75-493: 4–5, see text The arapaima , pirarucu , or paiche is any large species of bonytongue in the genus Arapaima native to the Amazon and Essequibo basins of South America. Arapaima is the type genus of the subfamily Arapaiminae within the family Osteoglossidae . They are among the world's largest freshwater fish, reaching as much as 3 m (9.8 ft) in length. They are an important food fish. They have declined in
150-407: A Bouligand -type arrangement. In a structure similar to plywood, the fibres in each successive layer are oriented at large angles to those in the previous layer, increasing toughness. The hard, corrugated surface of the outer layer, and the tough internal collagen layers work synergistically to contribute to their ability to flex and deform while providing strength and protection—a solution that allows
225-458: A 30 kg specimen was found floating in the river in Angkor Wat area, Krovanh village, Sangkat Norkor Thom, Siem Reap, Cambodia ; the locals said it was a rare fish, and not commonly seen in this area. With catch-and-release after the fish is landed, it must be held for 5 minutes until it takes a breath. The fish has a large blood vessel running down its spine, so lifting the fish clear of
300-537: A few days downriver by ascending another river to the north. De Orellana took about 57 men, the boat, and some canoes and left Pizarro's troops on 26 December 1541. However, De Orellana missed the confluence (probably with the Aguarico ) where he was searching supplies for his men. By the time he and his men reached another village, many of them were sick from hunger and eating "noxious plants", and near death. Seven men died in that village. His men threatened to mutiny if
375-708: A few hills, and the river enters the enormous Amazon rainforest . Although the Ucayali–Marañón confluence is the point at which most geographers place the beginning of the Amazon River proper, in Brazil the river is known at this point as the Solimões das Águas . The river systems and flood plains in Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela, whose waters drain into the Solimões and its tributaries, are called
450-469: A fourth found it profitable to navigate some of the smaller streams. In that same period, the Amazonas Company was increasing its fleet. Meanwhile, private individuals were building and running small steam craft of their own on the main river as well as on many of its tributaries. On 31 July 1867, the government of Brazil, constantly pressed by the maritime powers and by the countries encircling
525-461: A nest about 50 cm (20 in) wide and 15 cm (5.9 in) deep, usually in muddy-bottomed areas. As the water rises, the eggs hatch and the offspring have the flood season from May to August in which to prosper, such that yearly spawning is regulated seasonally. The arapaima male is a mouthbrooder , like the related Osteoglossum genus, meaning the young are protected in his mouth until they are older. The female arapaima helps to protect
600-491: A population of 1.9 million people in 2014, Manaus is the largest city on the Amazon. Manaus alone makes up approximately 50% of the population of the largest Brazilian state of Amazonas . The racial makeup of the city is 64% pardo (mulatto and mestizo) and 32% white . Although the Amazon river remains undammed, around 412 dams are in operation on the Amazon's tributary rivers. Of these 412 dams, 151 are constructed over six of
675-516: A sampling of 10 areas conducted using traditional counting methods, the population was found to have grown from 2,500 in 1999 to over 170,000 in 2017. Colombia only bans fishing and consumption of the arapaima between October 1 and March 15, during breeding season. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Bonytongue Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include
750-485: A second line to make six round voyages a year between Manaus and Tabatinga, and a third, two trips a month between Pará and Cametá. This was the first step in opening up the vast interior. The success of the venture called attention to the opportunities for economic exploitation of the Amazon, and a second company soon opened commerce on the Madeira, Purús, and Negro; a third established a line between Pará and Manaus, and
825-532: Is an air breather , using its labyrinth organ , which is rich in blood vessels and opens into the fish's mouth, an advantage in oxygen-deprived water that is often found in the Amazon River . This fish is able to survive in oxbow lakes with dissolved oxygen as low as 0.5 ppm. In the wetlands of the Araguaia , one of the most important refuges for this species, it is the top predator in such lakes during
