Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil) is the largest country in South America and the fifth largest in the world. Famous for its football (soccer) tradition and its annual Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Recife, and Olinda. It is a country of great diversity, from the bustling urban mosaic of São Paulo to the infinite cultural energy of Alagoas, Pernambuco, and Bahia, the wilderness of the Amazon rainforest, and world-class landmarks such as the Iguaçu Falls, there is plenty to see and to do in Brazil.

Brazil was inhabited solely by indigenous people, mainly of the Tupi and Guarani ethnic groups. Settling by the Portuguese began late in the 16th century, with the extraction of valuable wood from the pau brasil tree, from which the country drew its name. Brazil was settled by the Portuguese and not the Spanish, as were the rest of Central, South, and parts of North America in the New World.

Despite Portuguese rule, in some parts of Brazil the Dutch founded colonies between 1630 and 1654. They founded several cities, such as Martinsville (now Recife, capital of the state of Pernambuco, at the edge of the North-East of the country), and many sugar cane plantations.

The Dutch fought a grim jungle war with the Portuguese, and without the support of the Republic of their homeland due to a war with England, the Dutch surrendered to the Portuguese, though they did not officially recognize Portuguese rule, which led to an all-out war with Portugal off the coast of Portugal in 1656.

In 1665 the Peace Treaty of The Hague was signed, Portugal lost its Asian colonies and had to pay 63 tons of gold to compensate the Dutch Republic for the loss of its colony. Brazil became the center of the Portuguese Empire by 1808 when King Dom João VI (John VI) fled from Napoleon's invasion of Portugal and established himself and his government in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The following centuries saw utilization of the country's vast natural riches such as gold and rubber, alongside the rise of an economy based largely on sugar and coffee. Christianity began to spread, and by the 19th and 20th centuries, a second wave of immigration took place. (Mainly Italian, German (in southern Brazil), Spanish, Japanese (in São Paulo and Paraná states), American (in São Paulo state), and Portuguese, making Brazilian culture and society complex and unique. Following three centuries under the rule of Portugal, Brazil became an independent nation on September 7th, 1822.

Until 1889 Brazil was an Empire under the rule of Dom Pedro I and his son Dom Pedro II. By this time, it had become an emerging international power. By far the largest and most populous country in Latin America. Brazil is a Latin American economic power and a regional leader.