By far the largest country in South America, Brazil coves nearly half the continent and is only slightly smaller than the US, with an area of just over 8,5 million square kilometres. It shares frontier with every South America country except Chile and Ecuador. Brazil has around 200 million inhabitants, making it the fifth most populous country in the world.

Despite the immense expanses of the interior, roughly two-thirds of Brazil’s population live on or near the coast and well over half lives in cities – even in the Amazon. In Rio and São Paulo, Brazil has two of the world’s great metropolises, and ten other cities have over a million inhabitants.

Other South Americans regard Brazilians as a race apart and language has a lot to do with it – Brazilians understand Spanish, just about, but Spanish-speakers won’t understand Portuguese. Brazilians also look different. In the extreme south German and Eastern European immigration hast left distinctive traces; São Paulo has the world’s largest Japanese Community outside Japan; slavery lies behind a large Afro-Brazilian population concentrated in Rio, Salvador and São Luis; while the Indian influence is still very visible in the Amazon. Italian and Portuguese immigration has been so great that its influence is felt across the entire country.