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#1732772089506900-470: Is deemed impossible, and thus considered questionable. As a result of overfishing, arapaima more than 2 m (6 ft 7 in) are seldom found in the wild. The arapaima is torpedo -shaped, with large, blackish-green scales and red markings. It is streamlined and sleek, with its dorsal and anal fins set near its tail. Arapaima scales have a mineralised, hard, outer layer with a corrugated surface under which lie several layers of collagen fibres in
975-435: Is grated and mixed into water. Doses are given to kill intestinal worms . The bony tongue is used to scrape cylinders of dried guarana, an ingredient in some beverages, and the bony scales are used as nail files. Arapaima produce boneless steaks and are considered a delicacy. In the Amazon region, locals often salt and dry the meat, rolling it into a cigar-style package that is then tied and can be stored without rotting, which
1050-498: Is important in a region with little refrigeration. Arapaima are referred to as the "cod of the Amazon", and can be prepared in the same way as traditional salted cod. Designers have begun using the skin of the arapaima as leather to make jackets, shoes, and handbags, and to cover furniture. In July 2009, villagers around Kenyir Lake in Terengganu , Malaysia, reported sighting A. gigas . The "Kenyir monster", or "dragon fish" as
1125-798: Is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the longest or second-longest river system in the world , a title which is disputed with the Nile . The headwaters of the Apurímac River on Nevado Mismi had been considered for nearly a century the Amazon basin 's most distant source until a 2014 study found it to be the headwaters of the Mantaro River on the Cordillera Rumi Cruz in Peru . The Mantaro and Apurímac rivers join, and with other tributaries form
1200-477: Is the largest drainage basin in the world, with an area of approximately 7,000,000 km (2,700,000 sq mi). The portion of the river's drainage basin in Brazil alone is larger than any other river's basin. The Amazon enters Brazil with only one-fifth of the flow it finally discharges into the Atlantic Ocean , yet already has a greater flow at this point than the discharge of any other river in
1275-466: Is the largest river branch one encounters when journeying upstream, and lies farther to the west than any other tributary of the Amazon. For most of the 18th–19th centuries and into the 20th century, the Marañón was generally considered the source of the Amazon. Early scientific, zoological, and botanical exploration of the Amazon River and basin took place from the 18th century through the first half of
1350-712: The Amazon warriors , a tribe of women warriors related to Iranian Scythians and Sarmatians mentioned in Greek mythology . The word Amazon itself may be derived from the Iranian compound * ha-maz-an- "(one) fighting together" or ethnonym * ha-mazan- "warriors", a word attested indirectly through a derivation, a denominal verb in Hesychius of Alexandria 's gloss "ἁμαζακάραν· πολεμεῖν. Πέρσαι" (" hamazakaran : 'to make war' in Persian"), where it appears together with
1425-578: The Indo-Iranian root * kar- "make" (from which Sanskrit karma is also derived). Other scholars claim that the name is derived from the Tupi word amassona , meaning "boat destroyer". Recent geological studies suggest that for millions of years the Amazon River used to flow in the opposite direction - from east to west. Eventually the Andes Mountains formed, blocking its flow to
1500-668: The Miocene Villavieja Formation of Colombia . Museum specimens are found in France, England, the United States, Brazil, Guyana, Ecuador and Perú. This makes them some of the oldest known species of freshwater fish. Arapaima is exploited in many ways by local human populations. Its tongue is thought to have medicinal qualities in South America. It is dried and combined with guarana bark, which
1575-519: The Pacific Ocean , and causing it to switch directions to its current mouth in the Atlantic Ocean . During what many archaeologists called the formative stage , Amazonian societies were deeply involved in the emergence of South America's highland agrarian systems. The trade with Andean civilizations in the terrains of the headwaters in the Andes formed an essential contribution to
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#17327720895061650-788: The Río Apurímac . A 2014 study by Americans James Contos and Nicolas Tripcevich in Area , a peer-reviewed journal of the Royal Geographical Society , however, identifies the most distant source of the Amazon as actually being in the Río Mantaro drainage. A variety of methods were used to compare the lengths of the Mantaro river vs. the Apurímac river from their most distant source points to their confluence, showing
