Brazil -Geography of a Giant

Brazil Geography of a Giant

Leandro Peron November/02/2009 World Regional Geography

Brazil -Geography of a Giant

Physical Geography

Brazil is the largest country in South America, and it is also the fifth biggest country in the world in territorial space. With twenty-seven states divided into five regions, Brazil has one of the biggest varieties of climate and landscape characteristics. The Equatorial line and the Tropic of Capricorn line cut through the country in the North, and Southern regions, respectively. There are twenty-seven states in Brazil, divided into five Regions. (Rosemberg, 2009) The states are Acre, Alagoas, Amapa, Amazonas, Bahia, Brasilia, Ceara, Espirito Santo, Goias, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Maranhao, Minas Gerais, Para, Parana, Paraiba, Pernambuco, Piaui, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondonia, Roraima, Santa Catarina, Sao Paulo, Sergipe, Tocantins. (Rosemberg, 2009) The regions are North, Northern, Middle West, Southeast, and South, as seen on Figure 1.1. (Brazil Travel, 2004). The equatorial line cuts thru the state of Amapa in the North. (Brazil Travel, 2004). The Tropic of Capricorn line cuts thru the state of Sao Paulo. (Brazil Travel, 2004)

Brazil -Geography of a Giant

Figure 1.1 (Brazil Travel, 2004) Brazilian topography is very diverse, with humid areas such as the rain forests near the Amazon River, as well as very dry areas on the Northern regions. Brazils basin occupies more than sixty percent of the country, and approximately 52,000 square miles of basin territory are depleted each year.

Brazils basin occupies more than sixty percent of the country, and it receives more than eight inches of rain per year in some areas. (Belox, 2009)

Brazil has the most rapidly depleting basin in the world, losing approximately 52,000 square miles every year. (Rosemberg, 2009)

Brazils rainy season occurs during the summer months, however almost all of Brazil is humid, tropical or subtropical climate. Brazil has little to no seismic or 3

Brazil -Geography of a Giant volcanic activity because of its location near the South American Plate.

Brazils rainy season occurs during the summer months, which are at the end of each year during the months of December trough February usually. (Belox, 2009)

Almost all of Brazil is humid. As well as either has a tropical or subtropical climate. However, Eastern Brazil suffers severe droughts every year. (Rosemberg, 2009)

There is very little seismic or volcanic activity in Brazil due to the countrys position in the middle of the South American Plate. (Rosemberg, 2009)

The Brazilian Highlands and plateaus generally average less than 4000 feet (1220 meters). (Rosemberg, 2009)

Much of the Brazilian coast is composed of Great Escarpment, and extensive uplands lie primarily in the southeast. (Rosemberg, 2009)

Brazilian coast is approximately 7,419 kilometers (4,590 miles). (Belox, 2009)

Brazil has a huge number of kilometer-borders with many countries in South America, and that contributes to the diverse characteristic of the population in the country. Also, with approximately 4,590 miles of coastal miles, Brazil has been always an important role for South American trade and commerce.

Brazil shares boundaries with every South American country, excluding

Brazil -Geography of a Giant Ecuador and Chile. (Travel Blog, 2008) Brazil has 14,691 kilometers border countries: Argentina 1,224 km, Bolivia 3,400 km, Colombia 1,643 km, French Guiana 673 km, Guyana 1,119 km, Paraguay 1,290 km, Peru 1,560 km, Suriname 597 km, Uruguay 985 km, Venezuela 2,200 km. (Travel Blog, 2008) The 2007 census revealed population of 189,987,291, with a projection of 191,241,714 for the year of 2009. (Belox, 2009)

The Amazon River, which has most of the worlds records in length, width, and volume of water, is a gigantic system of rivers and forests, covering almost half of Brazil and extending into neighboring countries. The wide stretch of river, known as Rio Amazonas, runs between the cities of Manaus and Belem. Many of its tributaries are yet unexplored.

