Brazil
Located on the East-central part of South America, and covering an area of 8,5 million square kilometers (3,290,000 square miles), Brazil borders on all the other nations of the continent except Ecuador and Chile. But its largest neighbor is really the South Atlantic, with 7,400 Km (4,500 miles) of beaches.
As its widest point from east to west, Brazil extends nearly 4,300 Km (2,700 miles; from north to south the distance is almost equal. The country begins five degrees above the Ecuador and stretches to 33 degrees below it. About nine tenths of Brazil's territory lies between the Ecuador and Tropic of Capricorn, making it the largest tropical country in the world and the largest country in the Southern Hemisphere.
Natural catastrophes such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal waves and cyclones are unknown in this immense country. Perhaps that explains why Brazilians are so pleasant, their rhythms and music so lively, and holidays and festivals so numerous: they occur throughout the year and culminate in the famous Carnival, a colorful festival that touches almost all the country's inhabitants, descendents of Europeans, native Brazilian Indians, Africans and Asians.