A river and its people, Amazon part 1 - The Delta (Documentary, Discovery, History)

[Music] nourished irrigated and spanned by the most powerful river of the planet amazonia remains the symbol of the equatorial forest thick and impenetrable even though the portuguese were present from the very beginning of the 17th century amazonia was for a long time a mysterious universe whose natural riches were accessible only to the indians now four centuries after the beginning of colonization the amazon river is still the natural route of communication and penetration of brazil the gaiolas the traditional wooden boats continue to transport goods and passengers into the most remote corners of the [Music] country [Music] in spite of the successive waves of immigration spurred by the rubber boom at the end of the 19th century and more recently the building of the transamazonian highway the brazilian amazon still remains quite sparsely populated 10 million inhabitants on close to 42 percent of the country's total land surface except for the two large cities of manaus and the population is spread out all along the river in little communities where the new immigrants live side by side with the mixed breeds of white and indian known as the caboclos with the massive extermination of the indian tribes the caboclos have now become the guardians of the part of the age-old store of knowledge of the people of the amazon with its source in the courtyard of the andes the nearly 6 000 kilometers of the amazon river spans south america [Music] fed by more than a thousand tributaries all along its length the amazon carries almost a billion tons of sediment per year and has a flow rate of 200 000 cubic meters per second it's here in its delta where the matius river on earth flows into the atlantic ocean that our journey will begin a journey to meet the people of the amazon first stop belem [Music] bellam the gateway to amazonia is one of brazil's oldest and most beautiful colonial cities the market of vero peso literally see the weight gets its name from a former customs house built by the portuguese in 1688 the incredible diversity of the products for sale at the vero peso is proof of the geographical particularity of berlin a unique city drawing its vitality from the forest the river and the ocean there is no limit we can fish as much as we like it's inexhaustible and there are lots of boats about a thousand every day we unload about 50 tons of fish here we ship to all parts of brazil and even [Music] abroad [Music] we were out at sea for a month we pulled in loads of fish piscata amarella seabreem puvina which is a kind of octopus we were fishing with a net in the north of brazil near french guyana in the vero peso market you can find fish from the atlantic as well as from the amazon river of the some 3000 species found in the river the most in demand are the mosquito the arawana the tambaki and the tukunari one of the most widely used in amazonian cooking not to mention the pirarucu the longest fresh water fish of the world which can measure up to 3 meters long [Applause] even though it was discovered around 1500 by the spanish navigator vincente pinzon the estuary of the amazon long remained on the sidelines of colonization at the time it was populated by the tupi indians they lived mainly on the coast of the para the great ocean this is what they call the amazon river which is very wide at this point faced with repeated attacks from the french and dutch the portuguese who had settled only on the coast decided to found belem in order to control both the river and the ocean at the same time [Music] at the beginning the town developed in the area occupied by the tupinamba that street corresponds to the original path that led from the portuguese fort to the indian the site of village was chosen for defensive reasons military reasons related to the sea the spot chosen had to ensure that the portuguese ships wouldn't be attacked especially by the dutch who were already present in the region near the rio jingu in the lower amazon zone heavily fortified and with the advantage of its strategic position bellam repelled the attacks of the other colonial powers and in particular those of the dutch fleet [Music] the town grew in size and beauty graced by a number of mansions and churches particularly in the 18th century thanks to the talent of the italian architect antonio landi [Music] the contrary winds and currents hindered navigation and the sailing ships back then took less time to go from belem to portugal than from belem to bahia so until 1775 the north of brazil formed a separate entity from the rest of the empire but that didn't mean the indians would fare any better the jesuits came to protect the tupi tribes from the massacres carried out by the colonists but like everywhere else in brazil this protection had a price the indians were forced to abandon their ancestral culture in favor of almighty christianity certain tribes chose to retreat into the forest up the small tributaries of the amazon the ones that stayed if they weren't massacred or decimated by the epidemics ended up by adopting the religion of their new masters at least outwardly to preserve their culture the african slaves would rechristen the catholic saints with the names of their own gods in the same way the indians with the collaboration of the priests continue to venerate the natural life forces of the amazon thus they worship certain statues not because of the saint that they represent but because they're sculpted in red cedar the sacred wood of the indians what apart from the big island of marajo the amazon delta has many islands most of them are inhabited by the cabo close a blend of indian and white during the colonial period the colonists needed the indians to procure the drogasto spices only they knew where to find cocoa vanilla and cinnamon in the forest today it's the caboclos who have inherited this knowledge the term caboclo which means coppery first appeared in the 17th century but at that time it designated indians without a tribe indians who had lost their roots up until the 19th century the caboclos were nomads and lived by capturing wild animals and gathering medicinal plants now that they have become sedentary they live along the river in houses raised upon piles but their knowledge of their natural environment is still just as remarkable [Music] me comfortable brazil nuts and there's a bit of tourism [Music] are made of wood some people still live in straw houses like in the old days but the bigger houses are made of wood tile roofs nowadays you're starting to see more permanent structures from here are mixed bloods portuguese and cambogia it's really very mixed from my indian side i've inherited the knowledge of medicinal plants you could say i've kept that is we've returned to belem like every year the town is getting ready to celebrate the arrival of summer dozens of folklore groups from all over the region challenge each other in an amazing dance competition in these dances with all their extravagant colors you can see the indian influence of the processions of that rural maracatu and with the rigor of the choreography traces of the old portuguese quadrilles another blend that only brazil knows how to do [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] here in the vero peso market with its cast iron pavilion which was built in england and now has become the symbol of the city you can find not only all the fish but also the whole range of fruits of the amazon from the most well-known to the most unusual the kuwasu the brazil nut the assai the guarana and so many others known only