Administrative evolution

Flag of Amazonas State

Adopted	January 14, 1982
Design	25 stars for municipalities of August 4, 1897, the larger one for the capital Manaus. Two white bars for hope, red bar for struggles overcome.

Rise of the rainforest

At one time the Amazon River flowed westward, perhaps as part of a proto-Congo (Zaïre) river system from the interior of present-day Africa when the continents were joined as part of western Gondwana. Fifteen million years ago, the Andes were formed by the collision of the South American Plate with the Nazca Plate (eastern Pacific oceanic) plate. The rise of the Andes and the linkage of the Brazilian and Guyana bedrock shields, blocked the river and caused the Amazon to become a vast inland sea. Gradually this inland sea became a massive swampy, freshwater lake and the marine inhabitants adapted to life in freshwater. For example, over 20 species of stingray, most closely related to those found in the Pacific Ocean, can be found today in the fresh waters of the Amazon.

About ten million years ago, waters worked through the sandstone to the west and the Amazon began to flow eastward. At this time the Amazon rainforest was born. During the Ice Age, sea levels dropped and the great Amazon lake rapidly drained and became a river. Three million years later, the ocean level receded enough to expose the Central American isthmus and allow mass migration of mammal species between the Americas.

The Ice Ages caused tropical rainforest around the world to retreat. Although debated, it is believed that much of the Amazon reverted to savanna and montane forest. Savanna divided patches of rainforest into "islands" and separated existing species for periods long enough to allow genetic differentiation. A similar rainforest retreat took place in Africa, where Delta core samples suggest that even the mighty Congo watershed was void of rainforest at this time. When the ice ages ended, the forest was again joined, and the species that were once one, had diverged significantly enough to be designated as separate species, adding to the tremendous diversity of the region. About 6,000 years ago, sea levels rose about 130 meters, once again causing the river to be inundated like a long, giant freshwater lake.

Native peoples

The pre-Columbian Amazonas was inhabited by seminomadic peoples whose livelihood mixed occasional agriculture with a fishing and hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Because of Christopher Columbus' misunderstanding of the continent at which he had arrived, the native population were and are denominated "índios" by the Portuguese. Approximately two thousand Indian tribes lived in the region in the sixteenth century, perhaps amounting to some millions of people, but phenomena such as disease and assimilation to Brazilian culture caused their numbers to fall to approximately three hundred thousand, and two hundred tribes, by the end of the twentieth century. Certain uncontacted tribes still exist in the region.

Colonial conflicts

In the colonial time, the territory which today belongs to the State of Amazonas, was a combination of treaties, expeditions, evangelism and military occupations. Scarce but recorded claims and indigenous uprisings in the region, were initially made by the Spanish Empire through the Treaty of Tordesillas and after the Portuguese Empire by the First Treaty of San Ildefonso. The State also includes territory from failed attempts at colonization by the European powers, such as England and the Dutch empire.

1562 map of the Amazon River Region.

The first Spanish expedition was by Francisco de Orellana in conjunction with Catholic priest Gaspar de Carvajal, who documented the expedition. He reported a conflict against indigenous women which led to the current name of the river, and then to the current name of the region and the state (Amazonas in English: Amazons). The second Spanish expedition was by Pedro de Ursúa, intending to prove the previous expedition, but resulted in the Spanish Kingdom dropping the attempt to colonize the region.

After the unification of the Iberian kingdoms, Portugal launched an expedition on the river [but in reverse from Francisco de Orellana, at the mouth of the river to the site of the present-day city of Quito, capital of Ecuador], with the intention of attaching Spanish lands (comprising the current territory of the Brazilian Amazon) to the Portuguese Kingdom. After the dissolution of the Iberian Union, Portuguese and Spanish possessions in the region were undefined, resulting in internal conflicts in the region between Portugal and Spain. The Portuguese Crown later asserted the principle of uti possidetis, with respect to the region. This was the first assertion of the principle from Roman law of uti possidetis, ita possideatis, (Latin, "who has possession, has dominion"), analogous to English common law "Squatters rights". Due account may have been taken of John Locke's labour theory of property.

