A is for … Amazon

The Amazon Basin and its rainforest cover around 40% of South America and a sizeable chunk of it is in Brazil. The river itself has its mouth at the city of Belem, in northern Brazil. Accordingly, Brazil and the Amazon go hand in hand in the popular imagination. This is good where tourism is concerned, but equally it puts Brazil's questionable environmental record under the spotlight as deforestation continues.

B is for … Bahia

Brazil has 27 states, but its cultural heart is Bahia, located on the north-east coast and the birthplace of many of the country's pre-eminent poets, musicians, and artists as well as the originator of the samba tradition. Salvador, home to nearly three million people, is the state capital and the third largest city in Brazil.

C is for … Capoeira

Another Bahian initiative, capoeira is most often described as a martial art but with its nimble rolls and cartwheels you could equally well call it a form of dance. Many do. It has its roots in the Congo and came to Brazil with slavery, one of the reasons it was proscribed by the powers-that-be. Today, however, it has UNESCO recognition and it has even found its way into a Harry Potter film.

D is for … Drum

Think Brazil and you think samba. Think samba and you think drum – or rather drums, because in its purest form samba is a complex web of rhythms hammered out on an equally complex family of drums. There's the low-tuned surdo which provides the basic beat; the caixa de guerra and the tarol, two different kinds of snare drum; the tamborim, a frame drum similar to the Irish bodhran; and the repinique, similar to the tenor drum used by marching bands. Of course there's more to samba than just the “bateria”, the drum kit. But if samba has a heartbeat and a pulse, it's the drums that provide them.

E is for … Enivo

Real name Marcus Vinicius, Enivo is just one of thousands of street artists who have turned all Brazilian cities - but São Paulo in particular - into sprawling 3D art galleries. Today, Brazilian street art is recognised the world over and the vibrancy of the artists' image-making is now a tourist draw in its own right: no visit to São Paulo is complete without a graffiti walking tour of the downtown area. Luminaries on the scene include Os Gemeos, identical twin brothers who started spraying São Paulo walls in 1987 and by 2012 were showing their work in Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art. Banksy who?

F is for … Favela

The name given to the notoriously lawless slums which encircle Rio de Janeiro and many other Brazilian cities. There are hundreds, each with their own local names, sub-cultures and competing gangs, but among the best-known are the Rio pair City Of God (also the name of a 2002 film) and Rocinho, Brazil's largest and home to a population twice the size of Dundee.

G is for … Gilberto, Astrud

“Tall and tan and young and lovely ...” So goes the famous opening line from The Girl From Ipanema, a smash hit for jazz musician Stan Getz in 1964 and ever after a staple of bossa nova compilation CDs. The recording session involved Gilberto's husband, famed Brazilian musician João Gilberto, and the song's composer, Antonio Carlos Jobim, but because Astrud was the only one who spoke any English, she was asked to sing it. The rest is musical history and the song has become so famous that the girl who inspired it, 17-year-old Heloisa Pinta, has traded on it ever since.

H is for … Heitor da Silva Costa

You won't know the name of this Rio de Janeiro-born civil engineer but you'll know the massive Art Deco monument he designed: Christ The Redeemer, the iconic statue which stands, arms spread, on Corcovado Mountain overlooking Rio. It wasn't all da Silva Costa's work, of course. He collaborated with French sculptor Paul Landowski and Romanian artist Gheorghe Leonida. But it was his design which won a 1922 competition intended to celebrate 100 years of Brazilian independence.

I is for … Ibirapuera Park

New York has Central Park, Brazil's second city São Paulo has Ibirapuera Park. One of South America's largest and architecturally-significant city parks, it contains a museum, a planetarium and the pavilion which hosts São Paulo Fashion Week. More poignantly, it was here that Ayrton Senna lay in state after his death at the San Marino Grand Prix in May 1994. Two hundred thousand people filed through the park's Legislative Assembly building to pay their respects, while three million lined the city streets to view the massive motorcade which brought his body there.

J is for … Jericoacoara

Brazil isn't short of amazing beaches - Copacabana and Ipanema are famous the world over - but if it has one which can lay claim to best-kept secret status it's this beauty, located on the country's northern coast in the state of Ceara. Yachtsmen, windsurfers and sand-boarders have long been drawn to its sand dunes, miles of palm-tree fringed beach and warm lagoons. The quaint and unspoiled local village still has streets made of sand thanks in part to a ban on building and development imposed after Jeri, as it's known, became a National Park in 2002.

K is for … Kilo

Yes, it's a measure of weight, but it's also the name given to a recent phenomenon in Brazilian dining: the eat-what-you-weigh restaurant. “Comida por quilo” is the sign that hangs outside many eating places in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, with the idea being that you take what you want from the buffet, weigh your plate on the scales provided, and pay by the kilo.

L is for … Lula

His shine has faded somewhat since he left office thanks to a recent corruption investigation, but during most of his eight year spell as Brazil's president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was wildly popular. He was known simply as Lula and his left-wing credo as Lulism, and the organisation he helped found, tthe Workers' Party, is still one of South America's biggest left-wing political groupings.

