Amazonas (Brazilian state)

Amazonas ) is a state of Brazil, located in the northwestern corner of the country. It is the largest Brazilian State by area and the 9th largest country subdivision in the world.

Neighbouring states are (from the north clockwise) Roraima, Pará, Mato Grosso, Rondônia, and Acre. It also borders Peru, Colombia and Venezuela. This includes the department Amazonas in Colombia, as well as the Amazonas State, Venezuela, and the Loreto Region in Peru.

Amazonas is named after the Amazon River, and home to the highest mountain in Brazil, Pico da Neblina, a tepui which stands at 2994 m above sea level.

Etymology
The name was originally given to the Amazon River that runs through the state by the Spaniard Francisco de Orellana in 1541. Claiming to have come across a warlike tribe of Indians, with whom he fought, he likened them to the Amazons of Greek mythology, giving them the same name. An etymological alternative put forward by historian Karl Lokotsch, the name derives from an indigenous word, amasunu, that means "sound of water, water rumbles."

History
By the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), the whole Amazon basin was in the areas of Spanish Crown. The mouth of the great river was only discovered by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, who reached it in February 1500, followed by his cousin Diego de Lepe, in April of that year. In 1541, Spaniards Gonzalo Pizarro and Francisco de Orellana, from Quito, crossed the Andes Mountains and explored the course of the river to the Atlantic Ocean. The trip, which lasted from 1540 to 1542, was reported by the Dominican friar Gaspar de Carvajal, who said that the Spaniards fought with women warriors, the Icamiabas, which the banks of the Marañón River, fired them, arrows and darts from blowguns. The myth of women warriors on the river has spread in the accounts and books, without any popular scope, still making those regions were to receive the names of the warriors of Greek mythology, the Amazons - among them the largest river in the region that became known as the Amazon River. Also in the 16th century, there were the expedition of Pedro de Ursua and Lope de Aguirre (1508–1561) in search of the legendary El Dorado (1559–1561). Without effective occupation, and some factories English and Dutch exploring so-called " inner drugs "only during the Philippine Dynasty (1580–1640) the Hispanic-Portuguese Crown was interested in the region, with the founding of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Belém Grand-Para (1616), and worth recording the expedition of Captain General of the captaincy of Pará and Grand Cape, Pedro Teixeira , who ran the great river of the Atlantic Ocean to Quito, with 70 soldiers and 1,200 Indians in forty seven great canoes (1637–1639), and soon after that of Antonio Raposo Tavares, whose flag, leaving the captaincy of São Vicente, reached the Andes, the Amazon River returning to Belém, visiting a total of about 12000 km, between 1648 and 1651.

Aiming to evangelize the Indians, several religious and lay Jesuits founded several Spanish missions in the Amazon territory. These missions, whose economy had engaged in the dependence of the extraction and forestry, were the sites of origin of the first crossbred in the region. Subsequently suffered repeated invasions of other indigenous upset with the invasion of their territory and the white conquerors. White, accompanied by native Indians imprisoned rivals to sell them as slaves. The destruction of the missions spread deforestation over the territory.

From the 18th century, the Amazonas region began to be held by the Portuguese and Spaniards who lived in the Amazon River basin. This fight sparked a dispute over land ownership, which led to the formation of large estates. The region of the upper Amazon River was considered strategic to both the Spanish- the region provided access to the Viceroyalty of Peru- as well as to the Portuguese, especially since the discovery of gold in the hinterlands of Mato Grosso and Goiás, quickly drained by the Amazon River basin. It is in this context that fall past the secret instructions by His Majesty to the Governor and Captain General of the Captaincy of Grand Para, João Pereira Caldas, for seven factories that were founded by the course of the Amazonian rivers, from Belem to Vila Bela Mato Grosso and the capital of the Captaincy of the Rio Negro, to support trade ( smuggling ), with the Spanish provinces of the Orinoco ( Venezuela ), Quito (Ecuador), and Peru , this trade before it was done with the Colonia del Sacramento (top secret instruction, c. 1773 . Museu Conde de Linhares , Rio de Janeiro). The signing of the Treaty of Madrid in 1750 endorsed this view, and the Portuguese Crown in the region also asserted the principle of uti possidetis, "backed by a line of defensive positions that even virtually abandoned after the Consulate Pombal (1750–1777 ) and during the 19th century, diplomacy legariam Republic of the nascent the current location of the Brazilian border. Within the project of occupying the Amazon hinterland, was formed by Royal Captaincy of São José do Rio Negro by the Charter on 1755-03-03, with headquarters in the village of Mariuá, elevated the town of Barcelos in 1790 . In the early 19th century, the seat of government of the Province was transferred to the village of Rio Negro bar, high bar of the village of Rio Negro for this purpose, on 1808-03-29.

At the time of the independence in Brazil in 1822, residents of the village proclaimed themselves independent, establishing a provisional government. The region was incorporated into the Empire of Brazil, in the Province of Pará, as the District of the Upper Amazon in 1824.

Won the condition of Amazonas Province by Law No. 582 of 1822-09-05, and the village of Barra do Rio Negro a city with the name of Manaus by Provincial Law of 24 October 1848 and was designated its capital on 1851-01-05.

