Short answers, pulled from the story.
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America and the world's fifth-largest country by area. It is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and borders every South American country except Ecuador and Chile.
The word Brazil probably comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. Brazilwood, called pau-brasil, produced a deep red dye highly valued by the European textile industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil.
Prince Pedro declared Brazil's independence from Portugal on the 7th of September 1822 and was proclaimed the first Emperor as Dom Pedro I a month later. Portugal officially recognized Brazilian independence on the 29th of August 1825.
Slavery was formally abolished in Brazil in May 1888 with the approval of the Golden Law. The Atlantic slave trade had already been outlawed in 1850 through the British Aberdeen Act and the Eusébio de Queirós Law.
Brazil ranks first among the world's 17 megadiverse countries and is considered to have the greatest biodiversity of any country on the planet. It holds 60% of the Amazon rainforest and has the most known plant species at 55,000, the most freshwater fish at 3,000, and over 689 mammal species.
Brazil's capital is Brasília, which was inaugurated in 1960 and built under President Juscelino Kubitschek. Its most populous city is São Paulo, followed by Rio de Janeiro.