With a land mass larger than the continental United States, a unique culture that is part European, African, and indigenous, and the largest economy in Latin America, Brazil is one of the most important--yet one of the least understood--nations in the world. Thomas Skidmore, a preeminent authority on Brazil, vividly traces the 500 years of Brazil's development. Its epic story begins in the wake of Vasco da Gama's historic circumnavigation of the globe, when another Portuguese vessel, commanded by Pedro Alvares Cabral, ran aground on the coast of Brazil in April 1500.
