Brazil uses Portuguese as its official language and has Brasília as its capital.
Brazil is the largest country in South America and the only nation in the Americas where Portuguese is the sole official language at the federal level. Portuguese arrived during Portuguese colonization, and Brazilian Portuguese later developed distinctive vocabulary, pronunciation, and regional varieties.
Brasília became Brazil’s capital in 1960, replacing Rio de Janeiro. The planned city was designed largely by urban planner Lúcio Costa and architect Oscar Niemeyer. Its move inland reflected a long-standing goal of encouraging development away from the Atlantic coast.
Brazil’s language can cause confusion because most neighboring South American countries use Spanish. Portugal is the European country most closely associated with Portuguese, while Angola and Mozambique are Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa. Brazil, however, is by far the largest Portuguese-speaking country by population and territory.