1725-707: The Ucayali River , which in turn meets the Marañón River upstream of Iquitos, Peru , forming what countries other than Brazil consider to be the main stem of the Amazon. Brazilians call this section the Solimões River above its confluence with the Rio Negro forming what Brazilians call the Amazon at the Meeting of Waters ( Portuguese : Encontro das Águas ) at Manaus , the largest city on
1800-589: The aquarium trade . The remaining species are virtually unknown: A. agassizii from old detailed drawings (the type specimen itself was lost during World War II bombings) and A. mapae from the type specimen. FishBase recognizes four species in the genus. In addition to these, evidence suggests that a fifth species, A. arapaima , should be recognized (this being the widespread, well-known species, otherwise included in A. gigas ). These fish are widely dispersed and do not migrate, which leads scientists to suppose that more species are waiting to be discovered in
1875-568: The rubber boom it is estimated that diseases brought by immigrants, such as typhus and malaria , killed 40,000 native Amazonians. The first direct foreign trade with Manaus commenced around 1874. Local trade along the river was carried on by the English successors to the Amazonas Company—the Amazon Steam Navigation Company—as well as numerous small steamboats, belonging to companies and firms engaged in
1950-604: The upper Amazon basin, especially Peru, decreed the opening of the Amazon to all countries, but they limited this to certain defined points: Tabatinga – on the Amazon; Cametá – on the Tocantins; Santarém – on the Tapajós; Borba – on the Madeira, and Manaus – on the Rio Negro. The Brazilian decree took effect on 7 September 1867. Thanks in part to the mercantile development associated with steamboat navigation coupled with
2025-671: The "Companhia de Navegação e Comércio do Amazonas" in Rio de Janeiro in 1852; in the following year it commenced operations with four small steamers, the Monarca ('Monarch'), the Cametá , the Marajó and the Rio Negro . At first, navigation was principally confined to the main river; and even in 1857 a modification of the government contract only obliged the company to a monthly service between Pará and Manaus, with steamers of 200 tons cargo capacity,
2100-587: The "Upper Amazon". The Amazon proper runs mostly through Brazil and Peru, and is part of the border between Colombia and Peru. It has a series of major tributaries in Colombia , Ecuador and Peru , some of which flow into the Marañón and Ucayali , and others directly into the Amazon proper. These include rivers Putumayo , Caquetá , Vaupés , Guainía , Morona , Pastaza , Nucuray, Urituyacu, Chambira , Tigre , Nanay , Napo , and Huallaga . At some points,
2175-623: The "land without people" in the Amazon Basin. This was done in conjunction with infrastructure projects mainly the Trans-Amazonian Highway ( Transamazônica ). The Trans-Amazonian Highway's three pioneering highways were completed within ten years but never fulfilled their promise. Large portions of the Trans-Amazonian and its accessory roads, such as BR-317 (Manaus- Porto Velho ), are derelict and impassable in
2250-575: The 19th century. The Cabanagem revolt (1835–1840) was directed against the white ruling class. It is estimated that from 30% to 40% of the population of Grão-Pará , estimated at 100,000 people, died. The population of the Brazilian portion of the Amazon basin in 1850 was perhaps 300,000, of whom about 175,000 were Europeans and 25,000 were slaves. The Brazilian Amazon's principal commercial city, Pará (now Belém), had from 10,000 to 12,000 inhabitants, including slaves. The town of Manáos, now Manaus, at
2325-538: The 20th century. Wary of foreign exploitation of the nation's resources, Brazilian governments in the 1940s set out to develop the interior, away from the seaboard where foreigners owned large tracts of land. The original architect of this expansion was president Getúlio Vargas , with the demand for rubber from the Allied forces in World War II providing funding for the drive. In the 1960s, economic exploitation of
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2400-413: The Amazon River." In March 1500, Spanish conquistador Vicente Yáñez Pinzón was the first documented European to sail up the Amazon River. Pinzón called the stream Río Santa María del Mar Dulce , later shortened to Mar Dulce , literally, sweet sea , because of its freshwater pushing out into the ocean. Another Spanish explorer, Francisco de Orellana , was the first European to travel from
2475-582: The Amazon basin was seen as a way to fuel the "economic miracle" occurring at the time. This resulted in the development of "Operation Amazon", an economic development project that brought large-scale agriculture and ranching to Amazonia. This was done through a combination of credit and fiscal incentives. However, in the 1970s the government took a new approach with the National Integration Program (PIN). A large-scale colonization program saw families from northeastern Brazil relocated to
