Editing Amazon River (section)

== History ==
{{Main|Timeline of Amazon history}}

=== Geological history ===
Recent [[Geology|geological]] studies suggest that for millions of years, the Amazon River flowed in the opposite direction – from east to west. Eventually the [[Andes Mountains]] formed, blocking its flow to the [[Pacific Ocean]] and causing it to switch directions to its current mouth in the [[Atlantic Ocean]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6080232.stm |title=Amazon river 'switched direction' |date=24 October 2006 |access-date=12 April 2021 |archive-date=14 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014093041/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6080232.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Pre-Columbian era ===<!--NOTE; no typo; pre-Columbian refers to "before Columbus", not "before Columbia"-->
[[File: Brazil, the Amazons and the coast (1879) (14780994814).jpg|thumb|Old drawing (from 1879) of [[Arapaima]] fishing at the Amazon river. The arapaima has been on Earth for at least 23 million years.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Lundberg, J.G. |author2=B. Chernoff |name-list-style=amp |year=1992 |title=A Miocene fossil of the Amazonian fish Arapaima (Teleostei, Arapaimidae) from the Magdalena River region of Colombia--Biogeographic and evolutionary implications |journal=Biotropica |volume=24 |pages=2–14 |issue=1 |doi=10.2307/2388468 |jstor=2388468|bibcode=1992Biotr..24....2L }}</ref>]]

During what many [[archaeologist]]s called the ''[[formative stage]]'', Amazonian societies were deeply involved in the emergence of [[South America|South America's]] highland [[agriculture|agrarian]] systems. The [[Muisca economy#Trade|trade]] with [[Andean civilizations]] in the terrains of the [[headwaters]] in the [[Andes]] formed an essential contribution to the social and religious development of higher-altitude civilizations like the [[Muisca Confederation|Muisca]] and [[Inca Empire|Incas]]. Early human settlements were typically based on low-lying hills or mounds.

[[Midden|Shell mounds]] were the earliest evidence of habitation; they represent piles of human refuse (waste) and are mainly dated between 7500&nbsp;BC and 4000&nbsp;BC. They are associated with [[ceramic age cultures]]; no preceramic shell mounds have been documented so far by [[Archaeology|archaeologists]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Silberman |first1=Neil Asher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xeJMAgAAQBAJ&q=no+preceramic+shell+mounds+have+been+documented+so+far+by+archaeologists&pg=RA1-PA429 |title=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology |last2=Bauer |first2=Alexander A. |date=November 2012 |publisher=OUP USA |isbn=978-0-19-973578-5 |page=429 |language=en |access-date=5 August 2021 |archive-date=2 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102051716/https://books.google.com/books?id=xeJMAgAAQBAJ&q=no+preceramic+shell+mounds+have+been+documented+so+far+by+archaeologists&pg=RA1-PA429#v=snippet&q=no%20preceramic%20shell%20mounds%20have%20been%20documented%20so%20far%20by%20archaeologists&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Artificial earth platforms for entire villages are the second type of mounds. They are best represented by the [[Marajoara culture]]. [[Figurative mound]]s are the most recent types of occupation.

There is ample evidence that the areas surrounding the Amazon River were home to complex and large-scale indigenous societies, mainly [[chiefdom]]s who developed towns and cities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Roosevelt |first=Anna Curtenius |date=1993 |title=The Rise and Fall of the Amazon Chiefdoms |journal=L'Homme |volume=33 |issue=126/128 |pages=255–283 |doi=10.3406/hom.1993.369640 |jstor=40589896 |issn=0439-4216}}</ref> [[Archaeology|Archaeologists]] estimate that by the time the [[Spanish conquistador]] De Orellana traveled across the Amazon in 1541, more than 3 million indigenous people lived around the Amazon.<ref name=Wohl>{{cite book|last1=Wohl|first1=Ellen E|author-link1=Ellen E. Wohl|year=2011|chapter=2. The Amazon: Rivers of Blushing Dolphins|location=[[Chicago]]|title=A world of Rivers: Environmental Change on Ten of the World's great rivers|url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo9396888.html|url-access=subscription|language=en-us|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|isbn=9780226904801|oclc=690177774|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240411180730/https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo9396888.html|archive-date=2024-04-11|access-date=2020-05-23}}</ref>{{rp|24&ndash;25}} These [[Pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian]] settlements created highly developed civilizations. For instance, pre-Columbian [[indigenous peoples of Brazil|indigenous people]] on the island of [[Marajó]] may have developed social stratification and supported a population of 100,000 people. To achieve this level of development, the indigenous inhabitants of the [[Amazon rainforest]] altered the forest's [[ecology]] by [[selective cultivation]] and the use of fire. Scientists argue that by burning areas of the forest repeatedly, the indigenous people caused the soil to become richer in nutrients. This created dark soil areas known as ''[[terra preta]] de índio'' ("Indian dark earth").<ref name=Wohl/>{{rp|25}} Because of the terra preta, indigenous communities were able to make land fertile and thus sustainable for the large-scale agriculture needed to support their large populations and complex social structures. Further research has hypothesized that this practice began around 11,000 years ago. Some say that its effects on [[forest ecology]] and regional climate explain the otherwise inexplicable band of lower rainfall through the [[Amazon basin]].<ref name=Wohl/>{{rp|25}}