From the 19th century, the territory began to receive migrants from the northeast seeking a better lifel. Attracted by the rubber boom, they settled in important Amazonense cities such as Manaus, Tabatinga, Parintins, Itacoatiara and Barcelos, the first capital of Amazonas.

Captaincy with Grand Para
In 1772, the captaincy was renamed Grand Para and Maranhao, and Rio Negro was dismembered. With the changing of the royal family to Brazil, manufacturing was permitted and the Amazon began to produce cotton, rope, turtle butter, ceramics and candles. The governors who did most for the development so far have been Manuel da Gama Lobo d'Almada and João Pereira Caldas. In 1821, Grantham and Rio Negro province became the unified Grand Para. The following year, Brazil proclaimed its independence. In the mid- 19th century were founded the first nucleus that led to the current cities of Itacoatiara, Parintins , Manacapuru and Careiro and Moura. The capital was located in Mariuá (between 1755–1791 and 1799–1808), and São José da Barra do Rio Negro (1791–1799 and 1808–1821). A revolt in 1832 demanded the autonomy of the Amazon as a separate province of Pará The rebellion was suppressed, but the Amazons were able to send a representative to the Imperial Court, Friar José dos Santos Inocentes, who got up the creation of the District of the Upper Amazon. With Cabanagem in 1,835th - 1.84 thousand, the Amazon remained loyal to the imperial government and not joined the revolt. As a sort of reward, the Amazon has become an autonomous province in 1850, separating themselves definitively from Pará With autonomy, the capital returned to the latter, renamed "Manaus" in 1856.

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 60 mm. 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
Amazonas is almost entirely covered by the Amazon Rainforest, 98% according to officials, and it is divided into three types of habitat, viz: This wide and varied terrain of the Amazonas region attracts a large number of tourists. 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. 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. and species are discovered on an almost daily base. The largest biodiversity of the planet is present across the State of Amazonas, generating great surprise in its visitors. The state of Amazonas was officially created by Dom Pedro II in 1850. The state had an era of splendor in the 1850s, at the peak of the rubber boom. However, the economic gains were largely the result of great human suffering: untold thousands of enslaved Amerindian seringueiros (rubber tappers) died through disease and overwork.
 * 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

By the late 19th century, 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. 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 after 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.

Demographics
According to estimates by the IBGE, in 2008 the state of Amazonas had 3,341,096 inhabitants and a population density of 2.05 inhabitants. / km ². This population represents 1.8 % of the population in Brazil.

The polo-cities are: Benjamin Constant, Tefé, Lábrea, Eirunepe, Manicoré, Barcelos, Manacapuru, Itacoatiara and Parintins.

The state achieved a very great population growth in the early 20th century, due to the golden period of rubber, and after installation of the Industrial Pole of Manaus, in the 1960s. The state still maintains population rates above the national average. In the 1950s the state had a population growth of 3.6% per year, while Brazil has maintained a growth of 3.2%. In the period between the years 1991 and 2000, Amazon grew by 2.7% per annum while the national average remained at 1.6%. For 2010, the estimate is 3,473,856 inhabitants.

According to the census of 2000, 3.3 million inhabitants of the state 78.4% live in cities, while 17.3% of the population live in the countryside. The composition of Amazonian population by gender shows that for every 100 female residents of the state there are 96 men; this small imbalance between the sexes is because women have a life expectancy of eight years higher than that of men. However, the migration to the state is mostly male.

The capital, Manaus is the largest city in the north, with about 1.7 million inhabitants, followed by Belém with 1.4 million inhabitants. Manaus, one of which receive the most migrants in Brazil, grows wildly with many areas occupied illegally by invasions.

Amazonas is the second largest precinct in northern Brazil, with 2,030,549 voters, according to the Superior Electoral Court.

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: 77.6% (2006); Population growth: 3.3% (1991–2000); Houses: 819,000 (2006).

The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census revealed the following numbers: 2,489,000 Brown (Multiracial) people (74.3%), 703,000 White people (21.0%), 144,000 Black people (4.3%), 13,000 Asian or Amerindian people (0.4%).

Statistics

 * Vehicles: 651,536 (March/2007);
 * Mobile phones: 4.4 million (April/2007)
 * Telephones: 998 thousand (April/2007)
 * Cities: 62 (2007).

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 electronics 19.5%, motorcycles 7.7% (2002).

Share of the Brazilian economy: 2.6% (2005).

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.

Recently the Brazilian government is pursuing the development of industries whose 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. The 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.

There are more than 6 universities in whole state of Amazonas.

Educational institutions

 * Federal University of Amazonas (Ufam) (Portuguese: Universidade Federal do Amazonas);
 * University of the State of Amazonas (UEA) (Portuguese: Universidade do Estado do Amazonas);
 * Paulista University (Unip-AM) (Universidade Paulista )
 * Federal Center of Tecnological Education in Amazonas (Cefet-AM) (Portuguese: Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica do Amazonas)
 * University Nilton Lins
 * Ulbra
 * Ciesa
 * Materdei
 * University Literatus (Uni-Cel)
 * Metropolitan College (FAMETRO) (Portuguese: Faculdade Metropolitana)

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

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 host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, for which Brazil is the host nation.

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
 * Eirunepé