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Portal:Brazil

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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is also the world's fifth-largest country by area and the seventh-largest by population, with over 213 million people. Brazil is a federation composed of 26 states and a Federal District, which hosts the capital, Brasília. Its most populous city is São Paulo, followed by Rio de Janeiro. Brazil has the most Portuguese speakers in the world and is the only country in the Americas where Portuguese is an official language.

Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 kilometers (4,655 mi), among the longest in the world. Covering roughly half of South America's land area, it borders all other countries and territories on the continent except Ecuador and Chile. Brazil encompasses a wide range of tropical and subtropical landscapes, as well as wetlands, savannas, plateaus, and low mountains. It contains most of the Amazon basin, including the world's largest river system and most extensive virgin tropical forest. Brazil has diverse wildlife, a variety of ecological systems, and extensive natural resources spanning numerous protected habitats. It ranks first among 17 megadiverse countries, with its natural heritage being the subject of significant global interest, as environmental degradation (through processes such as deforestation) directly affect global issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss.

Brazil was inhabited by various indigenous peoples prior to the landing of Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500. The territory was subsequently claimed and settled by Portugal, which founded the country's first city, São Vicente, in 1532 and imported enslaved Africans to work on plantations. Brazil remained a colony until 1815, when it was elevated to a united kingdom with Portugal after the transfer of the Portuguese court to Rio de Janeiro. Prince Pedro of Braganza declared Brazilian independence in 1822 and, after waging a war against Portugal, established the Empire of Brazil. The country's first constitution in 1824 established a bicameral legislature and enshrined principles such as freedom of religion and the press; slavery was gradually abolished until its final abolition in 1888. Brazil became a presidential republic following a military coup d'état in 1889. An armed revolution in 1930 ended the First Republic and brought Getúlio Vargas to power. Vargas' self-coup in 1937 ushered the authoritarian Estado Novo, in which he oversaw Brazil's involvement in World War II. Democracy was restored after Vargas' ousting in 1945. An authoritarian military dictatorship emerged in 1964 with support from the United States and ruled until 1985, after which civilian governance resumed. Brazil's current constitution, enacted in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic.

Brazil is a regional and middle power, and has been described as a rising global power. It is an emerging, upper-middle income economy and newly industrialized country, with one of the 10 largest economies in the world in both nominal and PPP terms, the largest economy in Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere, and the largest share of wealth in South America. With a complex and highly diversified economy, Brazil is one of the world's major or primary exporters of various agricultural goods, mineral resources, and manufactured products. The country ranks thirteenth in the world by number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Brazil is a founding member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, G4, Mercosur, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries; it is also an observer state of the Arab League and a major non-NATO ally of the United States. (Full article...)

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Petrobras headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. The company is the most important energy producer in Brazil and the country's second largest company, after Itaú Unibanco.

Brazil is the 7th largest consumer in the world and the largest in South America. At the same time, it is an important oil and gas producer in the region and the world's second largest ethanol fuel producer. The government agencies responsible for energy policy are the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), the National Council for Energy Policy (CNPE), the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) and the National Agency of Electricity (ANEEL). State-owned companies Petrobras and Eletrobras are the major companies in Brazil's energy sector, as well as Latin America's. (Full article...)

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Karen Allen
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Someone born in Brazil is an American. Anyone born on the western hemisphere is an American. American is not a nationality.

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16 June 2026 –
MapBiomas reports that water levels in the Brazilian Amazon rise to 2.6% above the historical average in 2025 following increased rainfall. The organization warns that climate change and land-use changes continue to affect long-term hydrological stability. (AFP via The Straits Times)
Brazil's Supreme Federal Court sentences former São Paulo congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro to four years and two months in prison and bars him from holding public office for eight years after convicting him of threatening public officials in connection with U.S. sanctions efforts. (AFP via The Manila Times)
14 June 2026 – 2026 Rio de Janeiro mid-air collision
American singer Oliver Tree, Argentine YouTuber Gaspi, Argentine filmmaker Lucas A. Vignale, and three others are killed when two helicopters collide and crash into a parking lot in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (The Times of India) (CNN Brasil)
8 June 2026 –
Brazil's health ministry suspends administration of its single-dose dengue vaccine after two deaths and another severe adverse event among more than 500,000 recipients prompt a safety review, although no causal link has been established. (AFP via The Straits Times)
28 May 2026 – Terrorism in Brazil
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio designates Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho, the two biggest drug trafficking-related criminal organizations in Brazil, as foreign terrorist groups. (Al Jazeera) (AP via The Washington Post)

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The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro mounted a successful bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics. It was submitted on September 7, 2007, and recognized as an Applicant city by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) one week after. On June 4, 2008, the IOC Executive Board shortlisted Rio de Janeiro with three of the six other Applicant cities—Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo; over Baku, Doha and Prague—becoming a Candidate city during the 2008 SportAccord Convention in Athens, Greece.

Rio de Janeiro was shortlisted receiving a 6.4 score, according to a study of its Application File delivered to the IOC Working Group on January 14, 2008. As a Candidate city, Rio de Janeiro submitted its Candidature File to the IOC on February 11, 2009. The dossier was analyzed by the IOC Evaluation Commission, which arrived in the city on April 27, 2009, to assess the quality of the bid. Between April 29 and May 2, the Commission attended technical presentations and made inspections in all the existing venues across the city, giving a favorable assessment in its final report. (Full article...)

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Arcos da Lapa
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Panorama of the Dam of Sobradinho, Bahia, Brazil.
Panorama of the Dam of Sobradinho, Bahia, Brazil.
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Sobradinho Reservoir is both a dam and an artificial lake located in the north of the Brazilian state of Bahia and a city with the same name located near the lake. The lake is about 320 km long, with a surface of 4,214 square kilometers and a storage capacity of 34.1 cubic kilometers at its nominal elevation of 392.50 meters, making it the 12th-largest artificial lake in the world.

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