| Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil or República Federativa do Brasil, listen is the largest and most populous country in South America. Brazil is the fifth largest in the world in both land mass and population. Brazil spans a very vast area between central South America and the Atlantic Ocean, it is the easternmost country of the Americas. Brazil borders Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French department of French Guiana. In fact, the republic borders every South American nation except for Ecuador and Chile. Named after brazilwood (pau-brasil), a tree highly valued by early colonists, Brazil is home to both extensive agricultural lands and rain forests. Exploiting vast natural resources and a large labor pool, it is South America's leading economic power and a regional leader. As this country was a former colony of Portugal, Portuguese is its official language. |
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