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82-685: The 870-kilometre (540 mi) BR-319 highway connects Manaus, Amazonas, to Porto Velho, Rondônia. The highway runs southeast from Manaus to the Ceasa ferry terminal, where ferries carry vehicles across the Amazon River to the Careiro da Várzea terminal on the south shore. From there the highway runs southwest through the interfluvial region between the Purus and Madeira rivers to Porto Velho. The Purus and Madeira basins together account for about 25% of

164-568: A bluff 17 m (56 ft) above the river is backed by low hills. The lower Amazon seems to have once been a gulf of the Atlantic Ocean, the waters of which washed the cliffs near Óbidos. Embratel Embratel is a major Brazilian telecommunications company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro . The company was the long distance arm of Telebras until it was bought by the U.S. company MCI Communications for 2.65 billion reais during

246-522: A conventional paved road, with no controls. Cyclists who rode the BR-319 in July 2016 reported that the highway had major tourist potential, but was being poorly exploited. In Rondônia the countryside was a mess due to colonisation, with deforested fields and cattle. In Amazonas it was better, but maintenance had turned the road into a construction site. Four of the bridges they passed were partly submerged, and

328-537: 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

410-708: 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

492-430: A fibre-optical link from Porto Velho to Manaus running along the highway. At a cost of R$ 15 million a 935-kilometre (581 mi) cable with 12 fibres was attached to 7,106 poles along the highway. 250 workers were involved, mostly local. The fibre link is being used to provide internet access to schools in extractive reserves along the route. In 2008 there were plans to replace oil fuelled generators by solar panels to power

574-469: 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

656-491: 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

738-634: A railway from there to ports in Guyana . A cost-benefit analysis was undertaken by the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT), but it was flawed. It made optimistic estimates of the number of people that would use the road and the amount that the bus companies would receive in fares, using this number as a benefit, but did not consider the fares the travellers would have paid if they had gone by air or water. It also assumed that goods such as grain, wood and fuel would now be taken via

820-485: 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

902-850: 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

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984-477: 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

1066-466: 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

1148-489: The Amazon River to kilometre 260 is covered in recent sediments between 7,000 and 27,000 years old. Minor variations in elevation of 1 to 3 metres (3 ft 3 in to 9 ft 10 in) cause shallow seasonal lakes to form. In the north and central sections the vegetation is dense lowland rainforest. To the south, near the Humaitá and Porto Velho municipalities, the forest is open lowland rainforest. The mammal fauna of

1230-712: 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

1312-555: The Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM), which was finalised in early 2009. After two versions of the EIA / RIMA had been returned, DNIT prepared a third version in 2009. Almost 80 researchers worked on the EIA over 17 months, at a cost of about US$ 1.5 million. This still did not meet minimum requirements to verify the project's environmental feasibility. The work was then suspended based on impact studies by IBAMA. Carlos Minc ,

1394-578: 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

1476-485: The Intelsat and Inmarsat organizations and it owns four fiber optics submarine cable systems - UNISUR , Americas II , Atlantis-2 and Columbus III . In 2013, Embratel started to sponsor the tennisman Thomaz Bellucci . Embratel's stock was traded on BM&F Bovespa . Some of the company's equipment is represented on the coat of arms of Tanguá , Brazil. In 2008, Embratel launched its pay TV service. It

1558-519: 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

1640-788: 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

1722-707: 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

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1804-568: 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

1886-604: 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

1968-671: 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,

2050-587: 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,

2132-623: 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

2214-463: The 1998 break-up of Telebras. However, MCI Communications went bankrupt in 2003. Since 2003, it is owned by América Móvil , the Mexican telecommunications giant. Embratel is a major player in both voice and data communication in Brazil. The company owns a fully digitized microwave communications and fiber optic networks as well as eight domestic communication satellites. The company is a member of

2296-575: 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

2378-538: 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

2460-476: The 870 kilometres (540 mi) BR-319 to connect Manaus (AM) to Porto Velho was started in 1968 and completed in 1973. The Andrade Gutierrez consortium undertook construction of the road for the Brazilian military government during the period of the economic miracle . The road was officially inaugurated in 1976, intended to provide secure access to the Purus - Madeira inter-fluvial region. Specifications for

