Brazil | History, Map, Culture, Population, & Facts | Britannica

Geographic regions

The Brazilian government has grouped the country’s states into five large geographic and statistical units called the Major Regions (Grandes Regiões): North (Norte), Northeast (Nordeste), Central-West (Centro-Oeste), Southeast (Sudeste), and South (Sul). The tropical North—comprising the states of Acre, Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Roraima, and Amapá—covers more than two-fifths of Brazilian territory and includes the largest portion of Amazon rainforest and parts of the Guiana and Brazilian highlands; however, the region accounts for a limited proportion of the country’s population and economic output.

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The Northeast, which experiences some of the country’s driest and hottest conditions, has nearly one-fifth of Brazil’s land area and more than one-fourth of the population. It contains the states of Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahia, and Pernambuco, the latter including the island of Fernando de Noronha, some 225 miles (360 km) off the Atlantic coast. The region’s oldest cities date from the 16th century, when the Portuguese first established sugarcane plantations there. The Northeast accounts for one-fifth of the country’s agricultural production, but the industrial and service sectors lag far behind those of the Southeast and South, and the unemployment rate remains high.

The Southeast covers only one-tenth of Brazil’s territory but has two-fifths of its population and the greatest concentration of industrial and agricultural production in the country. The region includes São Paulo state, which is the country’s economic and demographic heartland, landlocked Minas Gerais, whose very name (meaning “Extensive Mines”) testifies to great mineral wealth, and the populous coastal states of Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro. The city of Rio de Janeiro, the national capital from 1763 to 1960, remains Brazil’s main cultural and tourist center.

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The South, which stretches below the Tropic of Capricorn, includes the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul. It occupies an area nearly as large as the isle of Great Britain but is the smallest of Brazil’s regions. Its diversified economy includes strong manufacturing, agriculture, and service sectors. The South has about one-seventh of the country’s population, including many people of European ancestry, particularly from Germany and Italy. The South’s tourist trade depends partly on the spectacular Iguaçu Falls, at the Argentine border.

The Central-West consists of the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul as well as the Federal District, in which Brasília is located. The region covers roughly one-fourth of Brazil, including forested valleys, semiarid highlands, and vast wetlands. A small proportion of the country’s population lives there, but an increasing number of settlers have been moving into the region and extending its agricultural frontiers.