M is for … Maracana

Rio's massive, round football stadium is one of the world's most famous and a must-see for any visitor. The national team plays most of its games there but it's also the home ground of Brazil's most popular club side, Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (or Flamengo, as it's known) and their city rivals, Fluminese. Derbies are referred to as Fla-Flu match-ups.

N is for … Niemeyer, Oscar

One of the giants of 20th century architecture, Rio-born Niemeyer co-designed the country's capital, Brasilia, and had a hand in the no-less iconic United Nations building in New York. But he also spearheaded a mid-century Brazilian design boom to match those in the UK and Scandinavia. Not to be confused with Neymar, Barcelona FC's Brazilian-born striker and a man famous for vertiginous haircuts rather than buildings.

O is for … Ordem E Progresso

Or “Order And Progress” in English, the national motto of Brazil and the word's emblazoned across the country's iconic flag, itself designed by philosopher and mathematician Raimundo Teixeira Mendes in 1889. The green and the yellow are a nod to the colours of the first emperor of Brazil Pedro I, and to his Hapsburg wife, while the blue globe and the 27 five-pointed stars reference the Brazilian states and the night sky.

P is for … Pelé

With apologies to Lionel, Christiano and Zlatan, the man born Edson Arantes do Nascimento in the city of Três Corações in 1940 is still the world's most famous footballer and likely to remain so for some time yet. Sure, it's nearly 40 years since he hung up his boots but no country better exemplifies the so-called “Beautiful Game” than Brazil, and no Brazilian more than Pele. With Muhammad Ali now departed, he's probably the world's only traffic-stopping global sports icon.

Q is for … Quindim

The name comes from a Bantu word which loses something in the translation, but to millions of Brazilians quindim is a bright yellow baked custard pudding presented in a ring shape and made from sugar, egg yolks, butter and ground coconut. What's not to like?

R is for … Rei Momo

Or King Momo to give him his English translation, the tall fat man chosen annually to open the week-long bacchanal for which Rio de Janeiro is famous: carnival. It all kicks off when he's given the key to the city by Rio's mayor and the current incumbent is one Wilson Neto, Rei Momo since 2014. The announcement of his re-appointment was made during a live ceremony last November. The carnival itself takes place in February, when two million people will throng the city streets daily.

S is for … Supermodel

According to Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer, who should know, there's only one proper, old school supermodel still working and she's Brazilian: Gisele Bündchen, born in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul in 1980, currently married to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and still raking in millions every year as the world's highest-paid model.

T is for … Tropicalia

A politically-motivated cultural movement which arose in the 1960s and set its face against the authoritarian rule which began after the 1964 coup. Among its leading lights were musicians Gilberto Gil, Tom Zé, Jorge Ben and Caetano Veloso, who was twice imprisoned and eventually left Brazil for exile in the UK. Today, their music and their political legacy are celebrated in Brazil and elsewhere.

U is for … Underworld

With one of the world's highest murder rates, a well-entrenched gang system, high levels of corruption and sophisticated drug trafficking networks, Brazil's criminal underworld is muscular and proactive to say the least. On top of all that, its hackers rank alongside those of China and Russia as among the world's most bothersome.

V is for … Vasco de Gama

The 16th century Portugese explorer is more associated with India than Brazil, but it was his name that four Portugese immigrants to Brazil took when they founded Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama in 1898, initially as a rowing club and later as a football club. Its role in the development of football in Brazil is important because it was the Rio club which mounted the first assaults on the white elite, fielding racially-mixed teams and challenging the rules of amateurism which meant you needed a privatte income to be able to compete. Their black strip with its white diagonal slash is now iconic in world football and with a fan base of around 20 million they're Brazil's third most popular side after Flamengo and Pele's old team, Santos of Sao Paulo.

W is for … Weather

Everywhere has it, of course, but the Brazilian variety is more clement than most. The climate can be split into five sub-types, ranging from equatorial to tropical to temperate, but in none of them would you look out of place in shorts, flip-flops, simmet and sunglasses.

X is for … Xinxim

Or chicken and shrimp stew, to give it its more prosaic name. An iconic dish from Bahia, it's supposedly Pele's favourite thing to eat and includes a mouth-watering array of ingredients, from roasted cashews and lime juice, to coconut milk and fresh coriander. Best enjoyed with a cold bottle of Brahma Chopp, one of Brazil's most popular beers.

Y is for … Yellow

You see a lot of it in Brazil thanks to the omnipresent football strips, flags and, come carnival season, the extravagant costumes of the millions who dress up and take to the streets. From lemon yellow head-dresses to neon yellow Lycra thongs, it's everywhere when the samba bands start to shake.

Z is for … Zika Virus

A sombre note to end on, but the effects of this mosquito-borne disease have been felt particularly badly in Brazil, where the current global epidemic was first observed. Efforts to mitigate its spread are ongoing, but already the Rio Olympics has been hit by call-offs from high-profile participants such as golfer Rory McIlroy and American cyclist Tejay van Garderen. Meanwhile organisers have stressed that the risk to tourists and participants alike is negligible.