An old Indian legend says that God had not yet finished with the Amazon, when the man appeared. So history, God has decided to leave, hoping the man did not last long when he returns to finish the job. Today, more than 20 million people live in the unfinished work which extends from the Andes west to the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Guiana Shield, north of the southern Brazilian savanna. Its size is daunting, it contains:

Despite being a large continuous forest, the Amazon is very distinct from the geophysical and ecological perspectives. Clear examples the curious traveler can find the streams are a different color: the waters of a deep black of the Black River in the muddy waters of the Solim