MANAUS is the capital of Amazonas, a tropical forest state covering around one and a half million square kilometres. It is also the commercial and physical hub of the entire Amazon region. Most visitors are surprised to learn that Manaus isn’t actually on the Amazon at all. Rather it lies on the Rio Negro, six kilometres from the point where that river meets the Solimões to form (as far as Brazilians are concerned) the Rio Amazonas. Just a few hundred metres away from the tranquil life on the rivers, the centre of Manaus perpetually buzzes with energy: always noisy, crowded and confused. Escaping from the frenzy is not easy, but there is the occasional quiet corner, and the sights of the port, markets, Opera House and some of the museums make up for the hectic pace in the downtown area. In the port and market areas, where the infamous Porto do Manaus smell is inescapable, pigs and chickens line the streets and there’s an atmosphere which seems unchanged in centuries. For the Amazon hinterland, Manaus has long symbolized “civilization”. Traditionally, this meant simply that it was the trading centre, where the hardships of life in the forest could be escaped temporarily and where manufactured commodities to make that life easier could be purchased – metal pots, steel knives, machetes and the like. Virgin jungle seems further from the city these days – just how far really depends on what you want “virgin forest” to mean – but there are still waterways and channels within a short river journey of Manaus where you can find dolphins, alligators, kingfishers and the impression, at least, that man has barely penetrated. Indeed, most visitors to Manaus rightly regard a river trip as an essential part of their stay; there is a variety of jungle tour and lodge options. Even if you can’t afford the time to disappear up the Amazon for days at a stretch, however, there are a number of sites around Manaus that make worthwhile day excursions, most notably the meeting of the waters of the yellow Rio Solimões and the black Rio Negro, and the lily-strewn Parque Ecólogico Janauary. History The name Manaus came originally from the Manau tribe which was encountered in this region by São Luís do Maranhão, exploring the area in 1616. He called the spot São Luís del Rio. But it was Francisco do Motta Falco who really founded Manaus by building up the settlement and encouraging others to remain there with him. The city you see today is primarily a product of the rubber boom and in particular the child of visionary state governor Eduardo Ribeiro, who from 1892 transformed Manaus into a major city. Under Ribeiro the Opera House was completed, and whole streets were wiped out in the process of laying down broad Parisian-style avenues, interspersed with Italian piazzas centred on splendid fountains. In 1899 Manaus was the first Brazilian city to have trolley buses and only the second to have electric lights in the streets. Around the turn of the nineteenth century Manaus was an opulent metropolis run by elegant people, who dressed and housed themselves as fashionably as their counterparts in any large European city. The rich constructed palaces and grandiose mansions; time was passed at elaborate entertainments, dances and concerts. But this heyday lasted barely thirty years, and by 1914 the rubber market was collapsing fast; Ribeiro himself had committed suicide in 1900. There was a second brief boost for Brazilian rubber during World War II, but today’s prosperity is largely due to the creation of a Free Trade Zone, the Zona Franca, in 1966. Over the following ten years the population doubled, from 250,000 to half a million, and many new industries moved in, especially electronics companies. An impressive new international airport was opened in 1976 and the floating port, supported on huge metal cylinders to cope with variations of as much as 14m in the level of the river, was modernized to cope with the new business. Today, with over three million inhabitants, Manaus is an aggressive commercial and industrial centre for an enormous region the Hong Kong of the Amazon. Over half of Brazil’s televisions are made here and electronic goods are around a third cheaper here than in the south. All of this helps encourage domestic tourism – Manaus airport is crowded with Brazilians going home with their arms laden with TVs, hi-fis, computers and fax machines. The City It’s not hard to get used to the layout of the city, and most things of interest huddle close to the water. From the floating port where the big ships dock, riverboat wharves extend round past the market, from one end of Rua dos Andradas to the other. The busiest commercial streets are immediately behind, extending up to the Avenida Sete de Setembro, with the cathedral marking one end of the downtown district, the Praça da Polícia the other. Beyond Avenida Sete de Setembro, towards the Opera House, it’s a bit calmer, with more offices and fewer shops. The busy Praça da Matriz by the cathedral is the main hub of city communications, with buses to local points around the city and suburbs; another good connection point for city buses and taxis is the east side of Avenida Getúlio Vargas just north of Avenida Sete de Setembro.