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In the far north the Guiana Highlands cover only 2 percent of the country.
These highlands form a major drainage divide, separating rivers that flow south
into the Amazon Basin from rivers that empty into the Orinoco river system of
Venezuela to the north. The highest point in Brazil—the 9,888-foot (3,014-meter)
Pico da Neblina—is in the mountains of the Guiana Highlands.
Largest River System in the World
Brazil has a dense and complex system of rivers. The Amazon is the world’s
second-longest river, after the Nile in Egypt. Based on the amount of water
drained, however, the Amazon and its
tributaries
rank as the largest river sys-
tem in the world.
Brazil’s coastline varies considerably. In the north, at the equator, the
mouth of the Amazon breaks up the coast with major river channels, lowlands,
swamps of mangrove trees, and numerous islands. Farther south and east, the
coast becomes smoother, with large areas of beaches and dunes. Dunes, man-
groves, lagoons, and hills can be found south of Cape São Roque, near east-
ernmost Brazil.
As the coastline curves gently westward south of the cities of Natal and
Recife, lagoons, marshlands, sand spits, and sandy beaches can all be found. In
the states of Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo, and parts of the
south, the mountains come close to the coast. At the foot of them, the coastal
plain is narrow or nonexistent. Only in the state of Rio Grande do Sul does the
plain widen again. Portuguese settlers established their first communities
along the coast, and most Brazilians still live within about 200 miles (322 km)
of the coast.
Brazil
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