The Port of Manaus is a riverport located on the Rio Negro in

Manaus Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the s ...

, Amazonas,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The Port of Manaus is an important

commercial center Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

for ocean-going vessels traveling the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

. In fact, it is the main

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...

hub for the entire upper

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

. It imports beef from the hinterlands and exports hides and leather. Important industries in the Port of Manaus include manufacturing of soap, chemicals, electronics equipment as well as shipbuilding, brewing, and petroleum refining. Several

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

have manufacturing plants in the Port of Manaus, and other major

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

manufacturers have plants there. Major exports include Brazil nuts, chemicals, petroleum, electrical equipment, and forest products, and eco-tourism is an increasingly important source of income for the city. The recent discovery of petroleum in the area brings great promise of further wealth and commerce to the Port of Manaus. With so much industry and

commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

, the Port of Manaus has become a sophisticated cosmopolitan center. Located next to the Amazon rainforest, it also attracts crowds of tourists who find a variety of land and boat trips into the jungle. Wildlife is plentiful, even within the city, and it is home to the

pied tamarin The pied tamarin (''Saguinus bicolor''), sometimes referred to as the Brazilian bare-faced tamarin, is a Critically Endangered primate species found in a restricted area of the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest. It was named the mascot of Manaus, Bra ...

, one of Brazil's most endangered primates. Tour boats take visitors to see the point where the black waters of the Rio Negro meet the

Solimões River Solimões () is the name often given to upper stretches of the Amazon River in Brazil from its confluence with the Rio Negro upstream to the border of Peru. Geography The Amazon / Solimões river just above the confluence of the Solimões and ...

's brown waters, flowing together without mixing for nine kilometers. Tourists can find many hotels in the jungle where they can enjoy nature in comfort.

History

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

ans first settled the Port of Manaus by building a small fort in 1669. A

Christian mission A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such ...

and small village called Villa de Barra grew up around the

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

. In 1809 the town was called Barcelos. In 1850 it was renamed Manaos after a local Indian river tribe, and became the capital of the Rio Negro region and of the Amazonas province. The natural rubber industry brought an

economic boom An economic expansion is an increase in the level of economic activity, and of the goods and services available. It is a period of economic growth as measured by a rise in real GDP. The explanation of fluctuations in aggregate economic activit ...

to the Amazon region that lasted from the late 19th century to about 1920. Manaus acquired magnificent houses and other buildings, including a dramatic opera house. The port's commerce began in that period with the need to ship rubber products downriver to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. Manaus was one of the first cities in Brazil to have electricity. The Polish engineer Bronisław Rymkiewicz and his company began to improve port facilities in 1892. They added a customs house, a stone quay, storage, and floating wharves. Many of the buildings were ordered from Europe. Amazonas state Governor

Silvério José Néri Silvério José Néri ( Coari, Silvério José Nery; 8 October 1858 – 23 June 1934) was a Brazilian soldier and politician who was a federal deputy from 1897 to 1899, governor of the state of Amazonas from 1900 to 1903 and a senator from 1904 ...

enforced processing of rubber in Amazonas, rather than shipping the raw rubber downstream to

Pará Pará is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian state) ...

to be processed for export. In June 1903 he inaugurated the Port of Manaus] operated by the Manaus Harbour limited company. He also funded new shipping lines serving various ports in the interior. When the rubber market collapsed in the 1920s, the Port of Manaus declined and did not recover until 1967 when it was made a duty-free zone. The city has been called Manaus from 1939. In the late 1970s, the area saw devastating deforestation as the Brazilian government and private interests exploited mineral and agricultural resources. Brazil's government built a fishing terminal in the Port of Manaus.The name Brazil was formed by the tree Pau Brazil.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Port Of Manaus Manaus Ports and harbours of Brazil Buildings and structures in Amazonas (Brazilian state) Transport in Amazonas (Brazilian state)