Brazil's armed forces are the largest in Latin America, with 327, 710 active-duty troops and officers.

The Third Army was also important because of its shared border with Argentina ( Brazil's traditional rival in Latin America ) and Uruguay.

Brazil's foreign policy is a by-product of the country's unique position as a regional power in Latin America, a leader among developing countries, and an emerging world power.

In Brazil, the Ministry of Foreign Relations continues to dominate trade policy, causing the country's commercial interests to be ( at times ) subsumed by a larger foreign policy goal, namely, enhancing Brazil's influence in Latin America and the world.

The total value of the Domestic Market Capitalization of the BMV was calculated at US $ 409 billion at the end of 2011, and raised to US $ 451 billion by the end of February this year, making it the second largest stock exchange in Latin America ( after Brazil's BM & F Bovespa ) and the fifth largest in the Americas.

Landless Workers ' Movement (, or simply MST ) is a social movement in Brazil, being generally regarded as one of the greatest ( or, according to some, the greatest ) largest social movement in Latin America with an estimated informal 1. 5 million membership in 23 out of Brazil's 26 states.

Latin America also has its share of martial arts devoted to stick fighting, like Venezuela's Juego del Garrote or Brazil's Palo do Brazil.

** Fernando Collor de Mello takes office as President of Brazil, Brazil's first democratically elected president since 1961.

* March 29 – The city of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil's first capital, is founded.

In 1930, she was known to be Brazil's gem singer, and in 1933 went on to sign a two-year contract with Rádio Mayrink Veiga, becoming the first contract singer in the radio industry history of Brazil.

Following the Portuguese Liberal Revolution of 1820, and after several battles and skirmishes were fought in Pará and in Bahia, the heir apparent Pedro, son of King John VI of Portugal, proclaimed the country's independence in 1822 and became Brazil's first emperor ( He later also reigned as Pedro IV of Portugal ).

Mostly due to the efforts of the Villas-Bôas brothers, Brazil's first indian reserve, the Xingu National Park, was established by the Federal Government in 1961.

* Sport shooter Guilherme Paraense won Brazil's first ever Gold Medal at the Olympic Games.

Brazil's first match at home against Exeter City F. C.

Dunga's first defeat as Brazil's manager was on February 6, 2007 in a friendly match against Portugal, which at that time was coached by former Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

* Hypermarkets: " Ninguém faz melhor que o primeiro " ( Brazil ), meaning " Nobody does better than the first ", referring to the fact that Carrefour is the world's first hypermarket and also Brazil's first hypermarket and to other Carrefour firsts, such as the " Lowest price or the difference back " policy.

The Tupi people inhabited almost all of Brazil's coast when the Portuguese first arrived there.

Cacao trees, introduced in 1878, brought the first cash crop to the farmers of the interior ; it became the mainstay of the nation's economy in the 1920s when disease wiped out Brazil's trees.

The first Asian feature was Japan's The Life Story of Tasuke Shiobara ( 1912 ), the first Indian feature was Raja Harishchandra ( 1913 ), the first South American feature was Brazil's O Crime dos Banhados ( 1913 ), and the first African feature was South Africa's Die Voortrekkers ( 1916 ).

Long before the first revolts of the urban middle classes to seize power from the coffee oligarchs in the 1920s, however, Brazil's intelligentsia, influenced by the tenets of European positivism, and farsighted agro-capitalists, dreamed of forging a modern, industrialized society — the " world power of the future ".

After a qualifying game for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he spat on Brazil's Roberto Carlos, an action which caused FIFA to give him a three-match suspension and forced him to watch the first game of the World Cup from the stands.

Curitiba, Brazil's Rede Integrada de Transporte | RIT was the first BRT system implemented in the world.

During Brazil's 1970 campaign, centre forward Tostão played the advanced penetration role of first attacker as described above in the article.

The rapidly changing and industrializing Southeast, and the seething class conflict underlying this change, had been brewing an atmosphere conducive to the growth of European-style mass-movements ; Brazil's Communist Party was established in 1922 and the postwar period witnessed the rise of the country's first waves of general strikes waged by viable trade unions.

He also founded one of Brazil's first publishing houses ( Companhia Editora Nacional ) and was a supporter of nationalism.

