Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon After Russia, Canada, China and the United States, Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world. It is the biggest country in South America and takes up almost half of the continent's area. Its northern part is called Amazonia, after the Amazon river, which runs through it. This region covers 40% of Brazil's surface and extends into many of the surrounding countries. It is mostly covered with dense tropical rain forests and contains an enormous variety of plants and animals. Although rain forests constitute only 7% of the earth's land surface, they contain 50% of its living species! (Revkin, 34) Unfortunately,