Many indigenous tribes engaged in constant [[Tribal warfare|warfare]]. According to [[James S. Olson]], "The [[Munduruku]] expansion (in the 18th century) dislocated and displaced the [[Kawahíb people|Kawahíb]], breaking the tribe down into much smaller groups&nbsp;... [Munduruku] first came to the attention of [[Ethnic groups in Europe|Europeans]] in 1770 when they began a series of widespread attacks on Brazilian settlements along the Amazon River."<ref>{{cite book |first=James Stuart |last=Olson |title=The Indians of Central and South America: an ethnohistorical dictionary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=175c4xOpLtYC&pg=PA57 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1991 |pages=57–248 |isbn=978-0-313-26387-3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912153816/https://books.google.com/books?id=175c4xOpLtYC&pg=PA57&dq |archive-date=12 September 2015}}</ref>

=== Arrival of Europeans ===
[[File: Amazon CIAT (2).jpg|thumb|Amazon tributaries near Manaus]]

In March 1500, [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] [[conquistador]] [[Vicente Yáñez Pinzón]] was the first documented [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European]] to sail up the Amazon River.<ref name=Morison1974>{{cite book |last=Morison |first=Samuel |title=The European Discovery of America: The Southern Voyages, 1492–1616 |url=https://archive.org/details/europeandiscover00mori |url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1974 |location=New York}}</ref> [[Pinzón Island|Pinzón]] called the stream ''Río Santa María del Mar Dulce'', later shortened to ''Mar Dulce'', literally, ''sweet sea'', because of its freshwater pushing out into the ocean. Another [[Spanish language|Spanish]] explorer, [[Francisco de Orellana]], was the first [[European Union|European]] to travel from the origins of the upstream river basins, situated in the [[Andes]], to the mouth of the river. In this journey, Orellana baptized some of the affluents of the Amazonas like [[Rio Negro (Amazon)|Rio Negro]], [[Napo River|Napo]] and [[Juruá River|Jurua]].
The name Amazonas is thought to be taken from the native warriors that attacked this expedition, mostly women, that reminded De Orellana of the mythical female [[Amazons|Amazon]] warriors from the ancient [[Ancient Greece|Hellenic culture]] in Greece (see also [[#Etymology|Origin of the name]]).

=== Exploration ===
[[File: The Marañon or Amazon River with the Mission of the Society of Jesus WDL1137.png|thumb|[[Samuel Fritz]]'s 1707 map showing the Amazon and the Orinoco]]

[[Gonzalo Pizarro]] set off in 1541 to explore east of [[Quito]] into the South American interior in search of ''[[El Dorado]]'', the "city of gold" and [[La Canela]], the "valley of [[cinnamon]]".<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/431769/Francisco-de-Orellana Francisco de Orellana Francisco de Orellana (Spanish explorer and soldier)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503155124/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/431769/Francisco-de-Orellana |date=3 May 2009 }}. Encyclopædia Britannica.</ref> He was accompanied by his second-in-command [[Francisco de Orellana]]. After {{cvt|170.|km|sp=us}}, the [[Coca River]] joined the [[Napo River]] (at a point now known as [[Puerto Francisco de Orellana]]); the party stopped for a few weeks to build a boat just upriver from this confluence. They continued downriver through an uninhabited area, where they could not find food. Orellana offered and was ordered to follow the Napo River, then known as ''Río de la Canela'' ("Cinnamon River"), and return with food for the party. Based on intelligence received from a captive native chief named Delicola, they expected to find food within a few days downriver by ascending another river to the north.

