Manaus...
In the teart of the Amazon Rainforest

Manaus... the hottest destination in the Amazon rainforest...

It all started in the second half of the 17th. century, when a small fort - São José da Barra - was built on the north bank of Rio Negro river, around 18 km. above its confluence with the Amazon river.

Later named Manaus, it became capital of the State of Amazonas, Brazil, in 1850.

The city lies in the heart of the largest tropical rain forest on earth - Amazonia - the geographical area surrounding the Amazon river and its tributaries, with an extension of more than 2 million square miles.

Amazon Jungle Lodge - © Christian Knepper/Embratur

Have You Been to the Amazon Jungle?..

This vast region includes part of Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Suriname, French Guiana, Guyana and a large part of Brazil, and is responsible for 50% of the renovated oxygen on earth.

It's filled with the most exuberant flora and fauna known to man.

Its mightiest river - Amazon - is 4.080 miles long, second only to the Nile. It originates in tiny streams on the Peruvian Andes and fed by over 15.000 tributaries along the way, before discharging at the Atlantic Ocean.

The city itself and its surroundings attracts visitors from all over the world and its port is regularly visited by cruise ships.
Jungle lodges, river expeditions, jungle walks and water sports are the main outdoors activities.

You will have the chance to explore...

Anavilhanas (world's largest archipelago of river islands)
Beaches and Ecological Parks
Municipal Park of Mindú
Paricatuba waterfall
Lion waterfall
Moon beach
Tupé beach
Love cascade
Ponta Negra Cultural, Sport and Leisure Park
Teatro Amazonas (Opera House)
Tropical Manaus Eco Resort

Amazon Rainforest - © Christian Knepper/Embratur

Please don't miss Parintins Festival if you happen to be in the area the last week of June (24 to 30th.).
This grandiose spectacle of music, dance, drama and special effects is a true rural opera.
Is about the historical rivalry between two bulls called Garantido (Guaranteed) and Caprichoso (Capricious). You will have to choose which side to take.

The event takes place in the bumbodromo and the two cheering groups take separate sides of the stadium.
When one of their "bulls" is performing, one half of the stadium actually flicks, while the other half remains in respectful silence.

Tribes of dancers accompany them at the beat of hundreds drums and songs sung by "song leaders".
Parintins is located in the island of Tupinambarana, around 420 km. from Manaus.

Parintins festival is just fantastic!...

The landmark of Manaus is Teatro Amazonas, on Praça (Square) São Sebastião.
Opera House, as is commonly know, has Neoclassical architecture and was built with bricks brought from Europe, glass from France and Italian marble.
Orchestras and European Opera Companies came to the jungle.

The Great Caruso and Sarah Bernhardt performed there, among others.
Opera House reflects the massive wealth brought by the rubber boom to Manaus - between 1890 and 1920 - when hundred or so rubber "barons" emerged from that economic boom, living lavishly and building superb residences for themselves.

Opera House - © Christian Knepper/Embratur

That exhilarating period of Brazil's rubber monopoly came to an end around 1920, motivated by two reasons basically...

The advent of synthetic rubber in the early 20s.
Development of rubber plantations in SE Asia.
In fact, an Englishman named Henry Wickham smuggled some plantings to London, that were later shipped off to the British colonies of Ceylon and Malaya.
A drastic plunge in the price of rubber marked its decline and the city settled back to a kind of impoverished state.

In 1967, a Free Zone (Zona Franca) was established by the Brazilian government to develop western Amazonas.
Today, it's a modern city and a very important financial and commercial center in the midst of the Amazon rainforest...