Manaus

Bus station

Rua Recife

Airport

Aeroporto Internacional Eduardo Gomes

History

The origins of the city go back to the little Fort São José at the mouth of the Rio Negro. Round the fort grew up the settlement of Barra do Rio Negro, the future Manaus, which in 1755 became capital of the newly created capitania of São José do Rio Negro. Its inhabitants were mainly engaged in growing the "drugs of the sertão" - cloves, cinnamon, indigo and cacao.

In the second half of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th the high price of Amazonian rubber on the international market brought Manaus immense wealth and prosperity. Most of its colonial buildings date from this period, the "rubber cycle", as it is called. In 1967 the city was made a free trade zone.