2550-416: The Amazon in 1541, more than 3 million indigenous people lived around the Amazon. These pre-Columbian settlements created highly developed civilizations. For instance, pre-Columbian indigenous people on the island of Marajó may have developed social stratification and supported a population of 100,000 people. To achieve this level of development, the indigenous inhabitants of the Amazon rainforest altered
2625-513: The Amazon river is about 80 km longer than previously thought. Contos continued downstream to the ocean and finished the first complete descent of the Amazon river from its newly identified source (finishing November 2012), a journey repeated by two groups after the news spread. After about 700 km (430 mi), the Apurímac then joins Río Mantaro to form the Ene, which joins the Perene to form
2700-403: The Amazon will harm its biodiversity in the same way by "blocking fish-spawning runs, reducing the flows of vital oil nutrients and clearing forests". Damming the Amazon River could potentially bring about the "end of free flowing rivers" and contribute to an " ecosystem collapse " that will cause major social and environmental problems. The most distant source of the Amazon was thought to be in
2775-409: The Amazon, investigating many of its tributaries, including the Rio Negro, and covering a distance of over 10,000 km (6,200 mi). In what is currently in Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela, several colonial and religious settlements were established along the banks of primary rivers and tributaries for trade, slaving , and evangelization among the indigenous peoples of
2850-564: The Apurímac river drainage for nearly a century. Such studies continued to be published even as recently as 1996, 2001, 2007, and 2008, where various authors identified the snowcapped 5,597 m (18,363 ft) Nevado Mismi peak, located roughly 160 km (99 mi) west of Lake Titicaca and 700 km (430 mi) southeast of Lima , as the most distant source of the river. From that point, Quebrada Carhuasanta emerges from Nevado Mismi, joins Quebrada Apacheta and soon forms Río Lloqueta which becomes Río Hornillos and eventually joins
2925-598: The Portuguese portion of the Amazon basin has remained a land largely undeveloped by agriculture and occupied by indigenous people who survived the arrival of European diseases. Four centuries after the European discovery of the Amazon river, the total cultivated area in its basin was probably less than 65 km (25 sq mi), excluding the limited and crudely cultivated areas among the mountains at its extreme headwaters. This situation changed dramatically during
3000-609: The Tambo, which joins the Urubamba River to form the Ucayali. After the confluence of Apurímac and Ucayali, the river leaves Andean terrain and is surrounded by floodplain . From this point to the confluence of the Ucayali and the Marañón, some 1,600 km (990 mi), the forested banks are just above the water and are inundated long before the river attains its maximum flood stage. The low river banks are interrupted by only
3075-526: The arapaima needs to surface to breathe air, traditional arapaima fishermen harpoon them and then club them to death. An individual fish can yield as much as 70 kg (150 lb) of meat. The arapaima was introduced for fishing in Thailand and Malaysia . Fishing in Thailand can be done in several lakes, where specimens over 150 kg (330 lb) are often landed and then released. On 14 May 2020,
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3150-608: The arapaima population in the Amazon River Basin is unknown, hence it is listed on the IUCN red list as data deficient . Conducting a population census in so large an area is difficult, as is monitoring catches in a trade that was once largely unregulated . Since 1999, both subsistence and commercial fishing have been permitted in specially designated areas under a sophisticated sustainable management strategy. This approach has led to massive recovery of once-depleted stocks; in
3225-523: The depths of the Amazon Basin harbors. Sites such as these offer the likelihood of diversity. Arapaima can reach lengths more than 2 m (6 ft 7 in), in some exceptional cases even exceeding 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in) and over 100 kg (220 lb). The maximum recorded weight for the species is 200 kg (440 lb), while the longest recorded length verified was 3.07 m (10 ft 1 in). Anecdotal reports suggest that specimens as long as 4.57 m (15 ft 0 in) exist, but verification
3300-762: The details below. Request from 172.68.168.237 via cp1104 cp1104, Varnish XID 187041405 Upstream caches: cp1104 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:34:49 GMT Amazon River (Amazon–Ucayali–Tambo–Ené– Apurimac 6,400 km (4,000 mi) to 6,500 km (4,000 mi) (Period: 1971–2000)173,272.6 m /s (6,119,060 cu ft/s) (Period: 1928–1996)176,177 m /s (6,221,600 cu ft/s) (Period: 1903–2023)260,000 m /s (9,200,000 cu ft/s) The Amazon River ( UK : / ˈ æ m ə z ən / , US : / ˈ æ m ə z ɒ n / ; Spanish : Río Amazonas , Portuguese : Rio Amazonas ) in South America
