Geographic Population, Weather, and Vegetation Background Information on Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro and the surrounding region differ from the majority of the great metropolises by virtue of the diversified character of their terrain formation. The most impressive contrast here is the one represented by lowland consisting of formerly swampy plains, gently rolling hills, and the rather powerfully rising mountain ranges with their abrupt slopes; two of these mountain ranges exceed an elevation of 1000 m -- the massif of Fedra Branca (1,024 m) and the massif of Tijuca (1,021 m); right near by, constituting a part of the serra do Mar (ocean mountain range; we can see the Mendanha mountain range; then we come to the mountain ranges of Quitungo, Capoeira Grande, etc, with somewhat lower elevations. The site of the city itself is cut in half by the Carioca massif, a spur of the Tijuca mountain range; it is dotted with many low hills (hillocks).