De Orellana took about 57 men, the boat, and some canoes and left Pizarro's troops on 26 December 1541. However, De Orellana missed the confluence (probably with the [[Aguarico River|Aguarico]]) where he was searching supplies for his men. By the time he and his men reached another village, many of them were sick from hunger and eating "noxious plants", and near death. Seven men died in that village. His men threatened to mutiny if the expedition turned back to attempt to rejoin Pizarro, the party being over 100 leagues downstream at this point. He accepted to change the purpose of the expedition to discover new lands in the name of the king of Spain, and the men built a larger boat in which to navigate downstream. After a journey of {{cvt|600|km|sp=us}} down the Napo River, they reached a further major confluence, at a point near modern [[Iquitos]], and then followed the upper Amazon, now known as the Solimões, for a further {{cvt|1200.|km|sp=us}} to its confluence with the Rio Negro (near modern [[Manaus]]), which they reached on 3 June 1542.

Regarding the initial mission of finding cinnamon, Pizarro reported to the king that they had found cinnamon trees, but that they could not be profitably harvested. True cinnamon (''Cinnamomum Verum'') is not native to South America. Other related cinnamon-containing plants (of the family ''Lauraceae'') are fairly common in that part of the Amazon and Pizarro probably saw some of these. The expedition reached the mouth of the Amazon on 24 August 1542, demonstrating the practical navigability of the Great River.

[[File: Naturalist on the River Amazons figure 38.png|thumb|Masked-dance, and wedding-feast of [[Ticuna|Ticuna Indians]], engravings for Bates's 1863 ''[[The Naturalist on the River Amazons]]'']]

In 1560, another Spanish [[conquistador]], [[Lope de Aguirre]], may have made the second descent of the Amazon. Historians are uncertain whether the river he descended was the Amazon or the [[Orinoco River]], which runs more or less parallel to the Amazon further north.

Portuguese explorer [[Pedro Teixeira]] was the first European to travel up the entire river. He arrived in Quito in 1637, and returned via the same route.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.projectamazonas.org/brief-history-amazon-exploration |title=A Brief History of Amazon Exploration |last=Graham |first=Devon |publisher=Project Amazonas |access-date=18 July 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725230550/http://www.projectamazonas.org/brief-history-amazon-exploration |archive-date=25 July 2014}}</ref>

From 1648 to 1652, Portuguese Brazilian ''[[bandeirante]]'' [[António Raposo Tavares]] led an expedition from [[São Paulo]] overland to the mouth of the Amazon, investigating many of its tributaries, including the Rio Negro, and covering a distance of over {{cvt|10000|km|sp=us}}.

In what is currently in Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela, several [[colonization|colonial]] and religious settlements were established along the banks of primary rivers and tributaries for trade, slaving{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} , and [[Evangelism|evangelization]] among the indigenous peoples of the vast rainforest, such as the [[Urarina]]. In the late 1600s, Czech Jesuit Father [[Samuel Fritz]], an apostle of the Omagus established some forty mission villages. Fritz proposed that the [[Marañón River]] must be the source of the Amazon, noting on his 1707 map that the Marañón "has its source on the southern shore of a lake that is called [[Lawriqucha|Lauricocha]], near [[Huánuco]]." Fritz reasoned that the Marañón is the largest river branch one encounters when journeying upstream, and lies farther to the west than any other tributary of the Amazon. For most of the 18th–19th centuries and into the 20th century, the Marañón was generally considered the source of the Amazon.<ref name = "Dias">{{Cite web |url=http://redebrasilis.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Camila-L.-Dias-Jesuit-Maps-and-Political-Discourse-muse.pdf |title=Camila Loureiro Dias, "Maps and Political Discourse: The Amazon River of Father Samuel Fritz," ''The Americas,'' Volume 69, Number 1, July 2012, pp. 95–116. |access-date=15 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001180423/http://redebrasilis.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Camila-L.-Dias-Jesuit-Maps-and-Political-Discourse-muse.pdf |archive-date=1 October 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File: Naturalist on the River Amazons figure 32.png|thumb|upright|[[Henry Walter Bates]] was most famous for his expedition to the Amazon (1848–1859).]]

