Brazil shares a border with almost every other country in South America--only Chile and Ecuador are untouched--and covers almost half the continent. It is the fifth largest country in the world, behind Russia, Canada, China, and the U.S.A., with an area of eight and a half million square kilometers.
Brazil has the sixth largest population in the world--about 148 million people--which has doubled in the past 30 years. People concentrated mainly along the coast and in the major cities, where two-thirds of the people now live: over 19 million in greater Sao Paulo and 10 million in greater Rio de Janeiro.

The Portuguese were the first European settlers to arrive in the area. The immigrant Portuguese language was greatly influenced by the numerous Indian and African dialects they encountered, but it remains the dominant language in Brazil today. In fact, the Brazilian dialect has become the dominant influence in the development of the Portuguese language, for the simple reason that Brazil has 15times the population of Portugal and a much more dynamic linguistic environment.

Sao Paulo overwhelms the senses with its sheer size. With over 19 million inhabitants, it is the world's third largest city and the largest in South America. Sao Paulo possesses significant ethnic minority communities, including substantial Japanese, Italian, Lebanese, German, Spanish, and Portuguese, neighborhoods.