Physical map of Brazil

The Brazilian territory is physically crossed by two imaginary geographical lines: the equator, which passes through the mouth of the Amazon, and the Tropic of Capricorn, which crosses the city of São Paulo. The country occupies a vast area along the east coast of South America and covers much of the interior of the continent, sharing land borders with Uruguay to the south; Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest; Bolivia and Peru to the west; Colombia to the northwest and Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana to the north. In this way, it has a common border with all the countries of South America, with the exception of Ecuador and Chile. The Brazilian territory also includes a series of archipelagos, such as Fernando de Noronha, the Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago and Trindade and Martin Vaz. The size, relief, climate and natural resources make Brazil a geographically diverse country.

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, after Russia, Canada, China and the United States, besides being the third largest in America, with a total area of 8,515,770 km², including 157,630 km² of water. Its territory covers four time zones, from UTC-5 in the western states, to UTC-3 for the eastern states (and the official time in Brazil) and UTC-2 for the Atlantic islands.

The Brazilian topography is also very diverse, and includes several hills, mountains, plains, plateaus and hills. Much of the land is located at an altitude of between 200 and 800 meters above sea level. Most of the highlands are located mainly in the southern part of the country.The Brazilian northwest is a plateau composed of broad terrain interrupted by some hills. The southeastern region is more rugged, with a complex mass of mountain ranges and mountains that reach altitudes of more than 1200 meters above sea level.These accidents include the Mantiqueira mountain range, the Sierra del Espinazo and the Sierra del Mar. In the north, the Guiana Shield constitutes a main drainage pit, separating the rivers running south to the Amazon basin from the rivers that flow into the Orinoco River system, in Venezuela, to the north. The highest point in Brazil is the Pico da Neblina, on the border with Venezuela, at 2994 meters above sea level.

The country is bathed exclusively by the Atlantic Ocean, a section of the South American coastline that goes from the Cape Orange, in the north, to the Chuí Stream, in the south, with a length of 7491 km -which increases up to the 9198 km if the outgoing and coastal entrants are considered; This makes it the 15th longest coastline in the world, and of the 26 Brazilian states, nine do not have a coastline, nor does the Federal District. Most of the 17 coastal states have their capitals located near the coast, except Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul), Curitiba (Paraná), São Paulo (São Paulo), Teresina (Piauí), Belém (Pará) and Macapá (Amapá). Porto Alegre, Belém and Macapá are located near large navigable rivers, accessible to them from the coast.

Brazil has a dense and complex system of rivers, one of the largest in the world, with eight large drainage basins that drain into the Atlantic The most important rivers are the Amazon - the largest river in the world in both length (6937 , 08 km) and in terms of water volume (12 500 million liters per minute) - the Paraná - its largest tributary - the Iguazú - which gives rise to the Iguazú Falls -, the Negro, São Francisco, Xingú, Madeira and the Tapajós.