History of Amazonas

Amazonian prehistory is usually divided into three phases: Paleoindigenous, Archaic and Late Prehistoric. According to food remains found in the Pedra Pintada cave in Monte Alegre, in western Pará, the Paleoindian phase is expected to have lived around 9,200 years ago. It is also believed that the Paleoindigenous groups of the Amazon, like those of South America, were different from the Paleo-Indians of North America. The Archaic phase would have taken place between 6,000 years ago and 1,000 years ago and the Late Prehistoric phase developed possibly between 1,000 years BC and 1,000 years AD. Paleoindigenous and Archaic Phases The population of the Paleoindian culture was small, dispersed, nomadic and organized their societies in small bands. South American groups focused on hunting small animals and gathering molluscs and plants. The Amazonian Paleo-Indian phase, which emerged around 9,200 B.C., had similarities to the others; it was based on fruit gathering, hunting and fishing, and later developed a culture of exploiting fish and gathering molluscs. In the Pedra Pintada cave, food remains and spearheads were found, suggesting their use in hunting large animals, especially large fish. However, they are not considered an indication of specialization in this type of activity, only in general hunting and gathering. The Archaic phase was more diverse than the Paleoindigenous. The inhabitants of the Archaic period used new food resources, exploring regions such as steppes, lakes and coastlines. Hunting was not specialized in large animals and there was an increase in plant gathering and animal domestication. In the region of the present-day states of Amazonas and Pará, ceramics began to be made along the Amazon river around 6,000 BC. This cultural trend was accentuated between 2,000 years and 1,000 years B.C. with a high production of incised decorative ceramics, some of which featured geometric paintings in red and white. Also during this period, the formation of root vegetable growers began, mainly manioc. The main materials made during the Archaic phase were chipped stone tools and reddish ceramics shaped like open gourds. Late Prehistoric Phase The Late Prehistoric period takes place between 1,000 BC and 1,000 AD and is characterized by the emergence of indigenous societies with a high degree of economic, demographic, political, social development and cultural domains. The Amazon was a favorable environment for the development of these prehistoric societies, since they flourished on the banks of large rivers, which were numerous in the region. According to archaeological and ethno-historical data, the Amazon and Orinoco rivers were the main places where these organizations settled in South America and Central America. The Amazon witnessed the development of the tesos builders, artificial flood embankments on which villages were built. This culture was soon succeeded by hierarchical and complex societies, which emerged mainly in the Marajó Island region, and in a zone between Santarém, in Pará, and Urucurituba, in Amazonas. These organizations produced refined ceramics, known today as Marajoara ceramics or Tapajonic ceramics. The Amazon served as a home and support for these societies for around 2,000 years, but there was a regression with the arrival of the Europeans. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the original population of Amazonia experienced a massive population collapse due to Old World diseases. Many of the local inhabitants retreated into the forests, where they formed different tribal organizations. Wars of conquest by the Spanish and Portuguese also led to the enslavement of many native inhabitants. However, the current indigenous societies of the Amazon do not have any traits reminiscent of complex communities from the Late Prehistoric period, with the exception of a few material traces. == First explorations ==

. Originally, in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas, the area of what is now Amazonas was not part of Portuguese lands, but remained under Spanish control. The occupation of the mouth of the Amazon river (present-day states of Amapá and Pará), due to its economic exploitation, was carried out by the English and Dutch, who set up factories on the banks of the region's largest rivers to extract wood and spices such as cloves, annatto, guaraná, resins and others (the so-called drogas do sertão) from 1596. Early on, the economy of the Amazon region was based on extractivism and not on sugar agro-manufacturing, as in other colonial regions. == Philippine Dynasty ==

