With a total area of 1,558,987 km2, enough to shelter France, Spain, Germany, Portugal and Denmark, together, and still have space left, Amazonas is the largest Brazilian State. Most of the State is occupied by a thick forest, as well as by water.
Manaus, capital of the State, with an estimate population exceeding 1.5 million inhabitants, shelters a non-pollutant industrial complex with more than 400 companies installed in its Free Zone, which currently ensures to the city 4th place among the richest cities of the Country, the largest economy in the Amazon region.
The three largest rivers in the State are: Amazonas [Amazon River], Negro [Black River] and Solimões.
The Amazon River, approximately 7,025 km long, since the Peruvian Andes until reaching the Atlantic Ocean, on the coast of Amapá, is considered as the largest river worldwide, both in volume and extension.
The river was named as Amazonas by the Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana who, in 1541 saw, or imagined to have seen, warrior women, the "Amazonas" of the Greek mythology.
The output of the Amazon River, with a water volume of approximately 20% of the total that reaches the ocean in the whole planet, is higher than the aggregate volume of the six largest rivers of the world, being ten times larger than that of the Mississipi River.
The Amazon River is named Solimões since entering the Brazilian territory, up to 30 km east Manaus, where it encounters Rio Negro, forming the magnificent "encounter of waters". For having completely different density and temperature, the two rivers apparently do not mix, as if they were water and oil, running side by side for about 7 km, receiving their original names back.
The Rio Negro, which originates in Colombia, with its 1551 kilometres of extension, is the river that flows by the city of Manaus, the second most important river of the State. The river that has more waterfalls than any other of the Amazon region, shelters the archipelago of Anavilhanas, formed by more than 400 isles beyond Manaus.
Still in the State of Amazonas are the archipelago of Mariuá, with 1,700 isles, considered the largest fluvial archipelago in the world, as well as the highest points in Brazil, the Pico da Neblina, with its 3,014 m high and the Pico 31 de Março, with its 2,992 m high, both by the boarder with Venezuela.
The State of Amazonas has large preservation units comprising the largest protected area in the planet, with 5.7 million hectares, including the Parque Nacional do Jaú, acknowledged as a World Heritage.