Conflicting issues arose between what was granted by law in the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), and the subsequent reality of colonial expansion: the Spanish, eastward from the Pacific coastal plains (though restrained by the Andes), and the Portuguese, westward (aided by the waterways and lowlands of the mighty Amazon). The Treaty of Madrid (13 January 1750) – that determined the border between the Spanish possessions and southern Portuguese Brazil – had first enunciated the principle that new states, at the time of their creation shall have dominion over the lands that were settled as colonies. It implicitly opened the door to claims by prior possession in the vast lands of the north.

After the independence of Brazil in 1822, the current borders of the Amazonas State were still undefined – at that time being with Gran Colombia. The internal conflicts within that neighbour country resulted in the emergence of Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama. Brazil signed the Treaty Vásquez Cobo–Martins (1908) (with those countries) finally entitling those possessions in the north to Brazil. One region is marked by the geodesic line Apóporis-Tabatinga; and the other is the municipal area of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, on the Brazil-Colombia border.

Spanish conquistadors and Jesuits

Bust of Francisco de Orellana, explorer who visited the Amazon River

By the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), the whole Amazon basin was in the area of the Spanish Crown. The mouth of a great river was explored by Spanish conquistador Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, who reached it in February 1500, with his cousin Diego de Lepe. He called the river Río Santa María de la Mar Dulce (River of Saint Mary of the Sweet Sea) on account of the large freshwater estuary extending into the sea at its mouth.

In 1541, Spanish conquistadores Gonzalo Pizarro and Francisco de Orellana, from Quito, Ecuador, crossed the Andes Mountains and explored the course of the river to the Atlantic Ocean. The indigenous people called this river the Conoris.^{[Note 1]} The myth of women warriors on the river has spread in the accounts and books, without any popular scope,^[9] still making those regions to receive names of warriors of Greek mythology, the Amazons — among them the largest river in the region that became known as the Amazon River. Early publications, as was the style of the day, called the river after its European explorer, the Orellana.

Also in the 16th century, there were the expeditions of conquistadores Pedro de Ursúa and Lope de Aguirre in search of the legendary El Dorado, the Lost City of Gold (1559–1561) Spanish Jesuit missions were the first settlements upstream on the Amazon. As many as 30 missions were founded in Amazon territory, seven in Brazil, between 1638 and 1727.^{[Note 2]} The municipality of Silves on an island of Lake Saracá is one of the oldest in the Amazon, originating in a Mercedarian Indian mission founded in 1663. By the early 18th century, they were destroyed by the Portuguese, depopulated by smallpox, or their indigenous residents taken away as slaves by Portuguese Bandeirantes. A few were taken over by Portuguese Carmelites. The destruction of the missions was the end of Spanish claims in western Amazonia. Only one is a populated place today, San Pablo, now the municipality of São Paulo de Olivença.

English, Dutch and French outposts

Starting about 1580, without effective occupation, English, Dutch, French (and even some Irish) searching for so-called Drogas do Sertão (spices of the backlands^{[Note 3]}) had established some outposts upstream of the mouth of the Amazon.

Portuguese usurpation

Barcelos was first headquarters of the captaincy of São José do Rio Negro.

From at least the time of the Tordesillas Treaty in 1494^{[Note 4]} until the Treaty of Madrid in 1750, the region of the upper Amazon was part of the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru (Viceroyalty of New Granada after 1717). Everything north of the Amazon (Solimões) and west of the Nhamundá River (Yamundá, in Spanish), an affluent of the left bank of the Amazon that forms the boundary of Amazonas with Pará, was known as Spanish Guyana.

Portuguese expansion westward and northward of the Torsedillas Line began from the frontier of the northernmost captaincy of Maranhão with the expulsion of the French from São Luis in 1615, and the founding of Belém at the mouth of the Amazon in 1616. Exploration and colonization thence followed the waterway upstream.

