Manaus is the capital of Brazil’s Amazonas state and the largest major city in the central Amazon Rainforest.
The city stands near the meeting of the Negro and Solimões rivers, whose differently coloured waters flow side by side before combining as the Amazon River. Manaus became internationally prominent during the late 19th-century rubber boom, when natural rubber brought enormous wealth to the region.
That prosperity funded landmarks such as the Teatro Amazonas, which opened in 1896. After synthetic rubber and plantations in Southeast Asia weakened the boom, Manaus declined economically for a time. Its later growth was strongly supported by the Manaus Free Economic Zone, an industrial development programme established in the 20th century.
Manaus is often used as a gateway for rainforest travel, research, and river transport. It should not be confused with Belém, another important Amazonian city located nearer the Atlantic coast.