Brazil The stars, as shown in the flag, resemble the Brazilian sky over the city of Rio de Janeiro on the day the independence from Portugal was declared. There are 27 stars, each representing a Brazilian state. On the blue circle at the middle there is a white strip where is written: "Ordem e Progresso", which means "Order and Progress"... the green colour symbolizes the Brazilian tropical forests and rainforests. The yellow symbolizes gold (which was, by the time Brazil got independent from Portugal, a very important natural resource). And the blue symbolizes the Brazilian sky (a curiosity: according to the Discovery Channel, Brazil has the most blue sky of the world).

Amazon is home to 30% of all plant and animal life

Full name: Federative Republic of Brazil Population: million (UN, 2011) Capital: Brasilia Largest city: Sao Paulo Area: 8.55 million sq km (3.3 million sq miles) Major language: Portuguese Major religion: Christianity Monetary unit: 1 real = 100 centavos Main exports: Manufactured goods, iron ore, coffee, oranges, other agricultural produce

The thick outermost membrane of the coffee cherry (fruit), similar to the skin of a grape is removed before drying. Brazil is one of the leading countries in coffee production. Brazilian coffee is extremely popular as it takes up 30 to 35 percent of the worlds coffee.

President: Dilma Rousseff Dilma Rousseff is the first woman to be elected as Brazil's president. She is former chief of staff to, and favoured successor of, outgoing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Elected president in 2010

A sugarloaf was the traditional form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end-product of a process that saw the dark molasses-rich raw sugar, which were imported from sugar cane growing regions such as the Caribbean and Brazil, refined into white sugar. [sugar molassessugar caneCaribbeanBrazil [ A sugarloaf which required sugar nips to break off piecessugar nips