food such as cornmeal

cake, cheese bread and pamonha (made of

corn). They have a national festival called

the Carnival, where they have samba school

parades taking part as samba is a dance

they all really enjoy and like.

There are nearly 500 tribes in the Amazon.

The Yanomani tribe is the largest, with

20,000 members. They live off the land,

growing their own food and are often hunter

gatherers.

Food:

Famous People:

Brazilian people love fresh fruit and

vegetables with beans, rice and manioc

flour. Their favourite dish is the feijoada

(below left), which is a bean stew made with

pork and rice. They also eat cheese boards

(Pão de Queijo), and a drink called Guarana

made of small red berries (below right).

Brazil held the soccer world cup in 2014.

Some famous sports players from Brazil are

Pele, one of the most famous soccer players

in the world , along with another soccer

player Ronaldo and a Formula One racing

driver called Felipe Massa.

Tourist Attractions: Brazil has loads of tourist attractions with

beaches, national parks, and the famous

statue of Christ the Redeemer. Copacabana

is one of their most famous beaches (below)

and is great for holidays and fun in the sand.