One of Brazils most valuable treasures is the Amazon River, which is the largest river on the world by volume, with a total river flow greater than the next eight largest rivers combined. (Sterling, 2006)

The Amazon, which has the largest drainage basin on the world, accounts for approximately one-fifth of the worlds total river flow. ( Sterling, 2006)

More than one-third of all the species in the world live in the Amazon rainforest. (Sterling, 2006)

Brazil -Geography of a Giant

Human Geography
Brazils population is growing at a rather fast speed. The medium range death rate, and the growth rate of the population facilitate the growth of the number of citizens in this culturally highly varied country.

As of December 2008, Brazils population is reported to be 198,739,269. (Index Mundi, 2008)

Approximately 27% consist of 0-14 years of age individuals, 69% consist of 15-64, and 6% 65 or older. (Index Mundi, 2008)

The growth rate of the population is reported to be 1,199%. (Index Mundi, 2008)

The death rate as of 2009 is 6.35/1,000. (Index Mundi, 2008) School life expectancy is 14 years. (Index Mundi, 2008)

Population Growth Rate Chart

Year 1776 1876 1900 1940 1970 1980 1991 1995 1997 Population (million) 1.9 10.9 17.3 41.2 93.2 121.3 146.9 155.8 (estimated) 159.8 (estimated) (Spagnola, 2008) Compound Annual Rate of Growth 1.8% 1.9% 2.2% 2.3% 2.7% 1.7% 1.89% 1.8% 1.3%

Brazil -Geography of a Giant Brazil is internationally known for its diverse population. Colonization from various nations around the world, along with multiple migrations is the factor that makes the different ethnicities and diverse backgrounds an important factor of human geography in Brazil. Most of the population in Brazil relies on fifteen to sixty-four years of age, and the number of citizens put Brazil on the fifth place as the most populous countries in the world, following China, India, United States of American, and Indonesia, respectively. Many descriptions of Brazilian culture as a whole rely on the population. The human characteristics and backgrounds in Brazil are so dimensional that it makes it rather impossible to create a stereotype of the population, and for being a Brazilian citizen, I must agree that a general term for such diverse group of people cannot be used.

Most of the population can be considered a single Brazilian ethnic group, with highly varied racial types and background, some broad regional trends, but without clear ethnic sub-divisions. (Spiritus-Temporis, 2005)

Major source of diversity has been the sources of migration from Europe, Middle East, and Asia. (Spiritus-Temporis, 2005)

The Native-Brazilians group corresponds to less than one percent of the population, and they are rather interesting. That unique part of the Brazilian population live in delimited reservations, and quite often many of the tribes have never had any contact with the outside population, fact that makes it

Brazil -Geography of a Giant an add-up to the broad amount of different traditions and cultures.

The only clear separated minority ethnic groups in Brazil are the various non-assimilated indigenous tribes, which represent less than 1% of the population and live in officially delimited reservations. (Spiritus-Temporis, 2005)

Backgrounds from Europe are strongly Portuguese, Italian, French, and Dutch, with some African from the slaves. (Spiritus-Temporis, 2005)

Many of the Brazilians descendents from Portugal have Jewish blood, as they descend from new Christians from Europe. (Spiritus-Temporis, 2005)

Japanese are the largest Asian group in Brazil, but some Chinese and Koreans also settled Brazil. Most Chinese came from Mainland China, but others came from Taiwan and Hong Kong. (Spiritus-Temporis, 2005)

Brazil experienced an extremely fast and still growing migration in the nineteen hundreds. People primarily from Europe, Asia, and Africa started to populate Brazil, and the adaptation was very quick and certain. A fact that explains the fast rate at which various different culture groups adapted to live in Brazil is that very few of the third generations nowadays still speak their grandparents natural language. That fact itself is a proof of the humongous differences in background cultures that thereby rely inside the miscellaneous group called Brazilians.

