The Amazon of Brazil

John Waggoner

jaan 2010 · Hunter Publishing, Inc

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For many travelers, exploring the Amazon is the dream of a lifetime. Within this wet, breathing biomass is one-fifth of the world's fresh ground water. There are close to four million square miles of rainforest in the Amazon, much larger than many countries of the world. On the Brazilian side alone, three-fifths of the country's landmass is in the Amazon, including the Amazon River, the longest in the world. The region is incredibly important to Brazilian history and culture. For this reason, when people think of the Amazon they typically think of Brazil. Sometimes called by the generic term "Amazonia," the region got its name from the Spanish friar Gaspar de Cavajal, who chronicled the voyage up the great river of explorer Francisco de Orellana in the early 16th century. The friar wrote that women warriors attacked their ship, supposedly to capture them for procreation before killing them - like the mythical Amazons of ancient Greece. The reality is that Amazonia is one of the least populous regions in the world. Like Brazil itself, it is a region of contrasts, with limited infrastructure, but with some of the world's richest resources of produce, timber and minerals. Outside the cities, visitors rapidly come in contact with the traditional subsistence lifestyle of the caboclos, as the river dwellers are known. Farther into the forest, the indigenous communities largely maintain their Pre-Colombian ways of life. The wildlife and the ever-changing landscape and riverways make each visit unique. So quickly do the river passages change their course that it is sometimes not possible to return from the jungle along the same route you took going in. Today there are an incredible range of options for visiting this amazing region, from comfortable lodges on stilts over the water to journeys on river boats or rugged expeditions into the deep jungle. This book divides the immense Amazonian region into western and eastern sections, as each has its own unique characteristics. The Western Amazon is the state of Amazonas on the border with Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela.