14 SELLING LATIN AMERICA 
largest country in the world, and is widest be 
tween the Equator and the Tropic of Capri 
corn, covering an area of 3,292,000 square 
miles. 
The population has been variously estimated 
at from 20,000,000 to 24,000,000, of whom less 
than 1,000,000 are aborigines, thus giving it 
about one-fifth of the population per square 
mile of the population of the United States of 
America. Its inhabitants are white, black, 
mulattoes, Indians and mixed breeds, a heavy 
percentage being descendants from the slaves 
imported originally from Africa, slavery in 
Brazil having been abolished in 188S. 
The language of Brazil is Portuguese ex 
cept among the Indian tribes, each one of 
which has its own dialect. These Indians are 
to be found in the interior and the remote dis 
tricts, and are a negligible quantity as far as 
trade is concerned, living primitive lives and 
having few wants that the rich country and 
rivers cannot supply. 
Brazil was discovered April 22, 1500, by 
Pedro Alvarez Cabral, a Portuguese explorer,