Brazil |
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| Brazil covers nearly half of South America and is the continent's largest nation. It extends 2,965 miles north-south, 2,691 miles east-west, and borders every nation on the continent except Chile and Ecuador. Brazil may be divided into the Brazilian Highlands, or plateau, in the south and the Amazon River Basin in the north. Over a third of Brazil is drained by the Amazon and its more than 200 tributaries. The Amazon is navigable for ocean steamers to Iquitos, Peru, 2,300 miles upstream. Southern Brazil is drained by the Plata system—the Paraguay, Uruguay, and Paraná rivers. Brazil is the fifth largest country of the world with approximately 185 million people. A very religious nation, Brazil boasts the largest Roman Catholic population in the world with around 80% of its citizens claiming to be Catholic. Brazil is the only Latin American nation that derives its language and culture from Portugal. The native inhabitants mostly consisted of the nomadic Tupí-Guaraní Indians. Adm. Pedro Alvares Cabral claimed the territory for Portugal in 1500. The early explorers brought back a wood that produced a red dye, pau-brasil, from which the land received its name. Portugal began colonization in 1532 and made the area a royal colony in 1549. Cuiaba is a growing city of close to one million people. It is the capital of the state of Mato Grosso. Mato Grosso is made up of one hundred and forty two counties and has a population of almost 3 million people. God has called us to this part of the country. |
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The part of Brazil that we will be living is widely known for the Pantanal. Although it is still a few hours away the city of Cuiaba is the main gateway to the Pantanal. Many tourists each year come through the city to get to the Pantanal. “The Pantanal of South America is one of the most immense, pristine and biologically rich environments on the planet. Often referred to as the world’s largest freshwater wetland system, it extends through millions of hectares of central-western Brazil, eastern Bolivia and eastern Paraguay. With its extraordinarily concentrated and diverse flora and fauna, and a landscape spanning a variety of ecological sub-regions, the Pantanal stands as one of the world’s great natural wonders. This area is an unparalleled wildlife sanctuary of spectacular beauty, an ecological paradise containing hundreds of species of birds, thousands of varieties of butterflies, myriads of brightly colored flowers, and shoals of fish. Capuchin and Howler monkeys, capybaras, toucans, anacondas, caimans and tapirs help create an aquatic and sylvan theater of sights and sounds. The endangered jaguar, and increasingly rare Hyacinthine macaws and giant river otters, all make their home in the Pantanal.” www.pantanal.org |
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