Manaus: Capital of the Amazon

My visit to the Amazon’s largest and most contradictory city.

City of Manaus. Dennis Jarvis. CC BY-SA 2.0

My first guide in Manaus explained that when people think about a city in the middle of the Amazon, they expect the city to be wild and see snakes crossing the streets. The reality of the Amazon’s largest city, located in Brazil’s Amazonas Province, is completely different. This past May I spent one of the most memorable weeks of my life in this province. During that time, I did go deep into the Amazon, where I saw a tree Boa, a large snake. But, I also visited a beautiful pink opera house, a fish market, antique bookstores, fancy restaurants, the Presidente Figueiredo Waterfalls, and even the Ponta Negra Beach, which was lined with tall buildings that seemed to be hotels, just like any beach town you’d find in the US.

Me, in the Amazon outside of Manaus. Jeremy Giles

This city of over two million people borders both the Rio Negro and the Amazon River, and is the access point to reach many communities deeper within the Amazon jungle. It is also one of Brazil’s largest industrial centers, including businesses that have nothing to do with the rainforest it borders. In my experience, Manaus is a city unlike any other, and thrives off defying expectations.

The History

Manáos, Eduardo Ribeiro Avenue in 1909. National Library of Brazil, public domain.

Manaus was originally founded in 1669 as a Portuguese fort. By 1832, the fort grew into a town, and received its modern name, Manaus, meaning “mother of the gods,” from the indigenous Manaós tribe. Only 16 years later Manaus expanded into a city. Two years after that, it was officially declared the capital of the Amazonas province.

After the invention of cars in the late 1800s, Manaus became the center of the rubber boom due to the almost complete South American monopoly of rubber trees, which are native to the Amazon basin. This completely changed the city, as it became viewed as the gateway to the Amazon, and became home to many incredibly wealthy rubber barons. These ridiculously rich families had more money than things to spend it on, and began to focus on architecture, shipping materials all the way from Europe to build huge beautiful masterpieces, many of which still exist today.

By the early to mid 1900s the rubber boom had almost completely left Brazil, being replaced by rubber trees brought to Southeast Asia. This spelled financial ruin for Manaus, which sank into desperation. This poverty continued until 1967, when Manaus was named a duty free zone, making it cheap for companies to move there. This allowed Manaus to grow into the economic hub it is today, currently being a Brazilian access point for over 600 global companies.

The Amazonas Theatre

Amazon Theatre in Manaus. Rafael Zart. CC BY 2.0.

The Amazonas Theatre opened in 1897, carrying with it Manaus’ nickname “the Paris of the Tropics.” The opera theater was built almost entirely using materials imported from Europe, topped with a beautiful dome of Brazil’s flag.

At the time of its opening, the opera theater was in many ways a sign of all that was wrong in Manaus. It was built for Manaus’ uber-wealthy, using the money they made by exploiting the local population to harvest the rubber they sold abroad. Moreover, even the few who could enter the opera house valued the status it brought them more than the opera itself. The most expensive seats in the opera house were those that were the most visible to the public. Ironically, these spots actually had the worst view of the stage itself. 

Today, the opera house, which remains a top opera house in the world, has come a long way from its imperialistic origins. Most performances at the theater are free, and those that aren’t are very affordable. The performances feature both local artists and acts from around the world. Moreover, to encourage all to join, a large screen is often set up in the plaza in front of the opera house, allowing as many people to see the performances as possible.

The Ports

Manaus market from the river. archer10 (Dennis). CC BY-SA 2.0.

In many ways, the center of Manaus is its ports. Manaus is bordered by both the Rio Negro and the Amazon River, allowing for a large number of ships and ferries, both for tourists and locals. These boats can take you deeper into the Amazon or out of it entirely, allowing ocean freight ships to transport goods directly to Manaus.

In addition, much of Manaus’ culture and nature revolves around the ports. A little over a half hour by boat from Manaus’ ports is the meeting of the waters, a line where the Rio Negro meets the Amazon River. This line is clearly visible with the water looking different and being a clearly different temperature on either side of the line. 

On land, about a five minute walk from Manaus’ largest port is an amazing market “Mercado Municipal” that, every morning, is filled with different fresh fish, including some of the biggest fish in the world. My personal favorite of these huge fish is Tambaqui, a cousin of the Piranha and one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever had. The fish is so big that its ribs are visible and alone big enough for a meal. In fact, I’d go even further to say that, to me at least, the ribs are the best part.

Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon Rainforest, a few hours from Manaus. Jeremy Giles

While Manaus itself is a big city, much of the land around it is still forested and filled with natural wonders. If you go an hour or two downstream on the Rio Negro, you will be greeted by intensely green trees on both sides which, in the right conditions, are perfectly reflected by the black water below you. In the wet season this water will rise several meters, causing many of the trees to jut out of the water itself. Just to note, climate change has caused the water to rise more now than in the past, however, the water rising multiple meters is a natural phenomenon and one that actually helps the trees survive.

When you’re surrounded by the trees you may start to be greeted by animals almost immediately. Howler and spider monkeys can be seen leaping from tree to tree, sometimes carrying their babies, and boas can be found curled up on branches. The water itself is dotted with caiman and different kinds of fish. The lucky will get to see pink river dolphins breaching the water’s surface.

A waterfall at El Presidente Figueiredo. Jeremy Giles

There is plenty to see around Manaus and in Manaus on land as well. Most notably, about an hour and a half drive from Manaus are the Presidente Figueiredo waterfalls. These waterfalls are all stunning to look it, with fast moving water from the Rio Negro. However, they do vary in size. The first waterfall I was unable to approach because it was too big. The second one was small enough that I was able to climb behind it.

The Rio Negro, or Black River in English, gets its color from the decaying vegetation that falls into it. Beyond giving the river a wondrous dark hue, this decay causes the river to be relatively acidic. While it is perfectly okay for humans to swim in the water, the same cannot be said for mosquitoes, who almost completely avoid the river. This is amazing for Manaus, which borders the Rio Negro, as the city has relatively few mosquitos despite being in the middle of the Amazon.

The Technology Industry

President Lula visiting a motorcycle factory in Manaus. Brasil em Mapas Brazilmaps. CC BY 2.0

While much of Manaus’ economy does revolve around the Amazon, the tech industry is actually one of the city’s largest. Brazil’s largest research and development Institute, the Sidia Institute of Science and Technology, is based in Manaus. Moreover, Manaus is known for its extensive motorcycle industry, producing over 1.4 million motorcycles in 2022.

Manauara Shopping Center. Naldo Arruda. CC BY 2.0

I’ve spent the past few days trying to think of what, out of everything I saw, best represents Manaus. I believe I’ve found it, but, like everything else with the city, it’s not what you would expect. 

The Manauara Shopping mall is a huge and beautiful structure, with big glass windows lining the outside, seeming to connect the building to the world beyond its walls. It has more than 200 stores, which range from those selling wooden crafts and acai from the Amazon to big brands on national and international levels. The moment I remember most is when, after exploring the first three levels of the mall, my family decided to visit the basement food court. Going down the escalator, we saw the same glass windows from the front of the building, except this time, they were facing inwards. We walked towards a door under the hulking glass and through it outside into open space. I looked up and spiraling branches blanketed with green leaves towered above me, almost blocking my view of the night sky. I breathed in the air deeply, letting go of a tension I didn’t know I was holding. Looking back, in this moment, in a rainforest in the middle of a mall, I truly experienced Manaus most.

Jeremy Giles

Jeremy is a Writing Seminars and International Studies major at Johns Hopkins University. He is an avid writer and the Co-Founder of Writers’ Warehouse, Johns Hopkins’ first creative writing group. He is an advocate for Indigenous rights, and studies how Indigenous philosophies can be used to help prevent climate change. Using his writing, he hopes to bring attention to underrepresented voices in today’s world.

10 National Parks to Visit Outside the US

While most people associate National Parks with the US, there are amazing National Parks to visit around the world. Check out glaciers, tropical wetlands, the oldest desert in the world in these parks in Iceland, Namibia, Thailand, India and more.

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Brazil’s Black Lives Matter Movement 

Brazil, the last South American country to abolish slavery in the late 1800s, struggles to uplift their nation’s Black lives. Through pay gaps, urban designs, government representation and policing, Brazil’s society threatens the Black community. 

A protester on the streets in Brazil. Michelle Guimarães.

