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BRAZIL, a republic of South America, the largest political division
of that continent and the third largest of the western hemisphere. It
is larger than the continental United States excluding Alaska, and slightly
larger than the great bulk of Europe lying east of France. Its extreme
dimensions are 2629 m. from Cape Orange (4 21 N.) almost due south to
tIe river Chuy (33 45 5. lat.), and 2691 m. from Olinda (Ponta de Pedra,
8 o 57 S., 34 50 W.) due west to the Peruvian frontier (about 73 50
W.). The Inost northerly point, the Serra Roraima on the Venezuela and
British Guiana frontier (5 10 N.), is 56 m. farther north than. Cape
Orange. The area, which was augmented by more than 60,000 sq. m. in
1903 and diminished slightly in the boundary adjustment with British
Guiana (904), is estimated to have been 3,228,452 sq. m. in 190C (A.
Supan, Die Bevolkerung der Erde, Gotha, 1904). A subsequent planimetric
calculation, which takes into account these territorial changes, increases
the area to 3,270,000 sq. m.
Boundaries.Brazil is bounded N. by Colombia, Venezuela and the Guianas,
N.E., E. and S.E. by the Atlantic, S. by Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia,
and W. by Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.
Its territory touches that of every South American nation, except Chile,
and with each one there has been a boundary dispute at some stage in
its political life. The Spanish and Portuguese crowns attempted to define
the limits between their American. colonies in 1750 and 1777, and the
lines adopted still serve in great part to separate Brazil from its
neighbors. Lack of information regarding the geographical features of
the interior, however, led to some indefinite descriptions, and these
have been fruitful sources of dispute ever since. The Portuguese were
persistent trespassers in early colonial times, and their land-hunger
took them far beyond the limits fixed by Pope Alexander VI. In the boundary
disputes which have followed, Brazil seems to have pursued this traditional
policy, and generally with success.
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