nous people who were there before Portuguese colonialists arrived in 1500. The populations of Brazil com- prises people from Portugal and other European countries, Africans (brought there as slaves, prior to abolition in 1888), the Middle East, and Japan, many of whom immi- grated to Brazil in the 1900s. Brazil has a stable, democratic government that peacefully transitioned from mili- tary control in 1989. Lack of civil strife and a wealth of natural resources are major contributors to its growing economy. Brazil's economic upswing began after 1994 when fiscal policies were initiated to control inflation. However, because of its reliance on revenue from commodities such as oil, agricultural products, and minerals, it is dependent on commodity prices which can fluctuate over time. In addition, competition from China has resulted in declining exports for its low- priced manufactured goods, such as textiles, machinery, and metal products. In an attempt to promote its own products and manufacturing industry, Brazil has raised tariffs on imports. This has resulted in higher prices for imports that include equipment for upgraded mobile networks and mobile handsets. However, there is a large middle class and more than 80 percent of the country lives in cities; both of these factors help to create concentrations of populations with buying power. Infrastructure for mobile services and Internet access is improving in Brazil's largest cities. Although 52 percent of the Brazilian population is in the middle class, there is still a large income disparity between the very wealthy and everyone else. Although 89 percent of the population is literate, the large quality gaps between schools in wealthy and middle-class districts and those in slums and rural areas are holding back growth in the middle class. The educational quality gap is resulting in fewer children from Latin America poor and rural areas receiving university educations. This is important because the size of the middle class directly impacts the number of people wh