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Amazonas (pron. IPA: [a.ma.'zo.nas] ^[1]) is the largest state of Brazil in area, located in the northern part of the country. Neighboring states are (from north clockwise) Roraima, Pará, Mato Grosso, Rondônia, Acre. It also borders Peru, Colombia and Venezuela. This includes the department Amazonas in Colombia, as well as the Amazonas State, Venezuela (it does not border the Peruvian Amazonas Region). The prime feature of the Amazon is its immense forest. This is the largest Brazilian State in area, with 1.5 million square kilometers. From the capital, Manaus, tours take tourists to see the meeting of waters where the rivers Negro and Solimões run alongside without mixing their waters, and transfers to the lodges in the forest, appreciated by foreign tourists. Although being far away from the ocean, Manaus is a port city. Among the many attractions of the capital, is the Teatro Amazonas, the Municipal Market, the Zoo, the Forest of Science and the Museum of the Indian. Outside the city of Manaus, beside the meeting of the waters, the main attraction are the tours to the largest biodiversity of the planet, with a fauna of more than 250 species of mammals, 2.000 types of fish and 1.100 types of birds.

Geography

Amazonas has a territory covered mostly by rainforest, covering a vast area of Amazon Rainforest. The state is named after the Amazon River. Amazonas is home to the highest mountain in Brazil; Pico da Neblina, a tepui which stands at 2,994 meters above sea level. The state is almost entirely covered by the Amazon Rainforest, 98% according to officials^[2], and its relief is divided into three categories, viz:

igapos - permanently flooded land, roots of vegetation always submerged
varzeas - higher than igapos, land is only submerged when rivers are at their highest during the wet season
low plateau - higher still, never submerged

This wide and varied terrain means that the Amazonas region attracts a large number of tourists.

Climate

An equatorial climate is a type of tropical climate in which there is no dry season – all months have mean precipitation values of at least 60mm. It is usually found at latitudes within five degrees of the equator – which are dominated by the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The equatorial climate is denoted Af in the Köppen climate classification.

Tropical rainforest is the natural vegetation in equatorial regions.

Vegetation

The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests and comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world. Wet tropical forests are the most species-rich biome, and tropical forests in the Americas are consistently more species rich than the wet forests in Africa and Asia.^[3] As the largest tract of tropical rainforest in the Americas, the Amazonian rainforests have unparalleled biodiversity. More than 1/3 of all species in the world live in the Amazon Rainforest.^[4] The largest biodiversity of the planet is present across the State of Amazonas, ensuring great surprised to its visitors.

History

The name "Amazonias" was given to the Amazon River by early Spanish explorers, who fought skirmishes with female Amerindian warriors that they named after the fierce mounted female warriors in Greek mythology. Another, less common version states that the term Amazon comes from a local Amerindian word, amassunu, which means "sounds of the waters".

What is today Amazonas state was first taken control of after the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, which essentially divided the planet (excluding Europe) between the Spanish and the Portuguese, territories west of (approximately) 46° 37' W belonging to Spain, those east of that longitude, to Portugal.

Originally, most of South America (except for a small part of the east coast of modern Brazil) was ceded to Spain. However, the Portuguese controlled the area in practicality, with numerous settlements and large numbers of Portuguese soldiers in the Brazil area. Spain officially handed over control of the region with the Treaty of Madrid in 1750.

The state of Amazonas was officially created by Dom Pedro II in 1850.

The state met an era of splendour in the 1850s, at the peak of the rubber boom. However, the economic gain was largely thanks to great human suffering: untold thousands of enslaved Amerindian seringueiros (rubber tappers) died through disease and overwork.

By the late 1800s, the Brazilian rubber monopoly was slowly dying, as British and Dutch plantations in South-East Asia were producing cheaper, superior quality rubber, and by 1900 the Amazonas state had fallen into serious economic decline because of this. It was not until the 1950s that federal government policy rescued the state from complete financial ruin.

The state capital of Manaus had once been a rich city (it received street lighting and streetcars before London) but had largely fallen into disrepair since the end of the rubber boom. In 1967, the federal government implemented a plan to revive the city, and today the city is the financial centre of the region.

J. Verissimo, Pará e Amazonas, (Rio de Janeiro, 1899)
C. L. Temple, The State of Amazonas, (London, 1900)

Demographics

According to the IBGE of 2007, there were 3,351,000 people residing in the state. The population density was 2,1 inh./km².

Urbanization: 76.6% (2004); Population growth: 3.3% (1991-2000); Houses: 824,567 (2005).

Source: PNAD.

Racial and ancestral makeup

The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 2,489,793 million Pardo people (74.3%), 703 thousand White people (21.0%), 144 thousand Black people (4.3%), 13 thousand Asian or Amerindian people (0.4%).^[5]

Economy

The industrial sector is the largest component of GDP at 69.9%, followed by the service sector at 26.5%. Agriculture represents 3.6% of GDP (2004). Amazonas exports: mobile phones 48.7%, others eletronics 19.5%, motorcycles 7.7% (2002).