2542-578: The ALAP only licensed economic activities and public works are allowed. Any other activity that may affect the environment is prohibited. The area of influence of the highway extends about 100 kilometres (62 mi) beyond the ALAP. It is about 553,000 square kilometres (214,000 sq mi), with a population of about 1.3 million as of 2016, of whom 70% live in urban areas. The interfluvial terrain has very flat topography, with altitudes ranging from 30 to 50 metres (98 to 164 ft). The northern region from

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2624-413: 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

2706-582: 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

2788-583: The Amazon basin. Almost all of the highway runs through the Purus-Madeira moist forests ecoregion. In 2006 the federal government approved a decree that created the Area under Provisional Administration Limitation (ALAP) on both sides of the road. The ALAP includes almost all the interfluvial region up to Porto Velho, and extends along the west bank of the lower section of the Purus and the Solimões . Within

2870-416: 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

2952-513: 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

3034-403: 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

3116-409: 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

3198-564: 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

3280-572: The BR-319 area of influence. These are the Abufari Biological Reserve , Cuniã Ecological Station , Nascentes do Lago Jari and Mapinguari national parks, Balata-Tufari , Humaitá and Iquiri national forests, and the Lago do Capanã-Grande , Rio Ituxi , Médio Purus and Lago do Cuniã extractive reserves. Six Amazonas state conservation units totalling 23,000 square kilometres (8,900 sq mi) were created to help meet

3362-571: The Environment and Development commissioned a pre-viability study for a railway. A railway would have relatively high construction costs, but would avoid 80% of the carbon emitted by construction of the highway, or 760 million tonnes of carbon. Carbon credits could be used to fund construction of the railway and purchase of rolling stock. Another alternative would be to improve the BR-174 highway from Manaus north to Boa Vista, Roraima , and building

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3444-479: The Minister of Environment, stated that the work will only be allowed to recommence when the environmental requirements are met, including ensuring that future environmental problems will be prevented in the best preserved region of the Amazon rainforest. Maintenance was done on the middle section in 2014 and 2015, including removal of quagmires, repair of wooden bridges, replacement of existing culverts, clearing of

3526-598: 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

3608-609: 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

3690-602: The computers. The company installed 40 telecommunications towers along the route. The view from a tower in 2009 was a sea of green forest cut by the yellow scar of the highway. In 2005 the federal government announced that the highway would be recovered through the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC). The purpose is to make it easier to ship products made in factories in the Manaus Free Trade Zone to São Paulo , as an alternative to sending

3772-544: The containers by sea. Three sections were defined for the purpose of roadworks: a northern section from Manaus to kilometre 250 at Igapó-Açú, a middle section from there to kilometre 655.7 at Humaitá , and a southern section from Humaitá to Porto Velho. In 2007 the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) issued a Terms of Reference requesting completion of an Environmental Impact Study / Environmental Impact Report (EIA / RIMA) for

3854-561: 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

3936-461: 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

4018-658: 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

4100-406: The highway has been defined in an effort to better prevent deforestation through more efficient management of the overall area. However, WWF-Brazil has pointed out that it is not enough to simply create the protected areas on paper. They must be staffed, delimited, legal owners compensated and so on. The Wildlife Conservation Society of Brazil has initiated a 3-year program to monitor mammals along

4182-696: The highway in the middle section, which would depend on completion of an EIA / RIMA. In May 2016 the Federal Public Ministry (MPF-AM) met in Manaus with representatives from the IBAMA and DNIT to clarify what actions were being done by DNIT and how DNIT intended to comply with the IBAMA license. Marilene Ramos, national president of IBAMA, attended. She said IBAMA's main concern was security guarantees to prevent land invasions, deforestation, illegal mining and other problems. BR-319 could not be treated as

