About Brzil

Claiming almost half of the continent, Brazil shares a common border with every South American country except Ecuador and Chile.

More than one third of the country is occupied by the Amazon basin, with large areas of swamps and floodlands.

The highest point in Brazil is the Pico da Neblina (3,014 m.), near the border with Venezuela.

In 1500, Portuguese Admiral Pedro Alvares Cabral, was the first European to reach Brazil and start the colonization of South America's largest country; although the Spanish navigator Vicente Yáńez Pinzón had beaten him to the area a few months earlier.

Portugal's new territory was originally named Terra da Vera Cruz -- Land of the True Cross, until Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci explored the coastline in 1501.

Vespucci called one of the bays Rio de Janeiro, and returned to Portugal with a valuable cargo of brazilwood. From then on, Terra da Vera Cruz became known as Brazil.