There are accounts of Portuguese Carmelite missionaries active in the Solimões area, upstream of the Rio Negro, as early as the 1620s, but permanent settlements weren't established for another 80 years, so the records are nebulous. The first documented Portuguese foray into upper Amazonia was the expedition of Portuguese explorer and military officer Pedro Teixeira, who followed the great river from the Atlantic Ocean to Quito, Ecuador with 70 soldiers and 1,200 Indians in forty-seven great canoes (1637–1639). He returned by the same route, arriving back in Belem in 1639. According to the Portuguese, Pedro Teixeira placed a possession marker at the upper Japurá River in 1639. Soon after that the Portuguese bandeirante António Raposo Tavares, whose bandeira, leaving the captaincy of São Vicente travelling overland, reached the Andes, and following the Amazon River, returned to Belém, visiting a total of about 12,000 kilometres (7,500 mi), between 1648 and 1651.

Tropical jungle is hostile and impenetrable as well as European settlements were exclusively along the waterways. Portuguese expansion generally was east to west, and from the main channel, the Solimões, north and south along the tributaries. The character of the settlements was of three kinds: defense and occupation (fortes), economic (feitorias), and evangelical (missões). The first permanent Portuguese settlements in the region were Itacoatiara 176 km east of Manaus, founded in 1655 by Portuguese Jesuit Padre António Vieira as Mission of Aroaquis on the island of Aibi near the mouth of Lake Arauató, followed by São Gabriel, founded in 1668 as by Franciscan Friar Teodózio [or Teodósio] da Veiga and Captain Pedro da Costa Favela on the Rio Negro, near the mouth of the Rio Aruím. In 1761, a fort was built on the location, and the settlement became the town of São Gabriel da Cachoeira. The first missionary aldea of the Portuguese in the Negro was that known as Santo Elias dos Tarumas (originally aldeia of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, and later called Airão), dating from 1692. the capital Manaus, was founded in 1669 as the Fort of São José do Rio Negro (later called Lugar da Barra do Rio Negro or "place on the shore of Rio Negro") on the confluence of the Rio Negro and Solimões Rivers.

The Royal Charter of 1693 divided Amazonia among the Jesuits, Carmelites, Capuchines and Franciscans: the Jesuits restricted their activities to the south bank of the Amazon upstream to the mouth of the Madeira; the north shore of the Amazon as far as the Trombetas fell to the Franciscans, to the mouth of the Rio Negro to the Mercedarians, and the Negro itself and the Solimoes to the Carmelites. The Portuguese Carmelites got a later start than the Spanish Jesuits, but their impact was more durable. Between 1697 and 1757, they established eight missions on the Solimões and nine on the Rio Negro.^{[Note 5]} In addition, there were a few Portuguese Jesuit missions in the Solimões. In 1731, Portuguese Jesuits received orders from the Governor Luiz de Vasconcellos Lobo to establish two aldeias above the mouth of the Rio Negro, one on the right bank of the Orellana Solimões, between the eastern mouth of the Javari and the Carmelite aldeia of São Pedro; the other at the western mouth of the great river Japurá. This was the beginning of what came to be called the Jesuit–Carmelite War.

Antidote to settlement was disease: fierce smallpox epidemics in 1661, 1695, 1724, and 1743/49 left the region nearly depopulated. A Carmelite Friar had notable success with the method of variolation in 1729, but the technique was not propagated. The Jenner cowpox vaccine was not introduced in Brazil until 1808. Variolation was prohibited in 1840, and vaccination was mandated in 1854. But epidemics got worse until finally petering out around the turn of the century.

Within the project of occupying the Amazon hinterland, was formed the royal captaincy of São José do Rio Negro subordinate to Para, in Mar. 1755, with headquarters in the village of Mariuá, (now Barcelos).

Age of rebellion

In 1821, Grão-Pará and Rio Negro provinces became the unified Grão-Pará. The following year, Brazil proclaimed its independence and Grão-Pará became the Province of Pará of state of Brazil.

When Emperor Pedro I declared independence from Portugal, in 1822, he had to fight also the provinces of Grão-Pará and Maranhão. In 1823, a ship commanded by British officer John Pascoe Grenfell arrived at the port of Belém, to combat rebels. Only in August 1824 did the new governor swear loyalty to the Brazilian Emperor. The Province of Pará, including the comarca of Rio Negro, the upper Amazon region, was incorporated into the Empire of Brazil in 1824.

