Amazonas
Amazonas, Brazil
The Amazonas is located in the North Region in the northwestern part of the country.
It is the largest Brazilian state and would be the 16th country by size if it were an independent nation, roughly 2 1/4 times the size of Texas.
There are only 3.5 million inhabitants in the entire region and over 2 million live in the capital city of Manaus.An excellent map of the region showing its size and central location in the Amazon Basin. This area originally belonged to Spanish territories, known as New Granada, but was ceded to the Portuguese in the 1750 Treaty of Madrid for reasons outside of the scope of this discussion. It has remained a contested area even within Brazilian history and experiences some of the greatest economic injustices due to it isolation and lack of central infrastructure. As of 2015, Amazonas is Brazil's 4th poorest state and its most isolated, leaving its inhabitants, often ethnic minorities, especially women, vulnerable to violence. There are many current efforts underway to combat these problems and to increase infrastructure and access to basic needs for even the most isolated of women. The World Bank is contributing to the funding of these projects as well as the Brazilian government, according to sources.
The Amazon River gets its name from a Spanish conquistador, Francisco de Orellana, in 1541, who claimed he battled with a warlike tribe reminiscent of the Greek mythological Amazons. Hence the name, Rio de las Amazonas.
Overview photo of the region to show that the area is 98% covered in rainforest and to give some perspective on the immensity of the area.
Video showing Manaus
Ngh-time view of the Manaus Opera House, otherwise known as the Amazon Theater.
The meeting of the Negro and the Amazon Rivers. They do not conjoin because of the Negro River is faster-moving and moves more volume of water than the silt-laden, slower-moving Amazon River.
Food
A wide variety of filling meat dishes form another popular staple of the Amazonian region. In Brazil, maniçoba, is a dish made from the leaves of the manioc plant (which need to be simmered for seven days to remove poisonous hydrocyanic acid) combined with various pieces of bacon, sausage and other types of salted pork. Perhaps the most famous dish of the Brazilian Amazon is the distinctive pato no tucupi(duck served in exotic-tasting tucupi sauce), a traditional local favorite especially popular during holiday periods. The duck is roasted, shredded and cooked with garlic, chicory, basil and tucupi, and then served over rice with hot pepper and a sprinkling of fermented manioc flour.
Patarashca is one highly renowned dish, consisting of fish grilled with a variety of vegetables such as onions, tomatoes, chilies and coriander, all wrapped and cooked to perfection in a large bijao leaf.
Amazon Music
The Brazilain Amazon Rainforest Documentary
Amazonas looks so cool, especially the fact that it is 98% rainforest. It's interesting that basically the whole states population density is in one area!
ReplyDeleteAmazonas seems less touristy than all of the other places we've seen in Brazil so far but based on your presentation and the fact that you can only get to a certain part by plane or boat, that's done purposely. It was also very interesting to hear the crime rate as well. The food looked amazing!
ReplyDeleteAmazonas is such an interesting state! I had no idea that its population was so small in comparison to its size. I would definitely love to try zip-lining over part of the rainforest one day and try maniçoba as it looked so good!
ReplyDeleteThe small population of this state is crazy. especially because the state is so large in area. It seems to be so different from the rest of the country, but not in a bad way at all.
ReplyDeleteWhat really attracted my attention about this blog were how the waters did not mix at all in the video! I always thought that that was what people said, but I did not actually see it until now. Also, the fact that waves go infinitely for surfers to surf them is also amazing! The aquatic life is simply beautiful--I wish I could visit this place sometime in my life :)
ReplyDelete