Embedded in the Amazon Forest, Manaus is a city with almost 1.5 million inhabitants and it is the capital of Amazonas, the largest Brazilian state. The city impresses with its natural beauty, ecological parks and a series of green areas that seem endless. It is a land of contrasts, blending exuberant nature with a high-tech industrial center and the remains of a glorious past, during the peak of the international rubber trade.
 
Its name is a reference to the Manaus Indians that lived in the area. By the end of the 19th century, the wealth generated by rubber exports financed the construction of luxury buildings replicating Europe’s fashionable architectonic style in the heart of the Forest. Orchestras and European opera companies performed regularly at the Amazonas Theater, one of the greatest symbols of economic development of that period.
 
When the rubber trade declined, for a long time, Manaus was forgotten. It recovered its economic importance with the installation of an industrial center, stimulated by the institution of a Free Zone in 1957.
 
Today, Manaus receives tourists from all around the world attracted by the Amazon Forest, home of the largest biodiversity regions on the planet.