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4264-927: The highway in the section that runs between the Nascentes do Lago Jari National Park to the west and the Lago do Capanã Grande Extractive Reserve and Rio Amapá Sustainable Development Reserve to the east. This should provide baseline data for measuring the impact of the highway. 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

4346-413: The highway rather than the Madeira waterway, despite the fact that the waterway provides an extremely cost-effective transport method for bulk cargo. After accounting for distortions in the analysis, the project has estimated direct losses of about $ 162 million, with potential external damage mounting to $ 1.13 billion. The highway already provides a corridor for telecommunications. In 2006 Embratel opened

4428-601: 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

4510-412: 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

4592-440: 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

4674-470: The middle section, valid for one year from date of issue. DNIT planned to immediately start work on repairing the wooden bridges and bypasses. Work would resume on the road surface within 40 days, when the rainy season had abated. IBAMA reserved the right to suspend the maintenance work if there were any infringements of the rules, failures to provide accurate information or serious environmental or health risks. As of April 2016 no date had been set for repaving

4756-416: The middle section. This section is considered to be a new road, since it had seen no traffic for several years. The south and north sections did not require an EIA, since they were already paved and in use. However, the EIA considered environmental and social impacts for the full length of the road. Some work was done by the federal government between 2008 and 2009 on the basis of a preliminary EIA prepared by

4838-405: 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

4920-401: 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 );

5002-407: The nine state-level units, covering 30,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi) and 143 communities, to be coordinated by the State Center for Conservation Units (CEUC). The funding was for development of management plans, creation of management councils, environmental monitoring , land survey, and production and marketing. A protected area mosaic of federal and state conservation units along

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5084-449: 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

5166-453: 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

5248-427: 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

5330-419: The potential negative effects of repaving the highway. A total of 21 conservation units have been established in the ALAP. The minister of the environment, Carlos Minc , supported implementation of what he called a "green sheath" ( bolsão verde ) around the highway. An ordinance of 9 January 2012 provided for a consistent and integrated approach to preparing management plans for the federal conservation units in

5412-480: 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

5494-494: The region have not been well studied. A new primate was discovered recently, as well as a procyonid of the Bassaricyon genus far outside its previously known range. The highway could affect biodiversity in the interfluvial region. Environmentalists are concerned that BR-319 connects untouched forest to the "arc of deforestation" created when roads like the controversial BR-364 opened up the forest further south to logging and unsustainable slash-and-burn farming. Construction of

5576-447: The requirements for granting an environmental license for reconstruction work on the BR-319 highway. The state-level units in the BR-319 corridor are the Piagaçu-Purus , Rio Amapá , Rio Madeira , Igapó-Açu and Matupiri sustainable development reserves, Canutama Extractive Reserve , Canutama State Forest , Tapauá State Forest and Matupiri State Park . In December 2012 the Amazonas state government allocated more than R$ 6 million to

5658-429: 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

5740-437: 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

5822-417: 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

5904-456: The road sides and laying the base for the road surface. In October 2015 IBAMA embargoed work on the middle section after finding evidence of irregularities and serious environmental damage, and imposed a fine of R$ 7,510,500. The next month the Region 1 Federal Court (TRF1) suspended IBAMA's injunction, saying it would cause "serious public harm." On 4 April 2016 IBAMA issued a licence for repairs to

5986-471: The road were weak and it quickly deteriorated due to harsh tropical conditions and lack of maintenance. By 1986 the road was impassible. In 1996 president Fernando Henrique Cardoso announced a program to rebuild the highway, but it did not get off the ground. Alternatives to BR-319 include developing a railway along the route and improving the waterway. In 2007 the Amazonas Secretariat for

6068-546: 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,

6150-530: 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

6232-568: 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

6314-482: The streams were being silted. Bus service along the road was taking about 24 hours. The highway is surrounded by extensive protected areas, including conservation units – mainly sustainable use – and indigenous territories of people such as the Mura , Munduruku , Apurinã , Paumarí and Parintintín . Many of the conservation units were created recently as part of efforts by the state and federal governments to mitigate

6396-517: 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

6478-459: 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,

6560-511: 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

6642-536: 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

6724-513: 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

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