BRAZIL'. Portity. pron. bret-zel' (from the color of its dye-woods, bru-o, Portug. braz-m, a lite coal). UNITED r.vrEs of. The largest coun try in South America. and one of the most exten sive political subdiVI,IMIS of the world. including the central and eastern portions of the continent. It is embraced. approximately. between latitudes a N. and 34' S.. and between longitudes 3.5° and 74 W.: it, greatest length from north to south is about •001 miles, and from east to west 2700 miles; the total area is estimated at 3,218.1:39 ,Ipia re miles. its limits on the northeast and southeast are the Atlantic ocean, while the re maining portion of the northern boundary is formed by the Guianas. Venezuela, and Colom bia: on the west, southwest, and south it touches Ecuador. Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay. Argentina, and Uruguay. It lies entirely to the east of the treat Andean system.
Northern and western Brazil is occupied by the basin of the Amazon. and while the political boundary extends to the mountains and high lands on the north, yet almost the whole of this section is a great plain, the so-called 'Selvas,' in which the altitude does not exceed 1000 feet, and the greater part is below 500 feet. The southern and eastern parts of Brazil are plateau like in character, rising above 2000 feet in alti tude, and much of it above 4000 feet: it is broken by the valleys of the Parana and Uruguay in the south, of the Tocantins and its branches in the north, and the sao Francisco in the cen tral and eastern parts. Upon this plateau. which is sometimes designated the 'Highlands of Bra zil.' stand many mountain ranges. It is the oldest part of South America. It was elevated bodily, with little. if any, distortion, and the present configuration of the surface is due to dif ferential erosion, by which the harder and more resistant rocks have been preserved in the moun tain ranges. It results from this mode of origin that the ranges are irregular in distribution and trend. They may., however, be grouped in three systems, the most important of which is the Serra do Mar, which forms the southeastern slope of the plateau to the narrow strip of coast along the Atlantic. In this system. west of Rio Janeiro, is the highest peak in Brazil, ltatiaia, probably not much over 9000 feet in height, although at one time thought to considerably exceed 10.000 feet. The system bears many different names in different parts. as Serra Gera], Serra da Manti quiera, and Serra dos Ainiori.s. Connecting with this range near Rio Janeiro, and stretching north ward. between the Sno Franeisco and the streams flowing directly to the coast, is tile Serra Central, while a third range trends northwestward, sep arating the heads of the S50 Francisco and To cantins from those of the Parann. Minor ranges
and ridges separate the tributaries of these rivers from one another. West of this great plateau of East Brazil a highland stretches acres. to the ,Sides. dividing the waters of the Amazon from those flowing southward to the Izio i he ha on time north. Timmehumac and Aea ra moun tains separate Brazil from the Guianas, and the :serra Paearaima separates it from Venezuela. The Atlantic coast line has a length of about 4000 miles. North of Cape Saint Roque it is eompara tively low, and the slope toward the sea is grad ual, but south of the Cape the coast line gradually becomes more elevated. the slope of the sea is steeper, and at the extreme south very abrupt. The northern coast is hut little broken, and thus offers but few fine harbors, and not many isl and,: but at the south good harbors are not wanting.
lIvinioc,t;imtv. The rivers of Brazil possess a degree of importance greater than most of the other rivers of the world, since they form the and in some eases the only, highways of travel and commerce through a region of great natural resources. Owing to the copious rainfall and the mild climate, navigation of most of then) is possible throughout the year, in spite of their great fluctuations in volume from the wet to the dry season. More than two-thirds of Brazil, 2.235.000 square miles. is drained by the Amazons and Tocantins: about a fourth by the great arms of the Rio de la Plata, the Paraguay and Parana while the remainder is drained by the sao Francisco and smaller streams. The Amazon with its great branches, the Negro, Yapurn. and Jew on the north, the ,lavari, Junin, l'urus, Madeira, Tapajos. and Xingfi on the south. with the Tocantins. which joins it in its delta, affords a system of internal navigation comparable only to that of the Mississippi. The length of the main river from the Peruvian bound ary to its mouth is about 2500 miles. practically all of which is navigable. The total length of the Amazon and its main branches within Brazil is estimated at 19.000 miles, of which 13.000 miles are navigable. The navigable stretch is much longer on the upper than on the lower branches, as the latter head in the plateaus of Guiana and southeast Brazil. and are interrupted by rapids and falls, especially where leaving time plateaus. Such is the ease also with the Sao Francisco, where navigation is interrupted by the falls of Paulo Alfonso, only 00 miles above the river's mouth. The waters of the Silo Fran cisco communicate with those of the Amazon through the Rio Preto. one of its main tribu taries, and the Rio do Somno, an affluent of the Tocantins. The Negro. a large northern branch of the Amazon. is connected through the Casi quiare with the Orinoco. See also AxtAzoN; TOCANTINS. etc.