gostaria de aprender algumas coisas do Brasil ?

Photo : "Jangada" fishing boat, Iguape, Aquiraz, Ceará

Brazil is a wonderful place. It is an enormous country, larger than the continental United States.
The country is divided into 5 major regions : North, North East, Central West, South East, and South.

The North is known for the Amazon river basin with its tropical rain forests.
It is made up of 7 states : Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, and Tocantins.

The North East is known for its beautiful beaches, warm weather, and friendly, vibrant people.
It is the poorest part of Brazil and is made up of 9 states :
Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, and Sergipe.

The Central West is known for the Pantanal, our planet's largest tropical wetland ecosystem.
This area gets very hot and contains the highest concentration of wild animals in the entire world.
It is made up of 4 states : Distrito Federal, Goiás, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul.

The South East is the most densely populated section of the country.
This area is the intellectual, cultural and economic center of Brazil.
It features the cities Rio de Janeiro, "the marvellous city", and São Paulo, the largest city in South America.
It is made up of 4 states : Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo.

The South is the coolest and most European section of the country.
This area was settled by many Italian, German and Polish immigrants. Many still retain their native language and culture.
The higher areas of the South get ice, even snow at times, in the winter.
It is made up of 3 states : Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul.

In his visits to Brazil Douglas has been mostly in the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Londrina and Salvador.
However he has traveled to a total of thirteen Brazilian states ( estados ).
The states he visited are marked in italics or contain links.