 One
of the world’s wonders, the Amazon has fascinated travelers and
dreamers since its discovery in 1542 by Francisco de Orellana. It
is 3,900 miles long, carries 365 times as much water as the Mississippi
and is over seven miles wide at Manaus, a point located 1,000 miles
from the Atlantic. The basin, drained by the river and its more than
1,000 tributaries, is the last great wooded wilderness of its kind.
It contains over half the world’s species of birds and thousands
of species of mammals and plants. Transportation in this enormous
region is mainly on rivers, streams, canals and oxbow lakes, which
crisscross the surface. River people and tribes of Indians deep in
the jungle constitute this region's sparse population. However, the
push of industrialization and the ecological damage it inherently
causes continue to threaten this delicate ecosystem.
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