The country of Brazil is one of the countries of the continent of South America. The official name of the country is the Federative Republic of Brazil, and is known as Brasil, or the Republica Federativa do Brasil, in Portuguese. With respect to the geographical area, Brazil ranks fifth, with respect to the level of population it also ranks fifth, and with respect to the level of population in a democratic country Brazil ranks fourth, among all the countries of the world. The official language which is spoken in the country is Portuguese, and the religion which is followed by the majority of the people is Roman Catholicism.
Brazil is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean in the east of the country, and the coastline has a length of four thousand five hundred and seventy seven miles. All the nations of the continent of South America share a border with Brazil, except for Chile and Ecuador. To the north of the country are situated Venezuela, the foreign department of French Guiana, Suriname, and Guyana. To the north west of the country lies Colombia, Peru and Bolivia are situated in the west, Uruguay is situated in the south, and Paraguay and Argentina are situated in the south west. There are a number of archipelagos which are a part of the country, and these include Atol das Rocas, Fernando de Noronha, Penedos de Sao Pedro e Sao Paulo, and Martim Vaz and Trinidade.
There is a wide variety of fauna and flora, highly sufficient natural resources, as well as natural environments in the country. The reason for this variety is the fact that both the Tropic of Capricorn as well as the Equator crosses Brazil. No other country except for Brazil has the largest area situated in the tropics. This area is two times the area of the whole of Australia.