BRAZIL+-+Geography

**Brazil****'s Geography**
Brazil has many different forms of geography. It has a variety of landforms, climates, and natural resources. All these have a great impact on this large country. Brazil is the largest country in South America, and the fifth largest country in the world. Only Canada and the United States are larger countries on the western hemisphere. Brazil is bigger than the United States is without Alaska and Hawaii. It has an area of about 5.3 million square miles, and measures about 2,700 miles up and down. Taking up half of South America, this huge section of land borders all but two South American countries//,// Ecuador and Chile. Sao Paul and Rio de Janeiro are Brazil's largest cities. Sao Paul can be found on a plateau which helps it get away from the hot tropical climate. Rio de Janeiro is located on the coast of Brazil where much natural beauty can be found.

Brazil has many different landforms. Many mountains overlook this country. One of these mountains is the "Sugar Loaf" mountains, known as Rio de Janeiro. Another important mountain range is the Brazilian Highlands. This mountain range dominates most of Brazil. There are few valleys near by add to the Brazilian Highlands. Brazil's highest point, Neblina peak stands about 9,888 ft high. Not far from that is Mt. Roraima standing about 9,094 ft in the air. Other mountains include a couple foot hills of the Andes. None of the mountains are snow capped, not even Neblina Peak. This is because all of these mountains are not high enough to be snow capped. Normally to be snow capped mountains have to be over 12,000 ft tall.

Basins are another land form that Brazil has. One very large basin is the Amazon Basin. This, like the Brazilian Highlands, dominates a lot of Brazil, too. It is about 2,000 miles from the east to the west and about 200 to 800 miles from the north to the south. With an area of about 2 million square miles the Amazon Basin is eleven times larger than the Mississippi basin. Another basin is the Paraguay Basin which is about the size of Utah. The Sao Francisco Basin is 249,000 square miles and is located on the eastern side of Brazil. Rivers and water falls are also important landforms. The 2nd largest river in the world is the Amazon River. It has the largest volume of water in the world. Other rivers include the Negro, Tapajos, and Madeira rivers. All of these rivers are tributaries of the Amazon. South of all these is the Iquacu Falls. These falls include more than 275 separate falls, some towering 80 meters.

Other landforms include rainforests such as the Amazon rain forests which is about the size of Australia. Plateaus such as the Mato Grosso, savannas, wetlands, and the Amazon Plain are more landforms in Brazil.

Brazil has a wide variety of climates. The northeast is the driest and hottest part of Brazil. It only gets about 15-30 inches of rainfall per year. Another section of Brazil is the Tropical Rainforest. It is hot and humid here. During the day time here the temperature is usually in the high 80 degrees Fahrenheit and the low 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Nights are normally in the low 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of the country has a tropical or monotonous climate because of it being so close to the equator. A lot of Brazil gets 40-70 inches of rain each year. But other parts of Brazil are mainly dry and semiarid with steamy, droughts, or windy, moist, and wet.

Brazil has an abundance of mineral resources. Mineral resources Brazil has the most of are iron ore, tin, nickel, manganese, bauxite for aluminum silicates, and gemstones for beautiful jewelry. Other resources include gold and uranium; however, Brazil does not have an abundant amount of these. What this country lacks is fossil fuels.

All forms of geography tie in to make this country have so many big and small features. Without one of these Brazil's geography would be much different.

**The Amazon River**
The Amazon River flows a long course and travels by a lot of plant and animal life as it flows.

The Amazon River is about 4000 to 4007 miles long. This River is about 6 miles wide in some places while the mouth of the river is more than 200 miles wide. The deepest point in the Amazon River is about 300 feet. The Peruvian Andes are the source of the Amazon River causing it to flow all the way to the Atlantic Ocean the mouth of the river. 4.5 trillion gallons of water flow into the Atlantic per day and 3.55 million gallons per second. About 120 million years ago the Amazon River flowed west, but because of plate movement underground now the Amazon flows east. As the river flows this way it passes the Negro river. These two rivers run by each other but don't intermix. The Amazon River also runs through the Amazon Rainforest. As the river travels it covers some land causing an "underwater forest".

Many plants grow around the Amazon River. These plants make up one tenth of the earth's "plant life". A lot of those plants are epiphytes plants which are plants that grow on other plants without harming them. Some of these plants are mosses, ferns, bromeliads, which are flowering plants and orchids which are a kind of flower. There are 100 species of flowering orchids. A heliconia is another kind of very colorful flower. Brazil has many trees also. Some of the trees around the Amazon River can grow up to 200 ft tall and form canopies. Vines and strangler figs rap around these trees.

The animals that live in and around the Amazon River make up one tenth of earth's animals. One animal that lives around the Amazon is the tapir. This animal is the world’s largest rodent. It looks like a "pig like" animal. Insects and jaguars roam the forest floor. Monkeys, slothes, and millions of species of birds however are found in tree of in the air. Bats also live in trees and fly the sky but they do this at night. Other animals live in the water like fish, eels, and caiman which is a type of alligator. Some very dangerous water animals are electric eels, piranhas, and anacondas, which are a kind of snake that swims in the water.

Numerous resources come from and around the Amazon River. A renewable resource that comes from the Amazon is fish. There are over 2000 species of fish in the Amazon River one of them being the pirarucu which can grow up to 15 ft long. Coffee, wood, water are also all renewable resources. The Amazon River provides one fifth of the earth's fresh water resources. Nonrenewable resources that the Amazon has are mainly minerals. Some of the minerals are gold, silver, and bauxite which is aluminum. Oil is another nonrenewable resources that can be found here but not in many other places in Brazil.

The Amazon River's geography and course impact the country of Brazil by providing certain plants and resources. The course of the Amazon also has an impact on the animals that live near by. Without the Amazon, Brazil would not be what it is today.