=== Scientific exploration ===

Early scientific, zoological, and botanical exploration of the Amazon River and basin took place from the 18th century through the first half of the 19th century.
* [[Charles Marie de La Condamine]] explored the river in 1743.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/326266/Charles-Marie-de-La-Condamine |title=Charles-Marie de La Condamine (French naturalist and mathematician) |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |access-date=18 July 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725132645/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/326266/Charles-Marie-de-La-Condamine |archive-date=25 July 2014}}</ref>
* [[Alexander von Humboldt]], 1799–1804
* [[Johann Baptist von Spix]] and [[Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius]], 1817–1820
* [[Georg von Langsdorff]], 1826–1828 
* [[Henry Walter Bates]] and [[Alfred Russel Wallace]], 1848–1859
* [[Richard Spruce]], 1849–1864

=== Post-colonial exploitation and settlement ===
[[File:Casaamazonica.jpg|thumb|[[Amazonas (Brazilian state)|Amazonas]] state]]
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = vertical
| width = 220px
| image1 = Centro de Manaus.jpg
| alt1 = [[Amazon Theatre]] opera house in Manaus built in 1896 during the rubber boom
| caption1 = [[Amazon Theatre]] opera house in Manaus built in 1896 during the rubber boom
| image2 = Catedral Metropolitana de Santarém, Santarém, Pará, 2007.jpg
| alt2 = Metropolitan Cathedral of Santarém, in Santarém, Brazil
| caption2 = Metropolitan Cathedral of Santarém, in [[Santarém, Brazil]]
}}
[[image:Iquitos-2012.jpg|thumb|upright|Iglesia Matriz in [[Iquitos, Peru]]]]
The [[Cabanagem]] revolt (1835–1840) was directed against the white ruling class. It is estimated that from 30% to 40% of the population of [[Grão-Pará Province|Grão-Pará]], estimated at 100,000 people, died.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://noticias.uol.com.br/licaodecasa/materias/fundamental/historia/brasil/ult1689u20.jhtm |title=Cabanagem (1835–1840): Uma das mais sangrentas rebeliões do período regencial |work=[[Universo Online]] Liçao de Casa |author=Renato Cancian |access-date=12 November 2007 |language=pt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102212940/http://noticias.uol.com.br/licaodecasa/materias/fundamental/historia/brasil/ult1689u20.jhtm |archive-date=2 November 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The population of the Brazilian portion of the Amazon basin in 1850 was perhaps 300,000, of whom about 175,000 were Europeans and 25,000 were slaves. The Brazilian Amazon's principal commercial city, Pará (now Belém), had from 10,000 to 12,000 inhabitants, including slaves. The town of Manáos, now Manaus, at the mouth of the Rio Negro, had a population between 1,000 and 1,500. All the remaining villages, as far up as [[Tabatinga]], on the Brazilian frontier of Peru, were relatively small.{{sfn|Church|1911|p=789}}

On 6 September 1850, Emperor [[Pedro II of Brazil]] sanctioned a law authorizing steam navigation on the Amazon and gave the Viscount of Mauá ([[Irineu Evangelista de Sousa]]) the task of putting it into effect. He organised the "Companhia de Navegação e Comércio do Amazonas" in Rio de Janeiro in 1852; in the following year it commenced operations with four small steamers, the ''Monarca'' ('Monarch'), the ''Cametá'', the ''Marajó'' and the ''Rio Negro''.{{sfn|Church|1911|p=789}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Sobre Escravos e Regatões |url=http://www.snh2015.anpuh.org/resources/anais/39/1439329194_ARQUIVO_ANPUHSobreescravoseregatoes1.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.snh2015.anpuh.org/resources/anais/39/1439329194_ARQUIVO_ANPUHSobreescravoseregatoes1.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |access-date=11 December 2015 |language=pt}}</ref>

At first, navigation was principally confined to the main river; and even in 1857 a modification of the government contract only obliged the company to a monthly service between Pará and Manaus, with steamers of 200 tons cargo capacity, a second line to make six round voyages a year between Manaus and Tabatinga, and a third, two trips a month between Pará and Cametá.{{sfn|Church|1911|p=789}} This was the first step in opening up the vast interior.

