Brazil and the United States have a lot more in common than it may seem on the surface. Let's take a look. I've also made this into a page on the right column.
10. Both countries are huge, geographically speaking: the continental US encompasses 9.6 million square kilometers, and Brazil spans 8.5 million square kilometers.
9. Both countries are former colonies, founded by Europeans who claimed the land for themselves and killed many, many Indians in doing so. To this day, both countries struggle to address unresolved issues with the Native Americans, who have been marginalized and demoralized.
8. In both countries, the South tried to secede. In both cases, they failed.
7. There are deep cultural, historical, and economic divisions between North and South. In the US, the North has been historically wealthier and more developed, similar to the South of Brazil, while the South of the US has a higher population of blacks and higher levels of poverty, like in the Brazilian North.
6. Both countries have struggled to separate church from state.
5. Both are dependent on agriculture, despite a huge service sector in each country.
4. Both have destroyed the environment, especially forests, in the interest of industry and commerce, and only in recent history have both countries tried to curb environmental destruction.
3. Both countries owe their cultures and economic success to immigration, since both countries are melting pots/salad bowls and home to people from all over the world, from Italy to Japan to the Middle East.
2. Both countries developed modern capitalism on the backs of African slaves, and the legacy of slavery still deeply affects both societies.
1. The US and Brazil are both economic giants, modern democracies, and political powers, but both are at a precipice in which the future is still uncertain.
