Brazil (in Portuguese, Brasil), officially Federative Republic of Brazil, federal republic, the largest country in South America, occupying nearly one half of the entire area of the continent. It is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and the Atlantic Ocean; on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; on the south by Uruguay; on the west by Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru; and on the north-west by Colombia. The republic has a common frontier with every country of South America except Chile and Ecuador. Brazil is the fifth-largest country in the world (after Russia, China, Canada, and the United States). The total area of Brazil is 8,511,996 sq km (3,286,500 sq mi); its maximum north-south distance is about 4,345 km (2,700 mi), and its maximum east-west distance is about 4,330 km (2,690 mi). Most of the people of Brazil live near the Atlantic Ocean, notably in the great cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, but the capital is inland, at Brasília (1993 estimate 1,673,151). The country, which was once a Portuguese dependency, is the world's leading producer of coffee, and it also contains great mineral resources; exploitation of many of these resources intensified during the 1980s and 1990s.

Population
	157,872,000
	(1996 estimate)
Population Density
	19 people/sq km
	(48 people/sq mi)
	(1996 estimate)
Urban/Rural Breakdown
	78% Urban
	22% Rural
Largest Cities
	Sao Paulo9,842,059
	Rio de Janeiro5,547,033
	Salvador2,174,072
	Belo Horizonte2,060,804
	(1993 estimate)
Ethnic Groups
	22% Mulatto
	15% Portuguese
	12% Mestizo
	11% Italian
	11% Black
	10% Spanish
	19% Other
	including Germans, Japanese, and Native Americans
Languages
Official Language
	Portuguese
Other Languages
	Native American languages, German, Japanese, Italian
Religions
	90% Roman Catholicism
	 6% Protestantism
	 4% Other