Official Name: República Federativa do Brasil.

Foundation: September 7, 1889.

First President: Marechal Deodoro da Fonseca.

Current President: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Government: Presidential Federal Republic.

Capital: Brasília.

Surface: 8.514.215,3 Km².

Currency: Real (1 R $= 100 cents).

Population: 169.799.170 inhabitants comply to the Demographic Census 2000.

Official Language: Portuguese.

Geography: The diversity in the relief favors the division of the country in regions:

• Central - East Region: Highland of soft topographies.
• Northeast Region: Plain of the coast, highland to the North and depression to the center.
• North Region: Depression in most of the territory; narrow plain to the North.
• Southeast Region: Depression of the coast (40% of the territory) and mountains in the interior
• South Region: depression in the coast, highlands to East and West, depression in the center.

Limits: 15.735 km of frontier with neighboring countries

• North: French Guyana, Surinam, Guyana, Venezuela and Colombia;
• South: Uruguay and Argentina;
• West: Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru.

Coast: 7.367 Km. for the east coast of Brazil.

Administrative Division: Composed for 26 states and the Federal District (Brasilia). They are distributed in the following way:

• South - Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná
• Southeastern - São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo.
• Western Center - Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás y Brasília Federal District, being this located in the state of Goiás.
• North - Acre, Roraima, Amazonas, Amapá, Rondônia , Pará and Tocantins.
• Northeastern - Alagoas, Rio Grande do Norte, Sergipe, Pernambuco, Bahia, Paraíba, Piauí, Maranhão and Ceará.

Political Regimen: Democratic State, Presidential Republic.

Presidential Elections: Every 4 years.

Vote: So much the President and Vice President of the Republic; Senator; Governor and Vice Governor of State and of the Federal District; Federal Deputy; State Deputy or Local; Prefect and Vice Prefect and Councilmen are elect for universal, direct, secrete and obligatory vote of citizens over 18 and less than 70 years.

Bills: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 R $real.

Currencies: 1 R $real, 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 cents.

Currency Change: Money exchange, Banks, travel agencies and authorized Hotels is possible to change foreign currency.

Traveller Check: In banks, travel agencies and authorized Hotels.

Exchange Rates: Approximately:

1U$ dollar = 1.85938 R$

1 Euro = 2.60867 R$

Credit Cards: Most of the hotels, restaurants, stores, travel agencies and rental cars accept international credit cards.

Airport Rate: If it is international or national flight the mount of the rate varies, as well as according to the specifications of the airport.

Climate: 28 ºC at the North and 22 ºC to the South are the annual half temperature.

Mainly tropical, it is of high temperature, dry winter and humid summer: regions southeast, center west and northeast of the country.

Subtropical climate in the south region, rains distributed during the year, cold winter, due to the masses of cold air.

Semi-arid climate in the rural of the northeast: hot and dry.

Equatorial climate in the Amazon region: hot and humid during the whole year.

Year Seasons: Except for the North region of Brazil (where it is summer the whole year), the seasons are exactly opposed to the countries in the another side of the globe, nevertheless is in the south region where it is noticed the seasonal variation clearly.

Spring: it begins in September;

temperature between 16ºC and 26ºC in the south and southeast;

temperature between 20ºC and 34ºC in other regions.

Summer: of December to March;

between 18ºC and 30ºC in south and southeast.

between 20ºC and 36ºC in the rest of Brazil.

Autumn: it begins in March;

temperature between 12 ºC and 28 ºC in south and southeast (inclusive inferior at 10ºC in the mountain).

temperature between 22 ºC and 32 ºC in center-west, north and northeast.

Winter: June to August;

extreme temperature in determined cities of the South can be negative and accompanied by snow.

between 10 ºC and 24ºC in regions south and southeast.

between 20ºC and 32ºC in other regions.

What clothes to use? Is recommendable to take light clothes, due to the high temperatures. Also seeks advice formal clothes for the restaurants and night clubs that demand this way it. Depending on the activities that you will be carried out recommends clothes and camp equipment if wants to know better Amazons. The areas of forests also demand rain clothes.

