History of Manaus Manaus (in Portuguese Manaus ) is a city in the northwest of Brazil. It is the capital of the state of Amazonas. Located near the confluence of the Negro River with the Amazon River, it is an important developing port of the region and can even be accessed by the great transatlantic ships from all over the world. Manaus was founded by Portuguese in the year l669 and currently has an estimated population of 1,844,690 inhabitants. The name "Manaus" comes from the indigenous tribe of the Manaós, who inhabited the region before the arrival of the Portuguese colonizers. In indigenous language the name means "Mother of God". Among the city's exports are rubber, Brazil nuts, wood and other products. Its main economic activities are the oil refinery, the food industry, tourism and the manufacture of soaps and chemical products. Between the representative buildings of the city they emphasize the University of the Amazon, the Municipal Market, Customs, and the Theater of the Opera.

Manaus began as a small fort made of stone and mud, and four canyons, called Forte de São José da Barra do Rio Negro , to protect the northern part of the Brazilian colony in favor of the Portuguese, performing this function for 114 years. In the neighborhoods of the fort there were several indigenous tribes (Barés, Banibas, Passés and mainly the one of the Manaus, that influenced in the origin of the name of the city) and by the influence of the Portuguese, they helped in the construction of the fort.

The population formed by Indians and whites grew so much that to help with the evangelization of the Indians, in 1695 the Carmelites, Jesuits, Mercedarians and the Franciscans built a chapel in the vicinity of the fort which they called "Our Lady of Conception", who became the patron of the city some time later. Location of the city in Brazil The Royal Charter of March 3, 1755, created the Captaincy of San Jose del Río Negro, based in Mariuá (now Barcelo, municipality near Manaus), but Governor Lobo D'Almada fearing Spanish invasions, transferred the headquarters again to Barra place in 1791, to be located at the confluence of the Negro and Amazon rivers and, which was a strategic point.

The headquarters returned to be Mariuá in 1799 and in 1808 it becomes definitively the Lugar da Barra. On November 13, 1832, Lugar da Barra obtained the category of village, with the name Vila de Manaus and on October 24, 1848, with the 145th law of the Provincial Assembly of Pará, it acquired the name of Cidade da Barra do Rio Black . On September 4, 1856, Governor Herculano Ferreira Pena definitively names the city as Manaus. Rubber In 1889, Manaus lived intensely of the so-called rubber. Considered the most developed and most prosperous Brazilian city in the world, Manaus was the only city in the country to have electricity and a water system through pipes and sewers.

The peak of the rubber cycle occurred between the years 1890 and 1920, when the city enjoyed technologies that other cities in southern Brazil still did not have, such as electric streetcars, avenues built on marshes, imposing and luxurious buildings, such as the Amazonas Theater, the Government Palace, the Municipal Market and the Customs property. It was known as the Paris of the tropics for its luxury splurge.