Occupation Of The Amazon Essay

Words: 916
Pages: 4

The occupation of the Amazon region began in 1540. In the XVII century, there were only religious missions, small towns, and Iberian fortifications that settled around the extensive Amazon River, following the sites of highest density of indigenous population. These small groups contributed a little to the genesis of the urbanization in the Amazon region. The development of urbanization really began in the second half of the XIX century with the vegetal rubber economy. It defined the emergence of new settlements, and the early development of urban form. The hierarchy of these agglomerations was the reflection of the hierarchy imposed by the rubber trade. The exploitation of the vegetal rubber built, and at the same time restricted the network. …show more content…
The pioneer roads have become attractors of direct and spontaneous migration. As the pioneer roads were built, new settlements were emerging, which many of them already were in the form of new towns. The traditional settlements were marginalized, except for those, which are close to the new roads, and highways. The migratory influx strengthened the capitals of the states. Between 1960 and 1991, the urban population grew more than the total population of the region. The town’s sizes remained stable until 1970. From then, it started a process of deconcentrating, due to reduction of the participation of the big cities, and the increasing of the participation of medium and small cities, which are less than 100,000 habitants. From 1986 to 1990 the State retracted the intervention of developing the Amazon area. It was identified the that the main transportation is by highways now, the loss of importance of Belem and Manaus, due to the population no longer to be concentrated in large urban centers, the consolidation of metropolitan areas, such as Manaus, Belém, São Luís and Cuiabá, and consolidation of medium and small cities in the interior, with around 50,000