Amazonas (Brazilian state)

Lore & Background

Amazonas was originally the captaincy of São Jose do Rio Negro, then a District of Grão-Pará, which became a province and finally a state of Brazil. It was settled by the Portuguese moving northwest from Brazil in the early 18th century and incorporated into the Portuguese Empire after the Treaty of Madrid in 1750. Most of the state is tropical jungle; cities are clustered along navigable waterways and are accessible only by boat or plane.

Reader's Guide

Amazonas is significant as the largest Brazilian state and the largest country subdivision in South America, greater than the areas of Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay combined. Its history reflects colonial conflicts between Spain and Portugal, with the territory initially part of the Spanish Empire's Viceroyalty of Peru before being settled by the Portuguese. The state's name derives from the Amazon River, named by Francisco de Orellana after a reported conflict with indigenous women. The region's pre-Columbian inhabitants were seminomadic peoples, and approximately two thousand tribes lived there in the sixteenth century, though disease and assimilation reduced their numbers to about three hundred thousand by the end of the twentieth century. The Amazon rainforest itself formed about ten million years ago when the river began flowing eastward after the rise of the Andes. The state's legacy includes its vast biodiversity, with species such as over 20 species of stingray adapted to freshwater, and its role in the geopolitical history of South America, with borders defined by treaties including the Treaty of Madrid and the Treaty Vásquez Cobo–Martins.

Did You Know?

• Amazonas is the largest country subdivision in South America, greater than the areas of Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay combined.
• The Amazon River once flowed westward, possibly as part of a proto-Congo river system when the continents were joined as part of western Gondwana.