Half way through the XVI century, the name Amazonas was given by a Spanish monk called Gaspar de Carvajal, the first European columnist to travel through the Amazon River. The name, Amazonas, is an allusion to the women of the Greek mythology.

The Amazon region had a period of great development that was responsible for its nowadays face in one way or another.

During the rubber cycle (1879-1912), Amazon was responsible for almost 40% of all Brazilian exports. Manaus, the capital of the State of Amazonas, was the worldwide diamond selling capital, and its theater with 681 seats, was specially brought from Europe in a ship to be assembled in Brazil.

When Sir Charles Goodyear once found out the rubber vulcanization process, the product turned out to be stable. So, the industry boom came on. Between 1850 and the beginning of the twentieth century the exports of rubber in the Amazon region grew thirty times.
 
 Sir Henry Ford tried out the plantation of Seringueiras in Amazon, but the plantations collapsed due to the "Praga da Folha" pest attack. The region had a new economic boom only in 1967, with the establishment of the Zona Franca, a free trade zone.   

Millions of years ago Cordilheira dos Andes was not formed yet, and all Amazon rivers used to run to the Pacific Ocean, or the Caribbean. When the Cordilheira raised, the exit to the Pacific Ocean was closed. The rivers turned into lakes, their volumes joined and appeared in Amazon the biggest lake on Earth. For a long time this scenery waited for the geologic conditions to change again.

Amazon once brought together much more water than the nowadays its total volume. If the Atlantic Ocean goes up only 55 meters high, its waters would reach the city of Tabatinga, a Brazilian city in Rio Amazonas in the frontier with Colombia and Peru. Each kilometer leaving out Brazil, the Rio Amazonas goes down at about 2 cm. The water goes ahead much more by the force of the one coming from the Cordilheira than the inclination of the land.

The Amazon lands declines from the West and North. The city of São Gabriel da Cachoeira ( 800 KM from Manaus ), is to the Northwest of the region and as we approach the city the number of waterfalls increases, and mountains can be seen. In São Gabriel you are next to the Pico da Neblina the highest point in Brazil. Going to the State of Roraima (capital, Boa Vista), you reach the high lands. Wonderful and dangerous the Monte Roraima can be seen. To the South and East the plain lands.

IGARAPÉ : small river created by the waters rising

IGAPÓ : flooded forests

MANDIOCA : Cassava. The cassava flour is made of this tuber and is basic food for the Caboclos.

PALAFITAS: Dwellings on stilts, common along the Amazon River thanks to its praticity when there are floods.

PIRARUCU: the biggest Amazonian fish. It can be 3 meters and weighs 250 kg.