Over the course of 300 years, approximately four million Africans were taken to Brazil as slaves. Today, Brazil’s racial demographics are  47.7 percent white, 43.1 percent multiracial and 7.6 percent Black. The average income for white Brazilians is almost double that of the average income for Black or multiracial Brazilians, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Also, 78.5 percent of people in Brazil who are receiving the lowest rate of income (equivalent to $5.50 U.S. dollars per day) are Black or multiracial people.

This May, Black Lives Matter protests filled the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Brasília after 28 people died during a police raid. Human rights activists said that the officers killed people who wanted to surrender and posed no threat. The raid took place in Rio de Janeiro, where heavily armed officers with helicopters and vehicles went into Jacarezinho, a poor neighborhood. Thousands of residents were subject to nine hours of terror.

Organizers said that 7,000 people took to the streets in Sao Paulo. Protesters painted the Brazilian flag with red paint and held up a school uniform stained with blood. In Rio de Janeiro, protestors chanted, “Don’t kill me, kill racism.”

As Brazilian author and activist Djamila Ribeiro said, “The Brazilian state didn't create any kind of public policy to integrate Black people in society," and that "although we didn't have a legal apartheid like the U.S. or South Africa, society is very segregated—institutionally and structurally."

In 2019, the police killed 6,357 people in Brazil, which is one of the highest rates of police killings in the world—and almost 80 percent of the victims were Black. 

During COVID-19, Black Brazilians were more likely than other racial groups to report COVID-19 symptoms, and more likely to die in the hospital. Experts attributed this disparity to high rates of informal employment among Black people, preventing them from the ability to work from home, and a higher prevalence of pre-existing conditions. Specifically, in 2019, Black Brazilians already accounted for the majority of unemployed workers (64.2%); therefore, they already lacked economic support even before the pandemic.

An artist’s photoshoot with Brazil flag covering their bodies. Eriscolors. 

Only a quarter of federal deputies in the lower chamber of Brazil’s Congress and a third of managerial roles in companies were Black people, according to the IBGE statistics from 2019.  

Brazil’s President, Jair Bolsonaro, said during his campaign in 2018 that descendants of people who were enslaved were “good for nothing, not even to procreate,” while using the slogan “my color is Brazil.”

Keisha-Khan Y. Perry, a professor at the University of Texas, conducted an ethnographic study looking at how Black women in Gamboa de Baixo—a city culturally and historically tied to Black Brazilians—are leading the community towards social activism against racist politics. Specifically, these racist policies include political urban revitalization programs that push out Black and poor people. Perry said that these policies are a political tactic continually utilized in Brazilian cities. 

However, recently in May, Milton Barbosa, one of the founders of the most notable Black civil rights organization in Brazil, Unified Black Movement, said, “There’s been an increase in awareness nationally… We still have to fight, but there have been important changes.” 

Kyla Denisevich

Kyla is an upcoming senior at Boston University, and is majoring in Journalism with a minor in Anthropology. She writes articles for the Daily Free Press at BU and a local paper in Malden, Massachusetts called Urban Media Arts. Pursuing journalism is her passion, and she aims to highlight stories from people of all walks of life to encourage productive, educated conversation. In the future, Kyla hopes to create well researched multimedia stories which emphasize under-recognized narratives.

Earth's Most Threatened Tribe

The Awá Indians are the last nomadic hunter gatherer tribe to be discovered in the Brazilian Amazon.

Today, despite having survived many brutal massacres at the hands of settlers and illegal loggers over the course of centuries, the Awá now face pressing man-made threats and even the natural landscape itself is no longer able to sustain to their way of life. For this critically endangered tribe, extinction remains a very real possibility.

A year or so ago I travelled deep into the forests of Maranhão to meet some of the last remaining members of the Awá tribe.

This is their story.

Originally from Pará, a state to the west of Maranhão, the Awá were living in villages and farming crops when the Portuguese settlers arrived 500 years ago. Enslaved by the Portuguese, and with their numbers greatly reduced by the introduction of smallpox, the remaining Awá eventually fled east to Maranhão, perhaps prompted by the bloody revolt on the Portuguese plantations, the Rebelião da Cabanagem, which took place between 1835 and 1840, and claimed as many as 30,000 lives.

Fearful of their vulnerability as sedentary agriculturists, the Awá now became nomadic hunter-gathers, able to build a shelter within hours and abandon it only days later, melting back into the forest. In Maranhão, the Awá had moved into the territory of the Guajajara, the largest tribe in Brazil with more than 20,000 members, and they remained unable to secure or defend any land for growing crops.