Adaptation was very fast and strong, for instance, very few of the third

Brazil -Geography of a Giant generation can understand their grandparents natural language. (SpiritusTemporis, 2005) Black population outnumbered White population for the most part of Brazils history, however, because of the strong rates of European immigration, and the better sanitation and health conditions among the whites, the numbers were rapidly reversed. (Spiritus-Temporis, 2005)

Recently, many of the Brazilian citizens who left their country in the 1980s and 1990s to pursuit a better financial life in other countries, are returning to Brazil because of the economic global crisis that has hit the richer countries where they were living. That is a very recent activity that predictions say will rise the numbers of citizens, as well as open the cultural boundaries even more in Brazil.

The flow of Brazilian migrants, which rose sharply due to the economic crises of the 1980s and 1990s, has diversified recently and there are even signs of a reversal. (Osava, 2009)

Many migrants are returning to Brazil because the global financial crisis has hit the rich countries where they were living particularly hard. (Osava, 2009)

Most of Brazil's population claims to be Roman Catholic, however, there are many other religious denominations in Brazil. Some of these churches are the: Protestant, Pentecostal, Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, and

Brazil -Geography of a Giant Baptist. There are over a million and a half Spiritists or Kardescists who follow the doctrines of Allan Kardec. These Spiritists believe in reincarnation. There are followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; small minorities of Jews; Moslems, and Buddhists. (Spagnola, 2008)

Economic Geography

Brazil has been experiencing a very positive economic growth in the past ten years; one of the most profitable regions in the country is the southern part, which consists of the states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Espirito Santo, and Minas Gerais. Out of those states, Sao Paulo is the economic center, with a per capita income 7.2 times higher than the one in the poorest state of Piaui, in the Northeast. In the history of the country, there has been a big rate of migration from the northern states to the southern states, which shows the big inequality between the regions. Even though the southern states concentrate the most wealth in the country, the northern states have been the focus of international investment because of the natural beauty, and favoritism from nature; Brazil does not have hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, or any of those natural disasters, and that factor highly contributes to the economical growth of the country as a whole, and more specifically, the northern states.

So Paulo is the economic center of Brazil and attracts a large fraction of the Brazilian manufacturing industry. Also, it is located in a central position

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Brazil -Geography of a Giant between Rio de Janeiro and Argentina. (Fally, Paillacar, & Terra, 2008). Brazil is a particularly interesting country to study controlling for individual characteristics, as it faces huge inequalities at both individual and regional levels. (Fally, Paillacar, & Terra, 2008). Concerning the spatial dimension, in a study on the evolution of the regional GDPs in Brazil for the 1939-1998 period, two spatial clusters were identified in the country: a low-income one in the Northeast and a high-income one in the Southeast. Per capita income in So Paulo, the wealthiest Brazilian state, is 7.2 times that of Piau, the poorest northeastern state. (Fally, Paillacar, & Terra, 2008). The northeast of Brazil is the main sun and beach destination in the country and is also the area that is the receiving most of the investments and attention on an international level. (BRIC Group, 2009) Brazil is part of the group of four countries with the most economical growth in the past years. That group is called the BRIC countries, and they consist of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Brazils economy policies consist basically of a monitored and rather slow progress, which protects the country in the long run if a global recession takes place. Those policies were put in place with election of the President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, and they restrict the total power of growth of the country to a secure level, in order to protect the companies, individuals, and also the government, in case of a recession; that tactic worked extremely well in the case of the last global recession that has been happening. Brazil has already emerged from the worst of the recession, and it is currently one of the