The success of the venture called attention to the opportunities for economic exploitation of the Amazon, and a second company soon opened commerce on the Madeira, Purús, and Negro; a third established a line between Pará and Manaus, and a fourth found it profitable to navigate some of the smaller streams. In that same period, the Amazonas Company was increasing its fleet. Meanwhile, private individuals were building and running small steam craft of their own on the main river as well as on many of its tributaries.{{sfn|Church|1911|p=789}}

On 31 July 1867, the government of Brazil, constantly pressed by the maritime powers and by the countries encircling the [[upper Amazon]] basin, especially Peru, decreed the opening of the Amazon to all countries, but they limited this to certain defined points: Tabatinga – on the Amazon; Cametá – on the Tocantins; Santarém – on the Tapajós; Borba – on the Madeira, and Manaus – on the Rio Negro. The Brazilian decree took effect on 7 September 1867.{{sfn|Church|1911|p=789}}

Thanks in part to the [[mercantile]] development associated with [[steamboat]] navigation coupled with the internationally driven demand for [[natural rubber]], the Peruvian city of [[Iquitos]] became a thriving, cosmopolitan center of commerce. Foreign companies settled in Iquitos, from where they controlled the extraction of rubber. In 1851 Iquitos had a population of 200, and by 1900 its population reached 20,000. In the 1860s, approximately 3,000 tons of rubber were being exported annually, and by 1911 annual exports had grown to 44,000 tons, representing 9.3% of Peru's exports.<ref>Historia del Peru, Editorial Lexus. p. 93.</ref> During the [[rubber boom]] it is estimated that diseases brought by immigrants, such as [[typhus]] and [[malaria]], killed 40,000 native Amazonians.<ref>La Republica Oligarchic. Editorial Lexus 2000 p. 925.</ref>

The first direct foreign trade with Manaus commenced around 1874. Local trade along the river was carried on by the English successors to the Amazonas Company—the Amazon Steam Navigation Company—as well as numerous small steamboats, belonging to companies and firms engaged in the rubber trade, navigating the Negro, Madeira, Purús, and many other tributaries,{{sfn|Church|1911|p=789}} such as the Marañón, to ports as distant as [[Nauta]], Peru.

By the turn of the 20th century, the exports of the Amazon basin were [[Natural rubber|India-rubber]], [[cacao bean]]s, [[Brazil nut]]s and a few other products of minor importance, such as [[Fur|pelts]] and exotic forest produce ([[resin]]s, barks, woven [[hammock]]s, prized bird [[feather]]s, live animals) and extracted goods, such as [[lumber]] and gold.

=== 20th-century development ===
[[File:Manaus-Amazon-NASA.jpg|thumb|[[Manaus]], the largest city in [[Amazonas (Brazilian state)|Amazonas]], as seen from a [[NASA]] satellite image, surrounded by the dark [[Rio Negro (Amazon)|Rio Negro]] and the muddy Amazon River]]
[[File:Amazonia fotos aérea região de Manaus 2005 AM Brasil - panoramio (8).jpg|thumb|City of Manaus]]
[[File:Sitio de la Victoria regia, Leticia.JPG|thumb|Floating houses in [[Leticia, Amazonas|Leticia]], [[Colombia]]]]

Since colonial times, the Portuguese portion of the Amazon basin has remained a land largely undeveloped by agriculture and occupied by indigenous people who survived the arrival of European diseases.

Four centuries after the European discovery of the Amazon river, the total cultivated area in its basin was probably less than {{cvt|65|km2|sp=us}}, excluding the limited and crudely cultivated areas among the mountains at its extreme headwaters.{{sfn|Church|1911|p=790}} This situation changed dramatically during the 20th century.

Wary of foreign exploitation of the nation's resources, Brazilian governments in the 1940s set out to develop the interior, away from the seaboard where foreigners owned large tracts of land. The original architect of this expansion was president [[Getúlio Vargas]], with the demand for rubber from the Allied forces in World War II providing funding for the drive.