Participation in the Brazilian economy: 2% (2004).^[6]

Amazonas' economy was once reliant almost entirely upon rubber; today it has wide and varied industries, including the farming of cassava, oranges, and other agricultural products.

The most recent change in the state's economy is the effort the Brazilian government is making to pursue the development of industries which main focus will be the exporting of consumer goods. Due to its geographical proximity to the markets in the northern hemisphere and Amazon countries, like Venezuela, they believe this move will have a great economic impact not only in the north region of Brazil but in the entire country.

Over the last decades, a system of federal investments and tax incentives have turned the surrounding region into a major industrial center (the Zona Franca of Manaus). The mobile phone companies Nokia, Sagem, Gradiente and BenQ-Siemens run mobile phone manufacturing plants in Manaus. Also, many other major electronics manufacturers such as Sony and LG have plants there. Plastic lens manufacturer Essilor also has a plant here.

Education

Portuguese is the official national language, and thus the primary language taught in schools. But English and Spanish are part of the official high school curriculum.

Colleges and Universities

Universidade Federal do Amazonas (Ufam) (Federal University of Amazonas);
Universidade do Estado do Amazonas (UEA) (University of State of Amazonas);
Universidade Paulista (Unip-AM) (Paulista University);
Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica do Amazonas (Cefet-AM);
and many others.

Culture

The state also holds one of the greatest folkloric festivals of the country: Parintins, which combines music, dance and all culture roots of the state.

Infrastructure

International Airport

Eduardo Gomes International Airport is like a small city in full development. Responsible for employing roughly 3,300 people, among employees of Infraero, public organs, concession holders, airlines and auxiliary services, it has fully modern infrastructure. The airport has two passenger terminals, one for scheduled flights and the other for regional aviation. It also has three cargo terminals: Terminal I was opened in 1976, Terminal II in 1980 and Terminal III in 2004. Eduardo Gomes International Airport is Brazil’s third largest in freight movement, handling the import and export demand from the Manaus Industrial Complex. For this reason, Infraero invested in construction of the third cargo terminal, opened on December 14, 2004.

Highways

BR-174, BR-210, BR-230, BR-307, BR-317, BR-319, BR-411, BR-413.

Sports

Manaus is one of the 18 remaining candidates to host games of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, for which Brazil is the only South American bidder.

Flag

The flag was adopted by law No. 1513 of January 14, 1982. The 25 stars in the topleft corner represent the 25 municipalities which existed on August 4, 1897. The bigger star represents the capital Manaus. The two horizontal white bars represent hope, while the red bar in the middle represents the struggles overcome.

Main Cities

Manaus, Itacoatiara, Manacapuru, Parintins, Tefé, Coari, São Gabriel da Cachoeira

References

^ The presented pronunciation is in Brazilian Portuguese. The European Portuguese pronunciation is: /ɐ.mɐ.'zo.nɐʃ/.
^ The New York Times article on 2005 drought in Amazonas
^ Turner, I.M. 2001. The ecology of trees in the tropical rain forest. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-80183-4
^ Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Plants, Amazon River Animals
^ Síntese de Indicadores Sociais 2007 (PDF) (in Portuguese). State of Amazonas, Brazil: IBGE. 2007. ISBN 85-240-3919-1. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
^ List of Brazilian states by GDP (PDF) (in Portuguese). Amazonas, Brazil: IBGE. 2004. ISBN 85-240-3919-1. Retrieved 2007-07-18.

@@ Line 82: / Line 82: @@
 ===Racial and ancestral makeup===
 The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 2,489,793 million [[Pardo]] people (74.3%), 703 thousand [[White Brazilian|White]] people (21.0%), 144 thousand [[Afro-Brazilian|Black]] people (4.3%), 13 thousand [[Asian Brazilian|Asian]] or [[Indigenous peoples in Brazil|Amerindian]] people (0.4%).<ref>{{cite book|url=ftp://ftp.ibge.gov.br/Indicadores_Sociais/Sintese_de_Indicadores_Sociais_2007/Tabelas|title=Síntese de Indicadores Sociais 2007|publisher=[[IBGE]]|location=State of Amazonas, Brazil|format=PDF|isbn=85-240-3919-1|accessdate=2007-07-18|year=2007|language=Portuguese}}</ref>
-The majority of the [[White Brazilian|Whites]] of the state are of [[Portuguese Brazilian|Portuguese]] and [[Italian Brazilian|Italian]] descent. The [[Pardo]]s are a mixture of [[European ethnic groups|European]]s with the [[Afro-Brazilian|Blacks]] and/or [[Indigenous peoples in Brazil|Amerindians]], varying from light to dark complexion. The [[Afro-Brazilian|Blacks]] are of [[African]] descent. The [[Asian Brazilian|Asian]]s are mostly [[Japanese-Brazilian|Japanese]] and the [[Amerindians]] are the [[Indigenous people of Brazil|indigenous]] inhabitants.
 ==Economy==