3375-561: The expedition turned back to attempt to rejoin Pizarro, the party being over 100 leagues downstream at this point. He accepted to change the purpose of the expedition to discover new lands in the name of the king of Spain, and the men built a larger boat in which to navigate downstream. After a journey of 600 km (370 mi) down the Napo River, they reached a further major confluence, at a point near modern Iquitos , and then followed
3450-461: The family Lauraceae ) are fairly common in that part of the Amazon and Pizarro probably saw some of these. The expedition reached the mouth of the Amazon on 24 August 1542, demonstrating the practical navigability of the Great River. In 1560, another Spanish conquistador , Lope de Aguirre , may have made the second descent of the Amazon. Historians are uncertain whether the river he descended
3525-409: The fish to remain mobile while heavily armored. The arapaima has a fundamental dependence on surface air to breathe. In addition to gills, it has a modified and enlarged swim bladder , composed of lung -like tissue, which enables it to extract oxygen from the air. The diet of the arapaima consists of fish, crustaceans , fruits, seeds, insects, and small land animals that walk near the shore. The fish
3600-658: The forest's ecology by selective cultivation and the use of fire. Scientists argue that by burning areas of the forest repeatedly, the indigenous people caused the soil to become richer in nutrients. This created dark soil areas known as terra preta de índio ("Indian dark earth"). Because of the terra preta, indigenous communities were able to make land fertile and thus sustainable for the large-scale agriculture needed to support their large populations and complex social structures. Further research has hypothesized that this practice began around 11,000 years ago. Some say that its effects on forest ecology and regional climate explain
3675-468: The height of commercial arapaima fishing; demand led to farming of the fish by native ribeirinhos . As efforts at restricting catches were largely unsuccessful, arapaima fishing was banned outright in Brazil in 1996, due to declining populations. Indeed, a 2014 study found that the fish were depleted or overexploited at 93% of the sites examined and well-managed or unfished in only 7%; the fish appeared to be extirpated in 19% of these sites. The status of
3750-601: The internationally driven demand for natural rubber , the Peruvian city of Iquitos became a thriving, cosmopolitan center of commerce. Foreign companies settled in Iquitos, from where they controlled the extraction of rubber. In 1851 Iquitos had a population of 200, and by 1900 its population reached 20,000. In the 1860s, approximately 3,000 tons of rubber were being exported annually, and by 1911 annual exports had grown to 44,000 tons, representing 9.3% of Peru's exports. During
3825-704: The locals call it, was claimed to be responsible for the mysterious drowning of two men on 17 June. In August 2018, India Times reported that arapaima has been spotted in the Chalakudy River , following floods in Kerala ; their presence in India is attributed to illegal importation for fish farming . The arapaima is depicted on both the flag and the seal of the Department of Ucayali , Peru . Wild arapaima are harpooned or caught in large nets. Since
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#17327720895063900-412: The longer length of the Mantaro. Then distances from Lago Junín to several potential source points in the uppermost Mantaro river were measured, which enabled them to determine that the Cordillera Rumi Cruz was the most distant source of water in the Mantaro basin (and therefore in the entire Amazon basin). The most accurate measurement method was direct GPS measurement obtained by kayak descent of each of
3975-512: The low-water season, when the lakes are isolated from the rivers and oxygen levels drop, rendering its prey lethargic and vulnerable. Arapaima may leap out of the water if they feel constrained by their environment or harassed. Due to its geographic ranges , arapaima's lifecycle is greatly affected by seasonal flooding . Various pictures show slightly different coloring owing to colour changes when they reproduce. The arapaima lays its eggs when water levels are low or beginning to rise. They build
4050-569: The main tributary rivers that drain into the Amazon. Since only 4% of the Amazon's hydropower potential has been developed in countries like Brazil, more damming projects are underway and hundreds more are planned. After witnessing the negative effects of environmental degradation, sedimentation, navigation and flood control caused by the Three Gorges Dam in the Yangtze River, scientists are worried that constructing more dams in