With the Philippine Dynasty in 1580, the Tordesillas line lost its practical effect. At the same time, Spain's enemies felt free to make incursions into Portuguese overseas domains. Between 1637 and 1639, an expedition led by Pedro Teixeira traveled up and down the course of the Amazon river, reaching Quito, in Ecuador, and founding the present-day town of Franciscana, already in Peruvian territory. With the Portuguese Restoration in 1640, the state of Maranhão returned to the sovereignty of Portugal. At that time, the Portuguese were already promoting regular expeditions in the Amazon and the lower Madeira river. == Bandeirantes ==

Between 1648 and 1652, Antônio Raposo Tavares, a bandeirante from São Paulo, set off on his journey up the Paraguay river basin, reached Guaporé (now Rondônia), crossed the Altiplano, and traveled down the Amazon river to Gurupá, in Pará, near its mouth. It was the first Luso-Brazilian expedition of extensive reconnaissance. == Portuguese occupation ==

In 1669, in the area where Manaus is today, the Fort of São José da Barra do Rio Negro was founded by the Portuguese captain Francisco da Mota Falcão. The fortification served as a base for the settlement of the Amazonas, allowing the navigation up the Negro and Branco rivers, in present-day Roraima, from where the Orinoco was reached. The first settlers faced hostility from the natives, such as the tribes of the Manaós, led by the cacique Ajuricaba, and the Torás, who attacked the settlements and destroyed houses and facilities. In order to catechize and pacify the natives, the Jesuits (mostly Spanish) built colonies, mainly in the Solimões and Juruá basins, led by Father Samuel Fritz. However, missionary activity was seen as a foreign occupation and the Portuguese Crown ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits from the region. The military campaigns against the colonies took place between 1691 and 1697 under the command of Inácio Correia de Oliveira, Antônio de Miranda and José Antunes da Fonseca on the Solimões and Francisco de Melo Palheta on the Madeira. The Spanish missionaries were replaced by Portuguese missionaries, mainly Carmelites and Mercedarians. The settlements that would give rise to today's Barcelos (then called Mariuá), Tefé, São Paulo de Olivença, Coari, Borba and Airão were created at this time. The French and Spanish returned to raid the region, but the Portuguese decided to close the Madeira river to foreign navigation in 1732. However, the bandeirantes José Leme do Prado and Manuel Félix de Lima explored the area, descending as far as Cuiabá in Mato Grosso, and creating an Amazonian trade hub between Cuiabá, Manaus and Belém. Portuguese fortifications were erected in Tabatinga, São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Maribatanas and São Joaquim, leading to new settlements. == Captaincy of São José do Rio Negro ==

The state of Maranhão became Grão-Pará e Maranhão in 1737 and its headquarters were transferred from São Luís to Belém. The Treaty of Madrid of 1750 confirmed Portuguese possession of the area. In order to study and demarcate the boundaries, the governor of the state, Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado, set up a commission based in Mariuá in 1754. In 1755, the Captaincy of São José do Rio Negro was created in present-day Amazonas, subordinate to Grão-Pará. During the Cabanagem, between 1835 and 1840, Amazonas remained loyal to the imperial government and did not join the revolt. As a kind of reward, Amazonas definitively separated from Pará and became an autonomous province in 1850, with Manaus as its capital in 1856. == Autonomy and the rubber cycle ==

