An Introduction AL'amazonie.
An old Indian legend said that God had not yet terminated creating the Amazon when the man was on the scene. Thus, it is said that God has decided to leave, hoping that man will not stay very long on the scene. It may therefore come back and complete its work. Today, more than 20 million people live on this unfinished work that lies between the Andes in the west to the Atlantic Ocean to the east of Guyana plateau in Norte a Brazilian savannah in the south. The scope of the Amazon is
impressive, containing:
5% of general land;
20% of general reserves of fresh water;
1 / 3 of the World's Forests;
40% of South America;
60% of Brazil;
0.4% of the general population.
Despite being still a vast forest, the Amazon is very diverse, from a geophysical and environmental. Examples convincing that the curious traveler will discover rivers are multicolored: deep black waters of the river "Negro" muddy the waters yellow "Solimoes", and their majestic meeting where the two colors travel several miles, coast to coast without ever mix.At such a juncture, the traveler is also likely to meet the "Boto Rosa", the pink dolphin prehistoric Amazon, is so many legends and stories prohibited in the region. Indeed, the traveler will encounter one of the last frontiers of true naturalness.
Several ecosystems coexist and are integrated with each other, while the flood
th each other, while the flooded forests and floodplains (locally known as' igapó and varzea) cover 5% of the region, the field includes the remaining forest farms ground. There are five distinct regions, with geographical and biological characteristics specific to each: Amazon Atlantic, with the marshes along the coast of the Brazilian states of Pará and of Amapá, the central flood plain, which stretches the Atlantic Ocean to Peru, following the route of the Amazon River and the northern plateau, a land of poor soils and which becomes increasingly rocky and mountainous as we moved north and the southern basin, a land of rich soil and muddy rivers wild and cis-Andean Amazon, an area of transition that ended in the steep snowy slopes of the Andes.In Amazonia, plaques typical 10 square kilometers host more than 1500 species of flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 125 species of mammals, 400 species of birds, 100 species of reptiles, 60 species of amphibians and 150 species butterflies. Surprisingly, the crown of a tree, perhaps top of more than 50 feet, can seat more than five thousand species of insects. This land is a region marked by biodiversity, geological, economic and social Centuries of exploration have documented this. For example, many may remember the familiar legend of women Amazons, a myth established when the original man to travel from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, Francisco de Orellana has allegedly met these women, fierce fighting in 1542 . Since then, other adventurers, scientists and researchers hope to have traveled, studied and occupied the region, however, with varying degrees of success. Of these, the most notable are:
Alexander Von Humboldt, which has charted the Casiquiare canal, 480 kilometers long, a passage linking the basin of the Orinoco basin in Venezuela on Amazon that can be visited today, however, only the most adventurous travelers .
Henry Walter Bates and Alfred Russell Wallace, who have been together one of the most productive discoveries of natural history. Alfred co-discover later (with Darwin) of evolution theory.
Jacques Cousteau, the brave adventurer scientific and modern, to my knowledge, is the only person brave enough to swim with a colony of piranhas.
Visit the Amazon can only appreciate the difficulties and wonders that these explorers encountered. From the plane, the green carpet seems endless and peaceful, and on earth is something quite different. First, the traveler note of gurgles, sound signals, sounds, and the plethora of other strange noises coming from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Then the smell of fresh flowering plants mix with the smell of moldy plants that délabrent, marking the eternal cycle of life and death in this jungle.Look and we see the results of a static struggle for a period several centuries to light: the vines intertwine with the trees, branches above amount to be more clever as each others, in a desperate battle for sunlight. This fight is so effective that spot on earth is likely to see the sun shine on it only once every 50 years, when a neighbor eventually abandoned tree dies, falls to earth and leaves open the Glass , Giving a shred of hope to trees newborns. Life in such abundance is unimaginable, yet overwhelming.
More than 20 million people live next to such natural exuberance. The history of human occupation of the Amazon goes back to 11 thousand years back, around Monte Alegre, where archaeological sites were discovered, noting the existence of complicated communities much earlier than previously planned and in a region where their existence has been potential only recently.The adventurous traveler with a few days available may take a small plane from Santarém in Monte Alegre to visit the indigenous paintings on the walls still visible to this day. The indigenous Indian populations are still present, although foreigners are rarely invited to visit. Although shocking to some, there are few Indian tribes who have never been found or identified by us, Western and this is not a tribute to our inability, but rather to the amazing size of the forest.
However, the large, non-indigenous occupation came to the discovery of natural products of values: the most remarkable rubber. The Hevea brasiliensis, the Seringueira locally known, is the tree that relates this valuable when Charles Goodyear invented the process of vulcanization of rubber in 1839. Towards the end of the 19th century, with industry producing bicycles and cars at a record pace, the market for rubber was undeniably hot.The wealth of Manaus, this time in the mall rubber, is legendary, the original electrified city in South America. Blocks round, a telephone network, trams were imported from Europe, with crystal chandeliers, pianos, champagne and caviar. The main memory of this period is the Teatro Amazonas, the opera house in Manaus. For a population of only 30 thousand inhabitants, the opera house can accommodate 1600 people and is made of glass, marble and other opulent materials imported from Europe. Such a rich cache the enormous difficulties faced by collectors of rubber, with scattered trees along the forest and resistance to multiple attempts in the domestication plantings. Remains the dream of domestication can be seen nowadays Fordlândia, appropriately renamed after the American industrialist Henry Ford, along the shores of the river Tapajós.
Today, the development of Brazil is in the impact the southern borders of the Amazon.
This fertile land, with recent advances in agriculture in tropical climates, population growth and appreciation of the products on international markets, economic realities have changed. Over the past five years, deforestation has grown at an average of 15 and 26 thousand square kilometers in Brazil. Put into perspective, the Brazilian Amazon is approximately 3.6 million square kilometers. Thus the current rate of deforestation of 0.4% and 0.7% per year is indeed worrying. It is estimated that deforestation has reached approximately 20% of the region, mainly due to livestock in the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso, Rondônia, and Pará. The socio-economic game is a great migration of southern states of Brazil, where land is mostly occupied, around the southern Amazon, where land is abundant and sparsely populated.
Despite the overall progress, a look at Amazonian peoples will also find a socio-economic unenviable. During the historic 2005 drought, hunger, disease and isolation threatened populations. In major cities, the traveler will discover slums and living conditions.
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