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Brazil -Geography of a Giant strongest economic powers in the world. The outstanding growth rate of the country does not cover the negative side of the story, which is the humongous inequality between regions, and also individuals. The distribution of wealth in Brazil is really unreasonable; there are millions of millionaires, and millions of people living under horrible conditions in the well-known slums. North states in Brazil are geographically closer to richest international markets in the Northern hemisphere, but the greatest internal demand is in the Southeast. (Fally, Paillacar, & Terra, 2008). Individual diversity is extremely large and an important determinant of the wage inequalities in the country. The main source of income inequality in Brazil is the heterogeneity across workers with respect to educational attainment, age, gender, industry and location. More specifically, the distribution of education and its returns account for about half of the wage inequality from observed sources in Brazil. (Fally, Paillacar, & Terra, 2008). Brazil has already emerged from the worst of the recession. (BRIC Group, 2009) Brazil is currently one of the strongest economic powers in the world. (BRIC Group, 2009)

Brazil has the tenth highest GDP in the world, and the second one in the Americas, with around three billion dollars annually. The states that have been experiencing the most economic growth are the ones towards the center of the

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Brazil -Geography of a Giant country, mainly because of the increase in the exports of agricultural products, which is a very important and prominent part of the formation of the Brazilian economic stability. Brazil also has boundaries with almost all of the South American countries, which facilitates the process of trading with Mercosul and Latin America, which are the two main trade partners of Brazil in 2008, followed closely by the EU. More recently, states in the center of the country have experienced important growth due to their increasing exports of agricultural products. (Fally, Paillacar, & Terra, 2008). Brazils GDP in 2006 was $1.794 trillion, $1.896 in 2007, and $1.993 trillion in 2009. (Central Intelligence Agency, 2009) Brazils Real Growth Rate in 2008 was 5.1%. (Central Intelligence Agency, 2009) A combination of Brazil's stable economy, falling interest rates and rising tourism are among the factors that are attracting investors in increasing numbers to the market of Brazil. (BRIC Group, 2009) Brazil's main trade partners in 2008 were: Mercosul and Latin America (25.9% of trade), EU (23.4%), Asia (18.9%), the United States (14.0%), and others (17.8%). (Wikipedia, 2009)

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Brazil -Geography of a Giant

Reference List
Belox, Alex (2009 ).Federative Republic of Bra zil . Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil Brazil Travel (2004). Bra zil - travel, political, and cultural information . Retrieved from http://www.v-brazil.com/ BRIC Group (2009). BRIC Focus on Brazil . Retrieved from http://www.bric -investment.com/invest_brazil.html?source=GA -CNBR-01&gclid=CJ6KmKnW 6p0CFYdd5QodFQsfLA Central Intelligence Agency. (2009, October 28). CIA - the world factbook -- Bra zil. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library /publications/the -world-factbook/geos/br.html Fally, T., Paillacar, R., & Terra, C. (2008). Economic geography and wages in brazil: evidence from micro -data. Thema working papers , 2008(23), Ret rieved f rom http://www.u cergy.fr/thema/repec/ 2008-23.pdf. Index Mundi. (2008, December 18) . Brazil Demographics Profile 2009. Retrieved from http://www.indexmundi.com/brazil/demo graphics_profile.html Osava, Mario. (2009, October 19). Migration - Bra zil. Retrieved from http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48921 Rosemberg, Matt. (2009).Geography of Bra zil. Retrieved from http://geography.about.com/od/specific placesofinterest/a/geo graphyofbraz.htm

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Brazil -Geography of a Giant Spagnola, Maria. (2008). Bra zil - a Cultural Treasure Chest . Retrieved from http://www.fmpsd.ab.ca/schools/df/Brazil/m humangeography.htm#top. Spiritus-Temporis. (2005).Demographics of Bra zil . Retrieved from http://www.spiritus -temporis.com/demo graphics -ofbrazil/demographics.html Sterling, Tom. (2006, October). Ama zon River. Retrieved f rom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River#cite_ref -sterling_0-1 Travel Blog (2008, January 24). Bra zil's geography. Retrieved from http://www.travelblog.org/South -America/Brazil/fact -geogbrazil.html W ikipedia. (2009). Economy of Bra zil. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Brazil#cite_note -22

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