Brazil

Brazil was home to millions of Indigenous people before Portuguese ships under Pedro Alvares Cabral arrived in 1500 and claimed it as a colony. Over the following centuries the Portuguese built an economy on sugar and later gold and coffee. Independence came peacefully in 1822, when a prince of the Portuguese royal house declared Brazil an empire, before the country became a republic in 1889. The twentieth century brought rapid industrialisation, periods of military rule, and, since the 1980s, a return to vibrant democracy.

Brazil's geography is defined by the Amazon, the largest rainforest and river system on Earth, which dominates the north and shelters an unmatched diversity of life. To the south and east lie the cerrado savanna, the Pantanal wetlands, highland plateaus, and a coastline stretching more than 7,000 kilometres along the Atlantic, where most of the population lives. This vast and varied land gives Brazil enormous natural wealth and a central role in global conversations about the climate.

Brazil's flag shows a blue celestial globe set within a yellow rhombus on a green field. The green and yellow are commonly associated with the country's forests and mineral wealth. The blue globe is studded with white stars arranged as the night sky appeared over Rio de Janeiro on the day the republic was proclaimed, each star standing for a state. Across the globe runs a white band bearing the national motto, "Ordem e Progresso", meaning "Order and Progress".

Brazil is home to more Roman Catholics than any other country, a legacy of Portuguese colonisation, and Catholic festivals remain woven into national life. In recent decades evangelical Protestant churches have grown rapidly and now claim a large share of believers. Brazil is also known for vibrant Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomble and Umbanda, brought and adapted by enslaved Africans, which blend African deities with Catholic saints and remain an important part of the country's spiritual fabric.

Brazilian food reflects its mixed heritage of Indigenous, African, and Portuguese influences. The national dish is feijoada, a rich stew of black beans with pork served with rice, greens, and orange. Rice and beans form the everyday foundation of most meals, while the southern tradition of churrasco, meats grilled over open flame, has spread worldwide. Cassava, tropical fruits, and seafood feature heavily, and the sugarcane spirit cachaca, the base of the caipirinha, is a national signature.

Brazil is an agricultural superpower and one of the world's great food exporters. It is the largest producer of coffee and oranges, a leading grower of soybeans and sugarcane, and a top exporter of beef and poultry. Its enormous interior, especially the cerrado, has been transformed into highly productive farmland, making agribusiness a pillar of the economy. That expansion has also driven tension over deforestation in the Amazon, where clearing land for crops and cattle remains a pressing environmental issue.

Brazil's history carries a heavy legacy: it received more enslaved Africans than any other country in the Americas and was the last nation in the Western world to abolish slavery, in 1888, an act that reshaped its society and population. Independence was declared in 1822 by Prince Pedro, who became the country's first emperor. In the modern era Brazil has become famous worldwide for football, having won the World Cup a record five times.

With around 216 million people, Brazil is the most populous country in South America and among the most populous in the world. Its people are among the most ethnically mixed anywhere, a blend of Indigenous, European, African, and more recent Asian and Middle Eastern ancestry. Most Brazilians live in cities along or near the coast, with huge metropolitan areas at Sao Paulo, the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere, and Rio de Janeiro.