The Tupi people, one of the main ethnic groups of Brazilian indigenous people, believe in a male supernatural being called “Curupira” that guards the forest in Tupi mythology. I crowned this BLOG with his name because I aspire the BLOG, which deals with insects as part of the nature, to play a role just like Curupira who protects the forest from the destructive habits of man.
24 Oct, 2008
Today is a holiday for the people of Manaus to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the city.
They say it's the 339th anniversary year since ....
the people belonging to the European civilization first took up residence in Manaus.
However, human habitation in the Manaus area goes far back in history as numerous shards of earthenware, which are apparently products of the ancient Amazonian Indios, are found even in the ground not too far from the Museum garden.
The development of the city accompanied the eviction of the native people called Manuara.
When the famous naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, arrived in Manaus on December 31, 1851--two years before Commodore Perry arrived in Uraga, Japan--the Amazonian rainforest town had a population of 1500.
Then the population exceeded 100,000 for a while during the Amazon rubber boom at the late 19th century.
For the fisrt post-war Japanese emigration from Japan arriving here in 1956, the provincial capital was nothing short of a land's end with a population of less than 100,000.
With the designation of a 'free-trade zone' at the end of 1960s, the city became increasingly populous, and embraced a population of more than 600,000 toward mid-1970s, and has kept growing in line with its ever-expanding industrial parks fueled by an increased involvement of Japanese manufacturers. Now the city's nominal population is 1.8 million; but, in fact, perhaps about 2 million people are living in the municipal area of 25km by 25km.
The fact that a good part of home appliances and motorcycles being used across Latin America are manufactured here in Manaus may draw a look of surprise from many people.
The reason for the city's dense population is simply that Manaus is the only exceptional place in this part of the country where physical and social infrastructures--such as power grid, water service, telephone service, paved-road system, bus service, schools and hospitals--are working, at least in their own way.
Incidentally, the state of Amazonas, which embraces an area 8 times the total land area of Japan, is inhabited only by 3.2 million people.
Half of the current world population concentrates in cities or urban areas. It is anticipated that the second half of this century will witness 70% of the world's population living in cities. In that sense, Manaus may already be taking such a future trend in advance.
With a holiday falling on Friday, many of those wishing to enjoy a three-day weekend have already headed for places like Presidente Figueredo and Manacapulu--about 100km away--for fishing, etc., thus leaving the city pretty much deserted.
You don't have to drive more than 15 minutes to get to a place where it would normal take 30-40 minutes.
In fact, I wish I could go fishing somewhere myself, but am unable to do so because my funds have gotten low due to slack business at the Museum.
The bulk of the fishing expense is accounted for by gas bill; so, the recent steep rise of gas prices has also affected my favorite pastime.
Penned on October 24, 2008