4125-488: The male and the young by circling them and fending off potential predators. In his book, Three Singles to Adventure , naturalist Gerald Durrell reported that in British Guyana , female arapaima had been seen secreting a white substance from a gland in the head, and that their young were seemingly feeding on the substance. Some 23-million-year-old fossils of arapaima or a very similar species have been found in
4200-461: The mouth of the Rio Negro, had a population between 1,000 and 1,500. All the remaining villages, as far up as Tabatinga , on the Brazilian frontier of Peru, were relatively small. On 6 September 1850, Emperor Pedro II of Brazil sanctioned a law authorizing steam navigation on the Amazon and gave the Viscount of Mauá ( Irineu Evangelista de Sousa ) the task of putting it into effect. He organised
4275-581: The name ). Gonzalo Pizarro set off in 1541 to explore east of Quito into the South American interior in search of El Dorado , the "city of gold" and La Canela , the "valley of cinnamon ". He was accompanied by his second-in-command Francisco de Orellana . After 170 km (106 mi), the Coca River joined the Napo River (at a point now known as Puerto Francisco de Orellana );
4350-458: The native range due to overfishing and habitat loss. In contrast, arapaima have been introduced to several tropical regions outside the native range (within South America and elsewhere), where they are sometimes considered invasive species . In Kerala , India, arapaima escaped from aquaculture ponds after floods in 2018 . Its Portuguese name, pirarucu , derives from the Tupi language words pira and urucum , meaning "red fish". Arapaima
4425-558: The origins of the upstream river basins, situated in the Andes , to the mouth of the river. In this journey, Orellana baptized some of the affluents of the Amazonas like Rio Negro , Napo and Jurua . The name Amazonas is thought to be taken from the native warriors that attacked this expedition, mostly women, that reminded De Orellana of the mythical female Amazon warriors from the ancient Hellenic culture in Greece (see also Origin of
4500-507: The otherwise inexplicable band of lower rainfall through the Amazon basin . Many indigenous tribes engaged in constant warfare . According to James S. Olson , "The Munduruku expansion (in the 18th century) dislocated and displaced the Kawahíb , breaking the tribe down into much smaller groups ... [Munduruku] first came to the attention of Europeans in 1770 when they began a series of widespread attacks on Brazilian settlements along
4575-427: The party stopped for a few weeks to build a boat just upriver from this confluence. They continued downriver through an uninhabited area, where they could not find food. Orellana offered and was ordered to follow the Napo River, then known as Río de la Canela ("Cinnamon River"), and return with food for the party. Based on intelligence received from a captive native chief named Delicola, they expected to find food within
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#17327720895064650-480: The rainy season. Small towns and villages are scattered across the forest, and because its vegetation is so dense, some remote areas are still unexplored. Many settlements grew along the road from Brasília to Belém with the highway and National Integration Program, however, the program failed as the settlers were unequipped to live in the delicate rainforest ecosystem. This, although the government believed it could sustain millions, instead could sustain very few. With
4725-481: The river divides into anabranches , or multiple channels, often very long, with inland and lateral channels , all connected by a complicated system of natural canals, cutting the low, flat igapó lands, which are never more than 5 m (16 ft) above low river, into many islands. From the town of Canaria at the great bend of the Amazon to the Negro, vast areas of land are submerged at high water, above which only
4800-437: The river. The Amazon River has an average discharge of about 215,000–230,000 m /s (7,600,000–8,100,000 cu ft/s)—approximately 6,591–7,570 km (1,581–1,816 cu mi) per year, greater than the next seven largest independent rivers combined. Two of the top ten rivers by discharge are tributaries of the Amazon river. The Amazon represents 20% of the global riverine discharge into oceans. The Amazon basin
4875-417: The rivers from their source points to their confluence (performed by Contos). Obtaining these measurements was difficult given the class IV–V nature of each of these rivers, especially in their lower "Abyss" sections. Ultimately, they determined that the most distant point in the Mantaro drainage is nearly 80 km farther upstream compared to Mt. Mismi in the Apurímac drainage, and thus the maximal length of
