Essay/Term paper: Brazil

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Geography

LOCATION OF BRAZIL


Brazil lies between thirty five degrees west longitude and seventy five degrees west longitude. Brazil also runs between five degrees north latitude and thirty five degrees south latitude. Brazil is located in mainly the eastern part of South America. This country sits in mostly the southern hemisphere of the world. Being completely on the west side of the world, Brazil is not all in the south side of the world. With the equator running through north Brazil, a small portion of Brazil, a small portion of Brazil is in the northern hemisphere. Brazil is bordered by a number of South American countries. Brazil borders Uruguay to the north; Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru to the east; Bogota to the southeast; Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana to the south; and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.


PLACE OF BRAZIL

The landscape of Brazil is covered with plains, plateaus, and tropical grasslands. The plains has a fertile ribbon of lowlands, about ten through thirty miles wide which are along the country's coastline. Behind the plains sits a huge interior plateau that runs steeply near the lowlands in front of it. This drop forms an escarpment, steep cliff that separates two level areas. In Brazil there is much poverty. People make a living there by subsistence farming. Even though they do farming subsistintly, they use much advanced farming there. Aside from farming there is much more to there culture. People there are involved a lot in astronomy and mathematics. Architecture is another way of living there. This used not only as a money making job, but private uses also.


HUMAN ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION OF BRAZIL

In the 1500s, the Portuguese colonist built big sugar plantations along the fertile coastal plain and port cities to ship crops to Europe. Brazilian government has been tearing desolate slums, called favelas, down in order to improve Brazilian cities. These favelas were replaced with public housing people could afford. In 1955, Brazil decided to build a new capital city, 600 miles inland, called Brasilia, in order to decrease the population of the former capital Rio de Janeiro. Between 1940s and 1950s, Brazil's government built the country's first steel mill and oil refinery. The government also built it's firs series of dams to produce hydroelectricity in order to run industries. During the 1970s Brazil began a large road-building project beginning at Brasilia. At the same time Brazil developed a fuel called ethanol from sugarcane, and were clearing the Amazon to plant crops there.
MOVEMENT OF BRAZIL

Brazil was inhabited by Portuguese colonist in 1500. Brazil's colonist brought over three hundred million African slaves to Brazil, to work on the plantations. This continued until the late 1800s, when the practice was done away with. During the same time, thousands of people came from many different regions like Portugal, Italy, Spain, and Japan. They all came to work in the coffee business. Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paul are two of Brazil's biggest populated cities. This is because of it's mystique, beauty, and economic health. Between 1970 and 1985 one million people had migrated to the Amazon regions and to the Brazilian Highlands because of new roads and free land grants. These free land grants were a way of the government promoting settlement in the north.


REGION OF BRAZIL

Brazil is all part of Latin America. It is also largely covered by the Amazon River Basin, as well as the rest of South America. The Northeast Region has a wet and dry climate, while the Southeast Region has a humid subtropical climate. Some affect on the climate has to do with the equator running straight through Brazil. Besides climate there are other differences between the regions. The Northeast is the world's biggest producer of coffee. The major language between these regions is Spanish and Portuguese although a large number of people in the Northeast have African ancestry. In the Southeast there are many favelas in all the major cities, which are just another way of saying desolate slums. The other two regions aren't as detailed as the Northeast and Southeast. The Brazilian Highlands which is where the capital is and the Amazon River Basin which covers all of Brazil.

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