Things to know: How many is a Brazilian?

Some essential facts about the World Cup host country

. Brasilia, the country's capital, took just 41 months to build, from 1956 to 1960 (Rio had been the capital for the previous 197 years). The World Cup was awarded to Brazil almost seven years ago, but is it ready yet?

. Brasilia looks like an aircraft from above.

. A number of Nazis fled to Brazil after the Second World War, including Josef Mengele (the "Angel of Death"), known for his cruel experiments and fascination with twins. The high rate of twin births in the town of Cândido Godói, near the Argentine border, has been attributed to him (but disproven).

. Brazil has been the world's largest exporter of coffee for 150 years. It supplied around 80% of the world's coffee in the 1920s; that figure has fallen to around a third.

. Sao Paulo has some of the world's worst traffic jams. According to Companhia de Engenharia de Tráfego, the city's traffic management agency, a congestion record was set on November 15 2013, with a total of 309km of queues around the city during the evening rush hour.

. The Amazon River is the world's largest by volume of water discharged. Around 209000 cubic metres per second flow into the Atlantic Ocean - more than the next seven largest rivers combined and enough to fill Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake - in less than four years. During the wet season, the river is up to 50km wide.

. The most popular surname in Brazil is Silva.

. The statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro weighs 635 tonnes, is 38m high including its pedestal and was named one of the "New Seven Wonders of the World" in 2007. It was damaged by a lightning strike earlier this year, and reports have suggested that repairs could make it darker, due to a shortage of replacement stone.

. Brazil has more than 4000 airports - more than any other country other than the US.

. According to a 2007 report, there are at least 70 uncontacted tribes in the Brazilian Amazon.

. Some 1.5 million to 2.5 million Brazilians are of Japanese descent. Many immigrants brought with them seedlings of cherry trees and cherry blossoms can be viewed outside homes in Sao Paulo and in public parks in Curitiba.

. With 82% of its population tracing their ancestry back to the days of slavery, Salvador is described as "the biggest African city outside Africa".

. Fishermen in Laguna, in the southeast of Brazil, are able to use dolphins to help them catch dinner. The animals will herd fish towards waiting nets, even flicking their head to indicate that the trap has been set. The practice has been going on for generations, the fishermen say, but has only recently been reported by Western media.

. Brazil is one of the world's most biodiverse countries, with a total of four million plant and animal species, according to estimates. It has more species of monkey than any other nation.

. Rio de Janeiro became a World Heritage Site in 2012. Its annual Carnival attracts around two million revellers a day.

 © The Daily Telegraph, London