In the 1960s, economic exploitation of the Amazon basin was seen as a way to fuel the "economic miracle" occurring at the time. This resulted in the development of "Operation Amazon", an economic development project that brought large-scale agriculture and ranching to Amazonia. This was done through a combination of credit and fiscal incentives.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P6k-6rsy7toC&q=operation+amazon+1966&pg=PA32 |title=The Economics of Deforestation in the Amazon: Dispelling the Myths |last=Campari |first=João S. |year=2005 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |isbn=978-1-84542-551-7 |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171130235652/https://books.google.com/books?id=P6k-6rsy7toC&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=operation+amazon+1966&source=bl&ots=d21-mSw_X5&sig=8GsKcFxm_B_EP5NM6QwdcYl_Rk8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjd_aLz3-_SAhWKPBQKHYl7BCsQ6AEIXTAP#v=onepage&q=operation%20amazon%201966&f=false |archive-date=30 November 2017}}</ref>

However, in the 1970s the government took a new approach with the National Integration Program (PIN). A large-scale colonization program saw families from northeastern Brazil relocated to the "land without people" in the Amazon Basin. This was done in conjunction with infrastructure projects mainly the [[Trans-Amazonian Highway]] (''Transamazônica'').<ref name=":0" />

The Trans-Amazonian Highway's three pioneering highways were completed within ten years but never fulfilled their promise. Large portions of the Trans-Amazonian and its accessory roads, such as [[BR-317]] (Manaus-[[Porto Velho]]), are derelict and impassable in the rainy season. Small towns and villages are scattered across the forest, and because its vegetation is so dense, some remote areas are still unexplored.

Many settlements grew along the road from Brasília to Belém with the highway and National Integration Program, however, the program failed as the settlers were unequipped to live in the delicate rainforest ecosystem. This, although the government believed it could sustain millions, instead could sustain very few.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XrLl2LxX488C |title=The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers, and Defenders of the Amazon, Updated Edition |last1=Hecht |first1=Susanna B. |last2=Cockburn |first2=Alexander |year=2010 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-02-263-2272-8 |language=en |access-date=23 May 2020 |archive-date=2 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102051617/https://books.google.com/books?id=XrLl2LxX488C |url-status=live }}</ref>

With a population of 1.9 million people in 2014, Manaus is the largest city on the Amazon. Manaus alone makes up approximately 50% of the population of the largest Brazilian state of [[Amazonas (Brazilian state)|Amazonas]]. The racial makeup of the city is 64% [[pardo]] (mulatto and mestizo) and 32% [[White Brazilian|white]].<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.sidra.ibge.gov.br/bda/tabela/listabl.asp?z=cd&o=7&i=P&c=2094 |title=Síntese de Indicadores Sociais 2000 |publisher=[[Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics|IBGE]] |location=Manaus, Brazil |format=PDF |isbn=978-85-240-3919-5 |access-date=31 January 2009 |year=2000 |language=pt |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614232328/http://www.sidra.ibge.gov.br/bda/tabela/listabl.asp?z=cd&o=7&i=P&c=2094 |archive-date=14 June 2011}}</ref>

Although the Amazon river remains undammed, around 412 dams are in operation on the Amazon's tributary rivers. Of these 412 dams, 151 are constructed over six of the main tributary rivers that drain into the Amazon.<ref name="theguardian.com">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2014/may/06/more-400-dams-amazon-headwaters |last=Hill |first=David |title=More than 400 dams planned for the Amazon and headwaters |newspaper=The Guardian |date=6 May 2014 |location=London |access-date=18 July 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729132329/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2014/may/06/more-400-dams-amazon-headwaters |archive-date=29 July 2017}}</ref> Since only 4% of the Amazon's hydropower potential has been developed in countries like Brazil,<ref name=Wohl/>{{rp|35}} more damming projects are underway and hundreds more are planned.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/150419-amazon-dams-hydroelectric-deforestation-rivers-brazil-peru |last=Fraser |first=Barbara |title=Amazon Dams Keep the Lights On But Could Hurt Fish, Forests |website=National Geographic |date=19 April 2015 |access-date=25 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729182257/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/150419-amazon-dams-hydroelectric-deforestation-rivers-brazil-peru/ |archive-date=29 July 2017 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> After witnessing the negative effects of environmental degradation, sedimentation, navigation and flood control caused by the [[Three Gorges Dam]] in the Yangtze River,<ref name=Wohl/>{{rp|279}} scientists are worried that constructing more dams in the Amazon will harm its biodiversity in the same way by "blocking fish-spawning runs, reducing the flows of vital oil nutrients and clearing forests".<ref name="auto1"/> Damming the Amazon River could potentially bring about the "end of free flowing rivers" and contribute to an "[[ecosystem collapse]]" that will cause major social and environmental problems.<ref name="theguardian.com" />