Where's Brazil?

Once I went to the U.S. post office in New Haven, Connecticut to mail a package to Brazil. The address of my family in Sao Paulo, Brazil was clearly written on the outside. The post office clerk looked at the package and said "Brazil? Where's that?"  Somewhat shocked, I said "South America". "You'd better write that on the package," he replied.

Brazil is one of the largest countries in the world. With a population of 168 million, it is the fifth largest in the world. With a surface area of 8.5 million square kilometers, it is the fifth largest in the world. GNP per capita was about $6,317 in 1999, about one-fifth the level of the United States. The majority of Brazilians are of mixed race. From the mad passion of Carnaval to the immensity of the dark Amazon, Brazil is a country of mythic proportions.

Ever since maps were first drawn, certain countries have been located at the top, others below. Since "on top," "over," and "above," are equated with superiority, while "down there," "beneath," and "below," imply the reverse, those wholly arbitrary placements over the years, have led to misconceptions and misjudgments.

This Turnaround Map of the Americas serves to correct the imbalance. It focuses attention in new directions toward areas of exploding populations, energies, and potentialities. It is geographically correct... Only the perspective has been changed.