From now on we will start a new series of posts called “Brazil from A to Z” where we will share and explain to you some interesting information about our country.  We came up with this idea after we got in touch with a book called “100 Palavras Para Conhecer Melhor o Brasil” (100 words to get to know Brazil better)  written by a collaboration between many authors. So if you want to learn more key-terms to get to you know Brazil, keep following this series.

Today we will talk about Amazônia, this magnificent broad-leafed rainforest located in the heart of Brazil. Check it out:

“Amazônia” is the Portuguese term for Amazon jungle or Amazon forest, you can pronounce it like “UH-MUH-ZOH-NYA”. This rainforest covers an impressive  area of 7 million kilometers, the biggest portion of the Amazon region is located in Brazil but it also spans to Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and French Guyana, so it contains  more than 65% of the total size of South America and by itself is bigger than the countries in the continent. Many people may not know but there is a huge city in the middle of the Amazon. The city situated halfway up the Amazon River, Manaus, is the seventh largest city in Brazil and it has several office buildings and modern factories growing faster than some other parts of the country.

The Amazonian’s landscape contains one in ten known species on Earth which makes Amazônia the home of the most diverse and extensive arrays existents in our planet. The climate in the rainforest is mostly tropical with warm and humid conditions during day and night and it doesn’t matter the time of the year: this area is always very wet (the time between April and September might be drier sometimes).  Although the weather conditions might be a little bit uncomfortable the many attractions in the area worth it. It contains the biggest gene bank in the world and also contains one in ten known species on Earth, with more than 40 000 plant species, around 1 300 bird species, more than 400 amphibian species, 3 00o fish species and almost 400 reptile species. It has some animals that you can basically can only find in Brazil like Jaguar, Black Caiman, Anaconda, Wild Piranha, Vampire Bat and hairy spiders.

We recommend you to explore Amazônia by boat so you can experience its massive rivers, there is several trained guides that will be able to help you and if you are interested you can go along the deep waters and spy its dense rainforest. The tourism in the area provokes an increase and decrease of local necessities and it has some negative effects like any other touristic destination but it also helps a lot the local communities of the Amazônia.