A revolt in 1832 demanded the autonomy of the Amazonas region as a separate province of Pará. The rebellion was suppressed, but the Amazons were able to send a representative to the Imperial Court, Friar José dos Santos Inocentes, who got up the creation of the District of the Upper Amazon. During Cabanagem in 1835–40, the Amazon remained loyal to the imperial government and not joined the revolt.

As a sort of reward for loyalty, the Province of Amazonas was officially created by Emperor Pedro II in 1850.

Rubber and economic exploitation

Rubber market in the centre of Manaus in 1904.

Bond of the State of the Amazonas, issued 16. July 1906

From the mid-19th century, the territory began to receive migrants from the northeast seeking a better life. Attracted by the rubber boom, they settled in important Amazonian cities such as Manaus, Tabatinga, Parintins, Itacoatiara and Barcelos, the first capital of Amazonas. The state had an era of splendor in the 1890s, at the peak of the rubber boom. However, the economic gains were largely the result of great human suffering: untold thousands of enslaved Amerindian seringueiros (rubber tappers) died through disease and overwork.

November 15 Square, Manaus, 1906.

Manaus, which already boasted as the capital administrative of the State, experienced a great population growth and the economic advancement, resulting mainly from exports of raw materials until then exclusively from Amazon Region. With the wealth generated by the production and export of natural rubber (Hevea brasiliensis), the amazonian capital received large works such as the port of Manaus, the Amazonas Opera House, Palace of Justice, Reservoir of Mocó,^[10] the first network of electric energy and public transport services as trams. Vista as a reference, your headquarters became a symbol of prosperity and civilization for the Amazonas State, being the center of important artistic and cultural events. Bloomed so trade in luxury products and superfluous, with men and women from all over the world parading its streets and avenues, at purchase of the so-called "black gold", as was dubbed the natural rubber, to resell big profits in the main capitals of Europe and in the United States from 1910,^[11] difficult times began,^[12][13] due to the strong competition of natural rubber planted in rubber plantations the Asian continent, to European and American markets with superior advantages, which ultimately enact bankruptcy of Amazonian economy. By the late 19th century, the Brazilian rubber monopoly was slowly dying, as British and Dutch plantations in South-East Asia were producing cheaper, superior quality rubber, and by 1900 the Amazonas state had fallen into serious economic decline. ^[14][13]

Free Economic Zone

Free trade zone of Manaus (also called Manaus Industrial Pole or Industrial Pole of the Brazilian Amazon) was an economic development project implemented by Act number 3 173 of 3 June 1957,^[15] that reframed, enlarged and established tax incentives for deployment of an industrial, commercial and agricultural pole in a physical area of 10 000 km², with headquarters in the city of Manaus. Despite the adoption in 1957, that project has only been in fact deployed, by Decree-Law number 288 of 28 February 1967.^[16]

Map of Amazonas, 1966. National Archives of Brazil.

The project was implemented by the Brazilian military government, at first, the benefits of this project was extended to the Western Amazon, formed by the States of Amazonas, Acre, Rondônia and Roraima. On August 20, 2008, the free trade area of Macapá, which was included in the Council of Manaus by Free Zone Superintendence (Suframa) and thus, the Amapá received the same benefit given for other Amazonian Brazilian States.^[17] The creation of the Manaus free trade zone aimed at promoting the occupation of this region population and raise the level of security to maintain your integrity in addition, brake deforestation in the region and recoup the preservation and sustainability of biodiversity present in the state. In its years of existence, the story of the Manaus Free Trade Zone is divided into four phases: the first, from 1967 to 1975, characterized the reference in the country's industrial policy for the import substitution of final goods and formation of the internal market; the second, from 1975 to 1990, was characterized by the adoption of measures promoting the domestic industry inputs, especially in the State of São Paulo (largest consumer at the time); the third, in 1991 and 1996, came into force on new Industrial policy and foreign trade, marked by the opening of the Brazilian economy, reducing the import tax for the rest of the country and emphasis on quality and productivity, with the implementation of the Brazilian policy quality and productivity (PBPQ in Portuguese) and Industrial competitiveness program; and the fourth and last, of the 1996–2002, marks its adaptation to a globalized economy scenarios and the adjustments demanded by the effects of the Real plan, as the movement of privatization and deregulation.^[18]

