Short answers, pulled from the story.
The word Brazil derives from the Portuguese term for brazilwood, a tree that once grew so abundantly along the coast that it defined the land's identity for centuries. Before the official name became Brazil, European sailors and merchants called it the Land of the Holy Cross, yet the vibrant red dye produced by brazilwood was so valuable to the European textile industry that the trade name eclipsed the religious one.
The Portuguese arrived on the 22nd of April 1500, commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral, and claimed the territory under the Treaty of Tordesillas. The land was not empty; it was home to an estimated seven million indigenous people, mostly semi-nomadic, who subsisted on hunting, fishing, and migrant agriculture.
Nearly five million enslaved Africans were imported to Brazil during the Atlantic slave trade, more than any other country in history. Between 1500 and 1800, Brazil received over 2.8 million slaves from Africa, purchased in markets across Western Africa to work on plantations.
Prince Pedro sided with the Brazilians, declaring independence on the 7th of September 1822. A month later, he was proclaimed the first Emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro I, founding the Empire of Brazil, and Portugal officially recognized Brazilian independence on the 29th of August 1825.
Home to 60% of the Amazon rainforest, which accounts for approximately one-tenth of all species in the world, Brazil is considered to have the greatest biodiversity of any country on the planet. It contains over 70% of all animal and plant species catalogued, including the most known species of plants, freshwater fish, and mammals.
The legal system is based on the civil law legal system, with the Federal Constitution promulgated on the 5th of October 1988 serving as the fundamental law. The highest court is the Supreme Federal Court, and the country has specialized military, labor, and electoral courts.