In Brazil's first automotive recall, 65, 000 owners were contacted and free repairs were made available ; the Corcel once again became Ford's biggest selling model in 1971.

Gurgel also introduced Brazil's first fully domestically designed and manufactured car, the BR-800.

Lada was the first foreign trademark to enter Brazil's car market after Collor's liberalization of 1990.

Among them are artists such as surrealist André Breton and the modernist painter Anita Malfatti, athletes such as Brazil's most known basketball player Oscar Schmidt, car racer Émerson Fittipaldi, sea explorer Amyr Klink, and Olympic golden medalist Robert Scheidt ; journalists Boris Casoy and Ney Gonçalves Dias ; businessmen Márcio Cypriano ( CEO Bradesco ), Ivan Zurita ( CEO Nestlé, Brasil ) and Emerson Kapaz ; jurists Álvaro Villaça Azevedo, Carlos Miguel Aidar ( former Brazilian Law Society President ), Eros Roberto Grau ( Brazilian Supreme Court Justice ), José Roberto Batochio ( prominent lawyer ), Sérgio Pinto Martins ( judge and labour law renowned scholar ), Roberto Justus, Tales Castelo Branco, Paulo Mendes da Rocha ( Pritzker Prize 2006 ), Antonio Carlos Rodrigues do Amaral ( world-renowned lawyer, Harvard Law graduate ) and many others.

Their intention was never to develop a large arsenal but to have the technical capability to produce the arms needed for Brazil's military.

Solano López then struck at his enemy's main force in Uruguay ; he was, however unaware that Argentina had acquiesced to Brazil's Uruguay policy and would not support Paraguay against Brazil.

Brazil's grant of duty-free port facilities on the Atlantic Coast was particularly valuable to Paraguay.

Brazil's financing of the US $ 19 billion Itaipú Dam on the Río Paraná between Paraguay and Brazil had far-reaching consequences for Paraguay ; it had no means of contributing financially to the construction, but its cooperation, including controversial concessions regarding ownership of the construction site and the rates for which Paraguay agreed to sell its share of the electricity, was essential.

It flows through four Brazilian states ( Goiás, Tocantins, Maranhão and Pará ) and gives its name to one of Brazil's newest states, formed in 1988 from what was until then the northern portion of Goiás.

Brazil's Consul General Jorió Gama was on hand for opening remarks, as were members of Bando da Lua, Carmen Miranda's original band.

In 1993, another referendum to decide Brazil's government system was held.

Brazil's new bid was very similar to the mooted 1942 bid and was quickly accepted.

In 2009, a survey conducted by the University of São Paulo in 10 Brazilian state capitals, estimated that 7. 8 % of Brazil's male population was gay and 2. 6 % was bisexual ( a total of 10. 4 %), while 4. 9 % of the female population was estimated to be lesbian and 1. 4 % bisexual ( a total of 6. 3 %).

Collor was later acquitted of ordinary criminal charges in his judicial trial before Brazil's Supreme Federal Tribunal, for lack of valid evidence.

On January 26, 2001 a number of activists with Brazil's Movimento dos Sem-Terra ( MST ) reacted in protest to the growing role of Monsanto in global agribusiness, which was considered by the group to be unethically using their seed patents to harm the rights of rural peoples, tore up an experimental plot of transgenic crops in Não-me-Toque, 300 km from Porto Alegre, where the World Social Forum was taking place at the time.

During Brazil's military rule period, the president was elected by an electoral college comprising senators, deputies, state deputies, and lawmakers in the cities.

It was led by Brazil's Sergio Vieira de Mello ( Special Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor ) and the Philippines's Lieutenant General Jaime de los Santos ( Supreme Commander of the United Nations ' Peacekeeping Force ( PKF )).

Against a weaker Argentine side, the Brazilians applied heavy pressure and had numerous chances to score, but it was Claudio Caniggia who managed to find Brazil's net and eliminate them after a brilliant assist from Maradona.

Many criticized the decision to reinstate Ronaldo into the starting lineup as he put on a poor performance another reason that had been given for Brazil's poor performance was lack of preparation.

1994 World Cup-winning captain Dunga was hired as Brazil's new team manager on July 24, 2006, almost right after the World Cup was over.