• Spring - In the regions south and southeast the early morning are still a little cold, but with high temperature during the day. The ideal is to use clothes slightly sheltered.
• Summer - Light clothes of cotton, hat, sunglasses, comfortable shoes and solar protector. Repellent against insects is not moreover. Some rain clothes if is necessary, depending the region.
• Autumn and Winter - in spite of being a tropical country, in this time of the year the regions southeast and mainly that of the south presents low temperatures, for what is necessary to take very sheltered clothes.

Electricity: The voltage varies from a state to another. In Salvador (BH) and Manaus (AM), for example, the electric tension is of 127 volts CA, 60 Hz; in Brasilia and Recife, it is of 220 volts CA, 60 Hz; in Río de Janeiro and São Paulo, it is of 110 or 220 volts CA, 60 Hz. The plugs used in the country are of American type. It is necessary to be informed about the tension of the place before lighting electric apparatuses.

Vaccines: It vaccinates obligatory against the Yellow Fever minimumly 10 days before the beginning of the trip.

The international certificate against Yellow Fever is demanded to tourists that were in the last three months or that they are coming from the following countries: Angola, Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Shrimps, Colombia, Ecuador, Gabán, Gambia, Gana, Guiné Bissau, French Guyana Liberia, Nigeria, Peru, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leona, Sudán, Venezuela and Zaire. This vaccine is also requested to national tourists and foreigners that have like destination the Brazilian following States: Acre, Amazons, Amapá, Federal District, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará, Rondonia, Roraima and Tocantins.

International Phone Code: To communicate are to your disposition phone agencies and booths of public telephone. These booths, meantime, require use phone cards or currencies.

Code of Brazil: 00-55

Schedule Reference:Schedule Use: Brasilia has 3 hours less than the GMT.

Brasilia Schedule: Alagoas, Amapá, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Pará (Belém, Marabá, Serra Norte, São Félix do Xingu), Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Sergipe, Santa Catarina and Tocantins.

+1 hour:

* Ilands: Fernando de Noronha, Trindade, Martin Vaz, Atol das Rocas, Penedos de São Pedro and São Paulo.

-1 hour:

* Amazon (Boca do Acre, Jutaí, Manaus, FLoriano Peixoto), Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará (Altamira, Oribidos, Prainha, Oriximina, Santarém) and Rondônia.

-2 hour:

* Acre, Amazon (Atalaia do Norte, Boca do Maoco, Benjamin Constant and Eirunepe Envira, Ipixuna).

* in relationship to the Brasilia schedule. Some regions adopt the schedule of summer, in which the local time is increased in 1 hour.

Labor Schedule:

Banks: of Monday to Friday, of 10:00 at 16:00 hours.

Commerce: of Monday to Saturday, of 9:00 at 18:00 hours generally.

Big Shopping centers: of 10:00 at 22:00 hours, Sunday in reduced schedule.

Public administration: of Monday to Friday, of 09:30 at 18:00 hours.

Public Transportation:

Exist diverse modalities of transport:

• Subways: The urban train or subways known is available in the main areas of the country, communicating capitals and their metropolitan regions.
• Taxis: Exists the common taxi and the radio-taxi. It is advisable to take registered taxis in the airports and near to the hotels. Most of the taxis possess taximeter, existing two rates, in agreement at the moment of the day:
  
  
  • Tariffs 1 - of 6:00 h at 22 hours
  • Tariffs 2 - after the 22 hours.
    
    
  Tip is not given and it is advisable to be certified that the taxi begins to run when beginning the itinerary, not before.
• Buses: Exist many lines of buses covering the Brazilian cities. The Brazilian bus is characterized to have a back door, of entrance, a collector to the interior of the car and a front door.
• Rent-a-Car Agencies: Of rent-a-car you have offices in the main airports and important cities of the country, likewise in travel agencies. To rent a car is required a international or the national driver´s license.