Amazonas

The Amazon region was first visited by the grub breaker in 1541. At the start of the XVII century the Lusitanian domain found difficult to control suck a wide stretch of land, too busy to contain violent conflicts with the indigenous populations and to defend it from the numerous foreign expeditions. Diverse religious groups started the process of colonisation, exploiting the economic resources and turning the natives into catholic believers. The first trades were of spices such as cloves, cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon, aromatic resins and medicinal plants using the know how of highly skilled indigenous people. Before the European arrival, the local populations who lived in the region were numerous, divided into different tribes, with their own languages and customs. They lived of fishing, manioc cultivation and a busy trade with the nearby tribes. They lived in wide and airy houses, made of tree trunks and covered by straw. The encounter of these populations with the Europeans generated some terrible consequences, such as epidemics, deforestation, radical changes in the life conditions, big migrations and direct conflicts for land appropriation. The main attraction of the Amazon state is the Amazon forest, considered the biggest tropical forest in the world, a substantial ecosystem that survives with its own resources in a permanent life cycle. It has a delicate ecological balance, align with a great economic value of its natural resources. The Amazon has got more than 1,5 millions vegetable species, 3,000 type of fish, 150 kind of birds, without counting insects, reptiles, amphibious, and mammals. The Amazonia biodiversity hides secrets still unknown to the human being. 60% of the planet life form is concentrated in the forest, but only 30% is known to science. The state counts wide rivers rich of water, so big that it is difficult to see the borders, they nourish the biggest hydrographical web in the world, the Amazon river, the biggest one in the world for the large amount of water. It is in the Amazon state that are found the highest picks of Brazil, the ‘Pico da Neblina’ 3,014 meters high and the ‘31^st March’, 2,992 meters high. All this luscious vegetation turns the Amazon into the ideal destination for eco-tourism in Brazil. The Amazon cuisine is characterised from a large variety of fishes and from the indigenous cultural traits. Pirarucu is a local delicatessen, a delicious fish that can reach the two meters of length, with a white and soft meat, it is known as the fresh water cod. The “jungle cuisine” includes as ingredients crocodile meat and other kind of wild animals, using strong flavour species with aphrodisiac and energetic powers. Another characteristic of the region are exotic fruits, as graviola and buriti. The cultural component is rich, like the variety of the traditional communities that live in this area, the people of the jungle: the seringueiro, the caboclo, the riberinho and the indigenous population scattered in small tribes. The best way to explore this water planet is by river cruises and stopping by in one of the famous eco lodge or hotel in the middle of the jungle.