By 1973, when the Awá were contacted by outsiders for the first time, they had fully adapted to living a nomadic lifestyle, and had lost all of their farming skills and even the knowledge of how to make fire.

A group of Awá taking a break in the forest during hunting.

Following the unwelcome invasion of the Portuguese, the Awá, and many other indigenous Indians, continued to suffer great atrocities at the hands of loggers, colonists, and ranchers. For instance, when Brazil’s military dictatorship took over in 1964, it implemented a policy of “assimilating” indigenous people to reach its goal of national unification, which included wiping out those peoples who refused to cooperate, by dropping bombs or feeding them sugar laced with arsenic.

In 1967, the 7,000-page Figueiredo report exposed the true extent of the criminal actions and genocide carried out against the indigenous population of Brazil, and the National Indian Foundation, or FUNAI, was established in response. This is the Brazilian government body that establishes and carries out policies relating to indigenous peoples. The report also triggered the founding of Survival International, a human rights organization that campaigns on behalf of indigenous tribal peoples, and who consider the Awá to be “Earth’s most threatened tribe”.

The Awá use ambush techniques to hunt the Guariba monkey. Once they have spotted the animal, the hunters will surround it so that the animal finds itself trapped in the center.

Recently Survival International helped the Awá people secure a landmark victory when unprecedented international pressure finally forced the Brazilian government to send in ground troops in January 2014 to expel illegal ranchers and loggers from what remains of Awá territory. Experts warn that it is now critical that a permanent land protection program be put into place to keep the invaders out of the Awá territory.

[1] Piramahã is the oldest man in the tribe. He is preparing his arrows for the next hunt, and later will prepare this fresh meat for the tribe’s evening meal. [2] Awá often hunt the Guariba monkey and smoking the meat makes it last longer. [3] Young Awá during the hunt.

Though the government intervention in 2014 signals positive progress, for many of the Awá it came far too late. Thousands were brutally massacred during territorial conflicts in the 70s and 80s with the fazendeiros, or ranchers, and with illegal loggers. Most recently, in late 2011, illegal loggers tied an eight-year-old Awá girl to a tree after she wandered out of her village, and brutally burned her alive, reportedly as a warning to other native peoples living in the protected area.

The threat of deadly infection after contact with outsiders also continues to pose a significant threat to the Awá. For example, over the last five years, one in seven Awá has died of malaria. The disease was brought to Alto Turiaçu by the thousands garimpeiros, or gold seekers, who invaded the Awá lands and later made a fortune on the international market.

A little squirrel is breastfeeding. In Awá culture, any kind of young, abandoned animal can become a pet, even if it is a species that they usually hunt. When the animal grows to adulthood, they take the animal back in to the forest and set it free.

The centuries-long bloody conflict with their traditional enemies, the Ka’apor tribe, has also continued to claim many Awá lives, and elsewhere in Maranhão, trains come from Carajas, the world’s biggest iron mine, and cut through the Awá land multiple times per day.

Today FUNAI estimates that there are only 300 Awá left, with around 60 still living uncontacted in small groups of five or six in the forests.

[1] A young Awá hunter. [2] An Awá mother helps to remove a thorn from the foot . [3] Playing with another unusual pet.

In recent years, as they have suffered at the hands of violent invaders and from infectious diseases, the Awá have been forced to seek assistance from FUNAI. As a result, some of the Awá have now chosen to live in purpose-built shelters on protected reserves such as the Alto Turiaçu, but they struggle to embrace this new lifestyle.

Young Awá children check the freshly caught animals. For the future hunter, this is part of the learning process.

The Alto Turiaçu is only a small part of the Awá’s traditional land and the diminishing natural fauna in this area is pushing the nomadic hunters to live more sedentary lifestyles — learning how to plant and grow crops like manioc to ensure a food supply, as their ancestors once did.

Amerixaá is the oldest woman in the Awá tribe. She lives deep in the jungle, far from the rest of the community. In Awá culture, older members traditionally remove themselves from the tribe, living alone until they pass away.

Yet some Awá still persist in living in their traditional nomadic groups of five or six people. Today in the Alto Turiaçu there is one small community of about 45 people who choose to live this way. FUNAI offers them real, but fragile, protection to continue their way of life.

The Awá spend a long time preparing the arrows for the hunt, and many skills are passed on from father to son.