, Manaus, 1906. The first president of the new province was Tenreiro Aranha. In order to deal with the financial difficulties of the administration, he managed to get the government to redirect part of the funds from Pará and Maranhão for a few years, in order to supplement the Amazonas budget. With this money, Aranha founded a printing press and circulated the first newspaper in the state, Cinco de Setembro. Progress introduced river trade. The collectors of drogas do sertão expanded to the Juruá, Purus and Juari rivers, paving the way for the installation of latex extraction stations. This new activity sustained the economy of Amazonas from the 1850s onwards. In 1853, the Companhia de Navegação e Comércio da Amazônia was founded, with investment from the Baron of Mauá. In 1866, the Amazon river was opened to international navigation and foreign companies, mainly British, began to invest in the region. The capital, Manaus, was expanded and urbanized in order to acquire the appearance of a European metropolis. Streams were filled in and wide avenues and boulevards opened up. The construction of the Amazon Theater, the Rio Negro Palace, the Port Customs House and the Adolpho Lisboa Municipal Market, among other exemplary buildings, date back to this period. The population of Amazonas increased fivefold between 1870 and 1900, from 50,000 to 250,000. The Province of Amazonas anticipated the abolition by four years, decreeing the end of slavery on July 10, 1884. When the Republic was proclaimed on November 15, 1889, the province became a state and Lieutenant Ximeno Villerroy was appointed as the federal government's interventor. Politics suffered successive crises, with disputes sponsored by rubber entrepreneurs such as local caudillos Eduardo Ribeiro and Guerreiro Antoni. In 1910, during the Bombardment of Manaus, Governor Antônio Clemente Ribeiro Bittencourt was deposed and then reinstated. The rubber cycle lasted until 1913, when the price of the product on the international market fell sharply due to competition from Malaysia, where rubber tree seeds had been smuggled in years before. The Hevea company, a major player in the sector, moved to Southeast Asia. By 1920, there was practically no more latex extraction and Brazil contributed only 2% of world production. In the same year, Acre was dismembered from Amazonas, becoming a territory and, in 1962, a state. With the end of the rubber production cycle, the economy of Amazonas went into decline once again. The state went through a crisis, the treasury lost revenue and practically reached zero, even neglecting to pay state employees for four years in a row. In 1924, Amazonas joined São Paulo in a civic-regionalist movement that demanded that the natives of the region take back political and cultural leadership. In 1943, as part of the defense strategy in World War II, the border territories of Rio Branco (now Roraima) and Guaporé (now Rondônia) were also dismembered from Amazonas, sparking protests in Manaus. In 1953, in an attempt to restore growth in the region, the federal government created the Superintendence of the Amazon Economic Valorization Plan (SPVEA) in order to release funds for investment in infrastructure, such as the construction of the Manaus-Porto Velho and Manaus-Boa Vista highways. In 1966, the agency was replaced by the Superintendence for the Development of the Amazon (SUDAM), which was abolished by Fernando Henrique Cardoso in 2001 and recreated by Lula in 2003. Between 1964 and 1985, the military regime decided to build the Transamazon highway, but it was abandoned. The main impetus for growth came in 1967, when the Free Economic Zone of Manaus was created, a tax-free center for high-tech industries. The hub began to grow five years later, in 1972, at the end of the economic miracle. In 1987, the discovery of oil in the Coari region was announced. In the following decade, Petrobrás set up the Urucu field and the Isaac Sabbá Refinery in Manaus. Currently, the company is responsible for most of the investments in the state, including the PIATAM (environmental research) projects and the construction of the Coari-Manaus gas pipeline. == Gallery ==

File:Vista de Tabatinga – Amazonas (século XIX) AN.tif|View of Tabatinga, 19th century. File:Mercado Público, Manaus (AM).tif|Public Market, Manaus, 1906. File:Praça 15 de novembro, Manaus (AM).tif|15 de Novembro Square, Manaus, 1906. File:Palácio da Justiça, Manaus (AM).tif|Palace of Justice, Manaus, 1906. File:Fachada do Mercado Público, Manaus (AM).tif|Facade of the Public Market, Manaus, 1906. File:Salão Nobre do Teatro Amazonas, Manaus (AM).tif|Great Hall of the Amazon Theater, Manaus, 1906. File:Vista da cidade de Manaus (AM).tif|View of the city of Manaus, 1906. File:Teatro Amazonas, Manaus (AM), em 1940.jpg|Amazon Theater, Manaus, 1940. File:Tabatinga (AM) (1929-1930).tif|Tabatinga, 1930. File:Pedra de Cucuí, Amazonas.jpg|Cucuí Stone, 1930. == See also ==