Manaus, the capital city of the state of Amazonas
Manaus is the capital city of the state of Amazonas in northern Brazil. It is situated at the confluence of the Negro and Solimões rivers. It is the most populous city of Amazonas, according to the statistics of IBGE. The city was founded in 1693-94 as the Fort of São José do Rio Negro. It was elevated to a town in 1832 with the name of "Manaus", an altered spelling of the indigenous Manaós peoples, and legally transformed into a city on October 24, 1848, with the name of Cidade da Barra do Rio Negro, Portuguese for "The City of the Margins of Black River". Only on September 4, 1856, did it revert to its current name. Manaus is located in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, and access to the city is primarily through boat or airplane. This isolation helped preserve both the nature as well as the culture of the city. The culture of Manaus, more than in any other urban area of Brazil, preserves the habits of Native Brazilian tribes. The city is the main entrance to visit the fauna and flora of the Brazilian Amazon. Few places in the World afford such a variety of plants, trees, birds, insects, fishes, etc. It was known at the beginning of the century, as "Heart of the Amazon" and "City of the Forest". Currently its main economic engine is the Industrial Pool of Manaus, the famous Free Economic Zone. The city has a free port and an international airport. Its manufactures include electronics, chemical products, and soap; there are distilling and ship construction industries. Manaus also exports Brazil nuts, rubber, jute and rosewood oil. It has a cathedral, opera house, zoological and botanical gardens, an ecopark and regional and native peoples museums. The city's population is 1.9 million people in 2014, is the most populous in the Brazilian Amazon area and the 7th most populous in the country. Located on the north bank of the Negro River, 11 miles (18 km) above the meeting of the rivers where the Negro merges with the Solimões, Manaus is 900 miles (1,450 km) inland from the Atlantic Ocean. It's the hub of tourism for the rivers, the jungle lodges and the river cruises. Solimões and Negro rivers meet in Manaus and join together to form the Amazon River. Rubber made it the richest city in South America during the late 1800s. Rubber also helped Manaus earn its nickname, the "Paris of the Tropics". Many wealthy European families settled in Manaus and brought their love for sophisticated European art, architecture and culture with them. Manaus is also a duty-free zone, which has encouraged development in the region. The city will be one of the host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Manaus is the only host city in Amazon rainforest and Northern Brazil.
