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Official Name: Federative Republic of Brazil

    The name Brazil comes from the principal product exported in the beginning of the colonial period, the “pau-brasil” (brazil wood), a word from which a reddish colored substance is extracted and is used for dyeing.

Capital: Brasilia (Federal District)

President: Luis Inácio da Silva (since January of 2003)

Vice-President: Jose Alencar

Regimen and Form of Government: Presidential Republic

Currency: Real

Principal Cities:

São Paulo - 10.927.985 inhabitants
Rio de Janeiro - 6.094.183 inhabitants
Salvador - 2.673.560 inhabitants
Belo Horizonte - 2.375.329 inhabitants
Fortaleza - 2.374.944 inhabitants
Brasília - 2.333.108 inhabitants
Curitiba - 1.757.904 inhabitants
Recife - 1.501.008 inhabitants
Belém - 1.405.871 inhabitants
Porto Alegre - 1.428.696 inhabitants
Manaus - 1.644.690 inhabitants
Nova Iguaçu - 830.902 inhabitants

Area: 8.514.876,599 km².

Coast: 7.491 square kilometers.

Official Time: GMT Atlantic Islands - 2 hours (normal/summer), East, Coast Zone - 3 (normal), - 2 (summer); Manaus  - 4 (normal), - 3 (summer); Acre - 5 (normal), - 4 (summer).

Climate: Equatorial, Tropical (Equatorial Zone), Tropical (oriental northeast), Tropical (central Brazil), Moderate (south)

Landscape: Most of the landscape is plane with ups and dawns; some prairies, hills, mountains and a straight strip of coast.

Lowest Point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m.

Highest Point: Pico da Neblina 3.014 m

Official Language: Portuguese

Religion: Roman Catholic (nominal) – 70%

Population: 157.079.573 inhabitants (1996)

Government – Administrative Divisions: 26 states and one Federal District. Acre, Alagoas, Amapá, Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Distrito Federal, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraíba, Paraná, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondônia, Roraima, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Sergipe, Tocantins.

Independence: September 7, 1822 (from Portugal).

National Date: Independence Day, September 7.