4950-494: The rubber trade, navigating the Negro, Madeira, Purús, and many other tributaries, such as the Marañón, to ports as distant as Nauta , Peru. By the turn of the 20th century, the exports of the Amazon basin were India-rubber , cacao beans , Brazil nuts and a few other products of minor importance, such as pelts and exotic forest produce ( resins , barks, woven hammocks , prized bird feathers , live animals) and extracted goods, such as lumber and gold. Since colonial times,
5025-530: The second type of mounds. They are best represented by the Marajoara culture . Figurative mounds are the most recent types of occupation. There is ample evidence that the areas surrounding the Amazon River were home to complex and large-scale indigenous societies, mainly chiefdoms who developed towns and cities. Archaeologists estimate that by the time the Spanish conquistador De Orellana traveled across
5100-568: The social and religious development of higher-altitude civilizations like the Muisca and Incas . Early human settlements were typically based on low-lying hills or mounds. Shell mounds were the earliest evidence of habitation; they represent piles of human refuse (waste) and are mainly dated between 7500 BC and 4000 BC. They are associated with ceramic age cultures ; no preceramic shell mounds have been documented so far by archaeologists . Artificial earth platforms for entire villages are
5175-517: The upper Amazon, now known as the Solimões, for a further 1,200 km (746 mi) to its confluence with the Rio Negro (near modern Manaus ), which they reached on 3 June 1542. Regarding the initial mission of finding cinnamon, Pizarro reported to the king that they had found cinnamon trees, but that they could not be profitably harvested. True cinnamon ( Cinnamomum Verum ) is not native to South America. Other related cinnamon-containing plants (of
5250-459: The upper part of the trees of the sombre forests appear. Near the mouth of the Rio Negro to Serpa, nearly opposite the river Madeira, the banks of the Amazon are low, until approaching Manaus, they rise to become rolling hills. The Lower Amazon begins where the darkly colored waters of the Rio Negro meets the sandy-colored Rio Solimões (the upper Amazon), and for over 6 km (3.7 mi) these waters run side by side without mixing . At Óbidos,
5325-404: The vast rainforest, such as the Urarina . In the late 1600s, Czech Jesuit Father Samuel Fritz , an apostle of the Omagus established some forty mission villages. Fritz proposed that the Marañón River must be the source of the Amazon, noting on his 1707 map that the Marañón "has its source on the southern shore of a lake that is called Lauricocha , near Huánuco ." Fritz reasoned that the Marañón
5400-811: The water for trophy shots can rupture this vessel, causing death. In 2013, Whole Foods began selling farm-raised arapaima in the United States as a cheaper alternative to halibut or Chilean sea bass . In Thailand, the only legal breeding farm is located in Tambon Phrong Maduea, Amphoe Mueang Nakhon Pathom , Nakhon Pathom Province . This has been approved by both the Department of Fisheries and CITES since early 2018, and has been exporting them worldwide as an aquarium fish. Arapaima are particularly vulnerable to overfishing because of their size and because they must surface periodically to breathe. Some 7000 tons per year were taken from 1918 to 1924,
5475-536: The world. The Amazon was initially known by Europeans as the Marañón , and the Peruvian part of the river is still known by that name, as well as the Brazilian state of Maranhão , which contains part of the Amazon. It later became known as Rio Amazonas in Spanish and Portuguese. The name Rio Amazonas was reportedly given after native warriors attacked a 16th-century expedition by Francisco de Orellana . The warriors were led by women, reminding de Orellana of
5550-513: Was the Amazon or the Orinoco River , which runs more or less parallel to the Amazon further north. Portuguese explorer Pedro Teixeira was the first European to travel up the entire river. He arrived in Quito in 1637, and returned via the same route. From 1648 to 1652, Portuguese Brazilian bandeirante António Raposo Tavares led an expedition from São Paulo overland to the mouth of
5625-428: Was traditionally regarded as a monotypic genus , but later, several species were distinguished. As a consequence of this taxonomic confusion, most earlier studies were done using the name A. gigas , but this species is only known from old museum specimens and the exact native range is unclear. The regularly seen and studied species is A. arapaima , although a small number of A. leptosoma also have been recorded in
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