Climate

The average temperature varies very little by season, between 26 by 28 °C (79 by 82 °F), the rainfall varies from 50 to 250 mm per month, averaging 2100 mm per year. Most of the state is in the tropical rainforest climate zone, a type of tropical climate in which there is no dry season—all months have mean precipitation values of at least 60 mm. Its latitude is within five degrees of the equator—which is dominated by the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The equatorial climate is denoted Af in the Köppen climate classification.

Relief

The relief of the state is relatively low, since in the region, 85% does not surpass 100 metres (330 ft) of altitude. The highest points of the state are the Pico da Neblina, with an approximate height of 2,994 metres (9,823 ft), followed by Pico Phelps or Pico 31 of March of 2,973 metres (9,754 ft), located in the border between Venezuela and Brazil, both mountains are in the municipality of Santa Isabel do Rio Negro and ironically, are the highest in Brazil.

Vegetation

Aerial view of the Amazon Rainforest, near Manaus.

Juruá River, tributary of the Amazon River.

Amazonas is almost entirely covered by the Amazon Rainforest, 98% according to officials,^[20] and it is divided into three types of habitat, viz:

• igapos – permanently flooded land, roots of vegetation always submerged
• varzeas – higher than igapos, land is only submerged when rivers are at their highest during the wet season
• low plateau – higher still, never submerged

The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests and comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world. Wet tropical forests are the most species-rich biome, and tropical forests in the Americas are consistently more species-rich than the wet forests in Africa and Asia.^[21] As the largest tract of tropical rainforest in the Americas, the Amazonian rainforests have unparalleled biodiversity. More than 1⁄3 of all species in the world live in the Amazon Rainforest.^[22] and species are discovered on an almost daily basis. The largest biodiversity of the planet is present across the State of Amazonas, generating great surprise in its visitors.

Religion

The Catholic Church in Amazonas comprises:

• the Archdiocese of Manaus (1892) with 92 parishes under Archbishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner (2019),

and five suffragan dioceses of:

• Alto Solimões (1910) with eight parishes under Bishop Adolfo Zon Pereira (2015),
• Borba (1963) with eight parishes under Bishop Zenildo Luiz Pereira da Silva (2017),
• Coari (1963) with ten parishes under Bishop Marek Marian Piatek (2011),
• Parintins (1955) with nine parishes under Bishop José Albuquerque de Araújo (2022),
• São Gabriel da Cachoeira (1925 as Rio Negro) with 11 parishes under Bishop Edson Tashetto Damian (2009)

and two Territorial Prelates of:

• Itacoatiara (1963) with 13 parishes under Bishop José Ionilton Lisboa de Oliveira (2017), and
• Tefé (1910) with 31 parishes under Bishop José Altevir da Silva (2022);

Also two suffragans of Porto Velho (Rondônia):

• the diocese of Humaitá (1961) with eight parishes under Bishop Antônio Fontinele de Melo (2020) and
• the Territorial Prelature of Labrea (1925) with five parishes under Bishop Santiago Sánchez Sebastián (2016).

Largest cities

Largest cities or towns in Amazonas (2016 census by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics)[31]
	Rank		Mesoregion	Pop.	Rank		Mesoregion	Pop.
Manaus Parintins	1	Manaus	Centro	2,094,391	11	Iranduba	Centro	46,703	Itacoatiara Manacapuru
	2	Parintins	Centro	112,716	12	Lábrea	Sul	44,071
	3	Itacoatiara	Centro	98,503	13	São Gabriel da Cachoeira	Norte	43,831
	4	Manacapuru	Centro	95,330	14	Benjamin Constant	Sudoeste	40,417
	5	Coari	Centro	83,929	15	Borba	Sul	39,885
	6	Tabatinga	Sudoeste	62,346	16	Autazes	Centro	37,752
	7	Tefé	Centro	62,230	17	São Paulo de Olivença	Sudoeste	37,300
	8	Maués	Centro	61,110	18	Careiro	Centro	36,922
	9	Manicoré	Sul	53,890	19	Nova Olinda do Norte	Centro	35,800
	10	Humaitá	Sul	52,354	20	Eirunepé	Sudoeste	34,461

