Amazon River

The Amazon River (occasionally River Amazon; Spanish: Río Amazonas, Portuguese: Rio Amazonas) of South America is one of the two longest rivers on Earth, the other being the Nile in Africa. The Amazon has by far the greatest total flow of any river, carrying more than the Mississippi, Nile, and Yangtze rivers combined. Its drainage area, called the Amazon Basin, is the largest of any river system. The Amazon could be considered the "strongest" (largest volume of water per second).

20th century concerns

Four centuries after the discovery of the Amazon river, the total cultivated area in its basin was probably less than 25 square miles (65 km²), excluding the limited and rudely cultivated areas among the mountains at its extreme headwaters. This situation changed dramatically during the 20th century.

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Wary of foreign exploitation of the nation's resources, Brazilian governments in the 1940s set out to develop the interior, away from the seaboard where foreigners owned large tracts of land. The original architect of this expansion was President Getúlio Vargas, the demand for rubber from the Allied forces in World War II providing funding for the drive.

Related Topics:
Getúlio Vargas - World War II

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The construction of the new capital Brasilia in the interior in 1960 also contributed to the opening up of the Amazon basin. A large scale colonization program saw families from north-eastern Brazil relocated to the forests, encouraged by promises of cheap land. Many settlements grew along the road from Brasilia to Belem, but rainforest soil proved difficult to cultivate.

Related Topics:
Brasilia - 1960 - Belem

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Still, long-term development plans continued. Roads were cut through the forests, and in 1970, the work on Trans-Amazon highway network began. The network's three pioneering highways were completed within ten years, connecting all the major cities of the Brazilian Amazon interior.

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Cattle farming became a major impetus in deforestation, with military governments in the 1960s and 1970s heavily subsidising the creation of large ranches. By the 1980s the rate of destruction of the rainforest was dizzying, and it is estimated that over a fifth of the total area of the rainforest has now been clearcut. The preservation of the remaining forest is becoming an ever more prominent concern.

Related Topics:
Deforestation - 1960s - 1970s - 1980s - Clearcut

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