Language: Portuguese (official), and most widely spoken language. Less common languages include Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, English, and a large number of minor Amerindian languages.
Largest Cities: (by population) Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Fortaleza, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Curitiba, Manaus, Recife, Belem.
Name: The name Brazil comes from the Brazilwood tree which grows in Brazil. In Portuguese, this tree is call "pau-brasil" which means "red like an ember".
National Day: September 7
Religion: Roman Catholic (nominal) 73.6%, Protestant 15.4%, Spiritualist 1.3%, Bantu/voodoo 0.3%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.2%, none 7.4%
