The North and the Amazon

There are seven states in the North Region: Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins.

Just about everyone on the planet has heard of the mighty Amazon River, a river that flows for over 4,200 miles (6,760 km) through the heart of the tropical rainforest and region that we know simply as the Amazon. It is a river that pours enough fresh water out into the Atlantic Ocean on a daily basis to supply the entire water needs of the United Kingdom for nearly two years, and definitely the region to go to if you are looking for the biggest anything.

Aerial view of the Amazon River in Belém do Pará, Brazil

Over 60% of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil, covering nearly half of the Brazilian territory. It is responsible for supplying over half of the planet’s oxygen and for hosting a tenth of the world’s 10 million living species and over 30 percent of all known plant and animal species, including an estimated 1,800 species of birds, 250 different mammals and a similar diversity of animal and insect life. The river itself is home to an estimated 2,000 different types of fish. The Amazon is also home to Brazil’s highest point, the 9,888 ft. (3,014 m) Pico da Neblina in the state of Roraima.

Sheer cliffs of Mount Roraima – landscape with clouds background

For all of that, it is still relatively uncharted and untouched. It is a place where new discoveries are still being made on a regular basis, making it an attraction for adventurers!

Belém, Pará State’s capital, is one gateway to the Amazon situated just 60 miles (100 km) from the Atlantic Ocean and sits almost directly on the equator. It is a good starting point from which to visit the island of Marajó, an island the size of Switzerland that is the largest island in the world to be surrounded by freshwater and its lush vegetation and birdlife; the island is known for its large herds of water buffalo.

Aerial image of Amor beach, located in the municipality of Alter do Chão, state of Pará in the Brazilian Amazon region

The most famous entrance to the Amazon is Manaus, the capital of the State of Amazonas, once one of the richest cities in the world, well-known for its opera house, and, during the rubber boom between 1890 and 1920, was responsible for nearly all the rubber produced in the world.

Many of the features from that period, including the Teatro Amazonas, can still be seen and admired throughout a city that was once considered to be the “Paris of the Jungle.”

The Amazon Theater Manaus, famous landmark of the capital of the state of Amazonas, Brazil – built in 1896, during the time of the rubber barons

Such is the size of the Amazon River that, although it is located over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from the Atlantic, Manaus is still a regular port of call for the world’s largest cruise ships that also stop along the way at Belem and Santarem. It is possible to cruise in smaller boats all the way up to Tabatinga on the Brazilian border with Peru and Colombia and on to Iquitos in Peru, some 2,310 miles (3,700 km) from the Atlantic.

The Amazon’s main folkloric festivity, the Boi-Bumbá, the Amazon’s answer to Rio’s Carnival, takes place every year on the last weekend of June at Parintins, an island in the middle of the Amazon River, one day’s cruise downstream from Manaus.