Brazil
Brazil is the largest country in South America, covering nearly half the continent. About 60 per cent of the Amazon rainforest lies inside it, and it is the only country in the Americas where Portuguese is the main language.
“I'd follow the Amazon all the way to the sea.”
- On 23 October 1906 Alberto Santos-Dumont flew his 14-bis about 60 metres in Paris: the first powered flight watched by a public crowd.
- Brazil shares a border with every country in South America except two: Chile and Ecuador.
The land
Brazil covers about 8.5 million km², the fifth-largest country in the world by area. It is made up of 26 states and a Federal District. Its Atlantic coast runs for about 7,367 km. The highest point is Pico da Neblina, about 2,995 metres high. The Pantanal is the largest wetland in the world, covering up to 230,000 km².
Getting around
In Rio, Santos Dumont Airport opened on 30 November 1936 beside Guanabara Bay. It is named after the flying pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont, and it is known for some of the shortest runways that airliners use. In 1959 an air shuttle to São Paulo began here, the first service of its kind in the world. The new capital, Brasília, opened on 21 April 1960. It was built in 41 months, and its plan is laid out in the shape of an aeroplane.
Food
Feijoada, a stew of black beans with pork, is often called the national dish. It grew in colonial Brazil from Portuguese, African and native cooking, and it is usually served with rice. Brazil is also the world's largest coffee producer. It has led the world for about 150 years and now grows about a third of all coffee.
Football
Rio's Maracanã Stadium opened in 1950 for the World Cup. About 200,000 people watched the final match there. It later hosted the 2014 World Cup final and the opening of the 2016 Olympics.
Fly over Brazil.
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City 5 of 21Rio de Janeiro
Sugarloaf Mountain
“I rode the wind past Sugarloaf. The whole bay sparkled, and somewhere below, a samba drum kept time.”
I'd wave to the climbers on the way past. Its keepers are The Cable Car and the Samba Dancer.
The plane reaches Rio de Janeiro from New York.
