Silves or Ilha de Silves is an island
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in the state of
Amazonas,
northern Brazil
The North Region of Brazil ( pt, Região Norte do Brasil; ) is the largest region of Brazil, corresponding to 45.27% of the national territory. It is the second least inhabited of the country, and contributes with a minor percentage in the national ...
. It is located 10 km straight line north or about 40 km by water from the
Amazon River
The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile.
The headwaters of t ...
, east of
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 ...
(almost halfway between that city and the Amazonas-
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) ...
state border). Its population was 9,230 (2020) and its area is .
IBGE
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ( pt, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information ...
/ref>
History
Silves is one of the oldest municipalities in the state of Amazonas. It was established in 1660
(some sources say 1663) as a Jesuit Indian mission, the ''aldea'' of Santa Cruz. It was abandoned a year later when Jesuits were evicted from the area for failure to cooperate with Portuguese slave raiders. In 1685, it was reestablished by Mercedarian
The Royal, Celestial and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy and the Redemption of the Captives ( la, Ordo Beatae Mariae de Mercede Redemptionis Captivorum, abbreviated O. de M.), also known as the Mercedarians, is a Catholic mendicant order est ...
Theodozio da Viega at the same site and known by the name of ''aldea'' de Saracá (named for the lake). Two more villages were founded by Mercedarian missionaries on Rio Urubu and had the names of São Pedro Nolasco and São Raimundo. They disappeared shortly after founding. In 1759, the ''aldea'' of Saracá was elevated to a village with the name Silves, after civil parish of Silves, Portugal
Silves () is a city and municipality in the Portuguese region of Algarve, in southern Portugal. The population of the entire municipality of Silves in 2011 was 37,126, in an area of 680.06 km2. The urbanized area of the city proper has approxi ...
.
See also
* Itacoatiara
Itacoatiara is one of the 48 official neighborhoods into which the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is divided.
Beach
Itacoatiara beach is located about 30 minutes east of downtown Niterói by car, or one hour by bus.
Itacoatiar ...
another old mission town nearby
References
Municipalities in Amazonas (Brazilian state)
{{AmazonasBR-geo-stub