History of Manaus

Interesting and exciting to the visitors of the Brazilian portion of the Amazon Forest is the geographic position of the capital of the State of Amazonas. Manaus is exactly in the center of the amazon area. Its total area is 14.337 square kilometers. The city is plan, many Igarapes (flooding areas) are part of the scenery, an average twenty minutes drive leads you into the forest from downtown.

The urban expansion goes into the Municipio, or department in some countries, of Rio Preto da Eva. The State of Amazonas’s total area is 1.558.987 square kilometers. Manaus is an important tourist destiny to Brazilians and all people around the world. These tourists visit the city, use it as a base to other journeys, studies, business, anyway, anything concerning the convenience of a big city. Including its plants, animals and natural beauty.

Near Manaus you can appreciate the ” Encontro das Ã?guas ” where Rio Negro meets Rio Solimões offering us an unforgettable view.
Manaus’ project makes it grow to the interior, so, this movement should preserve many of the borders of Rio Negro. Consequently, we still can apprecite some Iguarapes, small channels that cross or conquer land when the rivers in the Amazon basin go up in rainy season

Getting in Manaus

By plane

Manaus is about three hours by air from Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro. Also, LAB Airlines (Lloyd Aereo Boliviano) flies three times a week from Miami, Florida and Santa Cruz, Bolivia. This could save a substantial amount of backtracking for those not wishing to go all the way to Sao Paulo or Rio.

By boat

Manaus is a major destination for boats on the Amazon River. From Belem on the Atlantic Coast, it takes about five days.

By bus

Due to road conditions, there is very little (if any) long-distance bus service originating from major cities in Brazil. There are daily buses to Boa Vista in the north and to destinations in Venezuela.

History of Manaus

Manaus began as a small fort, Sao Jose da Barra, created in 1669 by Portuguese settlers as a defense against Spanish incursions into Brazil by way of the Amazon River. On November 13, 1832, the settlement gained the status of Vila, and was named “Manaus”, after the indigenous tribe, the “Manaos”, which once inhabitated the area.

In the local language, the word means “Mother of God”. On October 24, 1848, Manaus was awarded the status of city with the name Cidade da Barra do Rio Negro. In 1850, Amazonas became a province. On September 4, 1856, the city was renamed Cidade de Manaus.

From 1890 to 1920, Manaus was a rubber boomtown, which was caused in part by the invention of the process of vulcanization. The plantantion owners became extravagantly wealthy and the city prospered. Immigrants from northeastern Brazil, fleeing drought and poverty, flooded the city seeking riches in the rubber trade. By 1920, synthetic rubber and the growth of plantations in Southeast Asia caused a drastic plunge in the price of rubber, and Manaus declined into poverty.

Introducation of Manaus

Manaus is located at Negro River, just 10 kilometers upstream from the point this river meets the Solimoes to form the Amazon. When in the area you should pay a visit to this point for the mingling of black and yellow water from the two rivers is really a sight worth seeing.

The city boomed due to the richness from the nearby rubberplants who used this place to trade latex. When the rubber business came into decline due to synthetically alternatives , the city fell into decline.

It now has a population over 2 million people. Situated in the middle of the Amazon rain forest it serves as a travel hub and a distribution center for the river areas of the upper Amazon. It is thriving river harbour as well as the major destination on the highway from the south. You will be impressed by the vast number of river vessels of all shapes and sizes that ply their way from here to every township up and down this great river. Manaus is also the furthest point along the Amazon’s deep-water channel, which allows huge ocean liners to come the 2,000 km/1,250 miles upstream from the Atlantic. (more…)