“The Awá have been continuously threatened by attacks, invasion, and extermination, and even inside the reserve their survival is uncertain,” the people from FUNAI told me.

“We don’t have extra resources to protect them from the ranchers who continue to encroach on their land. Since the forest has been cut back and transformed into farming lands, small towns have sprouted up over the Awá lands. In the face of these changes, Awá numbers have been drastically decreased. We estimate that fewer than 360 Awá have survived the occupation of their land, and around 60 still live uncontacted in small nomadic groups.”

[1] An aerial view of the Awá village I visited. [2] A family of Awá in the village. [3] A young Awá hunter.

Today, in a world where they can no longer live as nomads, the Awá are struggling for survival and for their unique cultural identity. For the Awá, hunting is a way of life, and as the illegal loggers distort the forest habitat, the animals are disappearing. Despite their efforts to keep moving, they face the encroachment of the modern world at every turn, and remain threatened with extinction.

The Awá people need time to recover from the extreme brutality and humiliation they have suffered for centuries at the hands of the invaders. Yet we do not give them time. In our world, time is money. We cannot let the last of the Awá, or any other indigenous tribal people, disappear.

One of the last remaining groups of Awá people today.

“The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit.”

— WADE DAVIS

Aparana’i with her newborn baby.

TAKE ACTION

Learn more about uncontacted tribes in Brazil through Survival International as they work to protect the last Awá.

 

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MAPTIA.

 

DOMENICO PUGLIESE

Domenico is an Italian photographer currently based in London. His long term project is working with the "Awa-Guaja" tribe in the Brazilian Amazon.

2016 Travel Guide for Global Citizens

Global Citizen

Travel is a beautiful thing. Journeys to unfamiliar places can inspire new customs, alter previously held perceptions, encourage big ideas, and evoke a newfound appreciation for things long underappreciated.

And the benefits of travel aren’t exclusive to the traveler. Tourism has become one of the main income sources for many developing countries, representing a key driver of socio-economic progress.

But too often tourism remains restricted to a small selection of hotspots. Too many Instagram accounts are displaying travel photos that differ only in their levels of brightness and saturation.

This type of trendy trip planning is having an unfortunate impact on these popular destinations. Constant crowds are eroding natural landscapes and overusing scarce resources. Tourists are being lured into areas where they are disturbing cultural customs and unintentionally exploiting local communities and wildlife.

In the age of mass tourism, travel has lost a bit of its beauty.  

It’s time to give travel a makeover. This year, take the road less traveled. Challenge yourself to visit destinations undiscovered by your friends, and take the time to research how you can mitigate your negative impact on local landscapes and communities.  

For a bit of inspiration, check out this list of destinations that could make great alternatives to those currently teeming with tourists (and their iPhones).

Instead of Thailand, go to the Philippines.

With beautiful islands, drool-worthy food, grand temples, Full Moon parties, and lush jungles, Thailand can seem like the perfect travel destination. It’s why Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket make it on the itineraries of many first-time travelers.

These days, too many travelers are getting caught in Thailand’s tourist traps (e.g., monkey islands, zoos filled with mistreated elephants and sedated tigers) and are missing out on the real cultural experience.

Take a break from Thailand, and plan a trip to the equally enticing Philippines instead.

Instead of the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, go to the Pantanal swamp in Brazil.

It’s every science geek’s dream to see the species that inspired Darwin’s theory of evolution. It could also be argued that there’s no better place than the Galapagos to gaze at unique wildlife standing inches away from your face.

However, the region’s unique ecosystems may not be able to survive the pressure of mass tourism. And the annual influx of money from tourism isn't being fairly distributed among local residents who struggle with poverty.

If you want to see wildlife, visit the Pantanal swamp in Brazil, one of the world’s largest wetlands. If you’re lucky, you may even spot a jaguar!

Check out GLOBALCITIZEN.ORG for more tips!

 

CARYN CARVER

@carynlcarver

Caryn Carver is an Audio-Visual Content Creator for Global Citizen. Prior to working at Global Citizen, she worked for a nonprofit consulting firm where she learned a lot about what is and isn't working to help eradicate poverty. She then spent a year living and working in South America where she developed a deeper passion for global issues, especially human rights. Caryn also loves to sing about what she is doing, search for the best cheap eats, and daydream about the next place she will visit.