Statistics

• Vehicles: 651,536 (March/2007);
• Mobile phones: 4.4 million (April/2007)
• Telephones: 998 thousand (April/2007)
• Cities: 62 (2007).^[32]

Educational institutions

• Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) (Portuguese: Universidade Federal do Amazonas);
• University of the State of Amazonas (UEA) (Portuguese: Universidade do Estado do Amazonas);
• Federal Institute of Amazonas (IFAM) (Portuguese: Instituto Federal do Amazonas).
• National Institute of Amazonian Research (Portuguese: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia).

Tourism

Tourism is now focused on ecotourism, centered in the cities of Barcelos, Manaus, Parintins, Presidente Figueredo, and Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira.

Ecotourism

Sunset in the hill of the Six Lakes, Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira, Amazonas, Brazil.

• Amazon Rainforest.
• Amazon River
• Meeting of the Waters (Rio Negro river and Solimões river, in Brazilian Portuguese the river Solimões is the local name of an extension of the Amazon River).
• Rio Negro
• Anavilhanas Archipelago - The world's largest fresh water archipelago of river islands, Anavilhanas is located on the Rio Negro in the Brazilian Amazon - 100 km upstream from Manaus.

The Anavilhanas National Park is located between Manaus and Novo Airão.

• Lago Janauari Ecological Park
• Pico da Neblina National Park, Pico 31 de Março (Pico Phelps in Venezuela).
• State Park Ecological Serra do Acará.
• State Reserve Ecological of Nhamundá.
• Amazon Jungle Hikes & Canopy Tours
• Adolfo Ducke Forest Reserve

The Meeting of Waters is the confluence between the dark (blackwater) Rio Negro and the pale sandy-colored (whitewater) Amazon River or Rio Solimões, as the upper section of the Amazon is known in Brazil upriver of this confluence.

• Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve
• Jaú National Park
• Abufari Biological Reserve
• Pompadour fish.
• Cardinal tetra
• Pterophyllum scalare (freshwater angelfish).
• Açutuba Beach
• Tupe Beach

Adolpho Lisboa Municipal Market in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

International airport

Eduardo Gomes International Airport(MAO) in Manaus employs roughly 3,300 people, among employees of Infraero, public agencies, concession holders, airlines and auxiliary services. The airport has two passenger terminals, one for scheduled flights and the other for regional aviation. It also has three cargo terminals: Terminal I was opened in 1976, Terminal II in 1980 and Terminal III in 2004. Eduardo Gomes International Airport is Brazil's third largest in freight movement, handling the import and export demand from the Manaus Industrial Complex.

Highways

BR-174, BR-210, BR-230, BR-307, BR-317, BR-319, BR-411, BR-413.

Main theaters of the Amazonas

• Amazon Theatre (The most famous)
• Manauara Theater
• Chaminé Theater
• LaSalle Theater
• Cultural Center Peoples of Amazonian

Main museums of the Amazonas

• MUSA - Amazonia Museum
• Indians Museum (Museu do Índio)
• Casa Eduardo Ribeiro Museum
• Paço da Liberdade Museum
• Museum of Natural Sciences
• Caucho Museum or Seringal Museum (Official name: Museu do Seringal)
• Tiradentes Museum Manaus

Malls in Amazonas

Millennium Shopping in Manaus.

• Manauara Mall Center
• Amazonas Mall Center
• ViaNorte Mall
• Ponta Negra Mall
• Millennium Mall
• Samauma Park and Mall Center
• Cidade Leste Mall
• Grande Circular Mall
• UAI São José Mall
• Parintins Mall