to the indians every morning the caboclos arrive by boat from their distant island their sacks contain veritable treasures medicinal plants gathered in the secret depths of the forest flora is a vendor at vero peso and in spite of her dramatics and the inevitable bargaining she knows exactly how much the merchandise is worth um florentina flora for her friends has done even better than the heroine of giorgi amado's novel donaflore and her two husbands she's been widowed four times but that doesn't stop her from believing in the powers of the talismans she sells in her shop i grew up in para i was raised by my grandparents how to mix the preparations which plants to and now i work here [Music] you crush it in water and you mix it with and then you sprinkle the shop with it to attract customers everything that i sell i use myself the remedies for my grandchildren my children they all come from here we go to the doctor only as a last resort patchouli is good when you have problems breathing or to make your hair grow i also have it as a shampoo i never use anything else if you have a crush on a girl and she doesn't like you you bring me her name on a slip of paper and i'll tie it in a bundle so that she'll be yours and here this little beast look here we call him the pacifier it really calms everything down if you tie someone's photo to it they become all sweet and gentle it's not only the gullible and naive that buy the talismans and medicinal plants from flora and the other vendors of vero peso a large number of brazilians whatever their level of education prefer natural products to the pills sold in the modern drug stores in vero peso the customers that buy the plants have to mix the remedies themselves there is however a cottage industry of labs that sell the same preparations ready-made and packaged for sale san lucas is one of the best known oh this laboratory is more than 150 years old as for me i've been working here for 44 years so we've had the time to develop contacts with a number of people who know about medicinal plants and not just in the brazilian amazon but in other regions as well and even other countries apart from guarana whose juice is brazil's most popular drink san lucas uses many other extracts in their remedies many of which are made especially for the city's hospitals jatoba for anemia shishwa for rheumatism and to fight malaria and the different fevers of the forest a large number of these remedies which were for a long time ignored and even condemned by modern medicine have now gained a little more respect at the beginning conventional medicine was progressive doctors just didn't see any use in prescribing remedies but today in brazil like in the rest of the world the medical use of plants has at last become widespread this small botanical garden in the heart of the modern city is home to the guldi museum the naturalist ferrera penna founded this institution in 1866 to study the amazonian flora and fauna at that time belem was a small city of 30 000 inhabitants still surrounded by unspoiled forest now a century and a half later with belem a metropolis of two million inhabitants the center has had to move 450 kilometers to find the natural environment needed for its research and yet it was a native amazonian plant the heavier or rubber tree that was responsible for this spectacular development economy the activity of the port intensified during the period called the rubber boom at the time from 1890 to 1910 between 30 and 40 ships were put into belem every month this was because rubber was so important for europe boats would arrive loaded with all sorts of new articles and then they would leave with the cargo of rubber but also with the traditional colonial products like cocoa beans and other typical products of the amazon the rubber boom stimulated the growth of the city and in 1910 the population surpassed one hundred thousand the atmosphere of this peaceful colonial town began to take on aspects of european modernism the telephone and electricity made their appearance as well as a tramway that crisscrossed the business district the streets underwent a transformation certain immigrants who became wealthy went ahead and built splendid mansions with facades that recalled their native countries every time there was a new arrival of these european novelties the town was stirred up into a frenzy the stores were taken by storm by the curiosity seeking immigrants as well as the nouveau riche for belem at the turn of the century nothing was too fine too big nothing too extravagant unbridled ambition the dream of building a paris in the tropics took hold thus when the biggest store in town was built with the evocative name of pariana mariek it was modeled after the french department store the gallery lafayette so [Music] this new economic activity attracted a lot of europeans of the middle class and adventurers who were hoping to get rich in this trade a good number of them french portuguese italians english did in fact become rubber traders and made their fortune they were called as they were somewhat homesick for their old country and the european lifestyle they gradually introduced their architecture and their way of life during what was called the rubber boom which historically lasted from 1870 to 1910 belem was graced with many public buildings the finest example is the neoclassical teatro dapas opera house inaugurated in 1878 the production of lutex which began in belem reached its peak in manaus while first dunlop then mishla made improvements on vulcanization the invention of goodyear with the advent of the automobile the worldwide demand for rubber skyrocketed and it's here from the port of belem that the ships laden with this precious cargo weighed anchor for europe and the united states making the most of the situation adventurers known as the rubber barons made huge fortunes and built incredible mansions one can imagine the envy that these sumptuous dwellings inspired in the migrants that came by tens of thousands to seek fortune in the amazon the wild west of the tropics [Music] there was a lot of eccentricity a lot of extravagance to the point where some of these rubber barons would for example send their dirty laundry to paris or they would buy cuban cigars which were very expensive here they'd light their cigarettes with banknotes others would take by filling their bathtubs with this water that cost a fortune they could show that they were swimming in money [Music] so [Music] [Music] we're leaving belem on board a rapid ferry and heading for marajo the largest island of all south america as vast as denmark or switzerland now is situated right in the center of the amazon river delta once its name in the tupiguarani language in barayo which means barrier of the sea populated by the arawa indians also known as the arawaks was an obstacle to the conquest of the amazon so in the middle of the 17th century the portuguese undertook the pacification of the island by attacking these indians who were then allies of their heretic enemies that is to say the protestant dutch the arawas put up a fierce resistance they even went so far as to attack the portuguese ships that sailed into the [Applause] delta [Music] after a migration down the valley of the amazon that took several centuries the ottawas settled in the antilles they were driven out by the karaibe indians and retreated to the island of marajo were they wiped out by the portuguese did they set out on a new migration no one knows why or how but the arawas suddenly vanished from maraju there are no texts that give us any idea of what became of them the only evidence of their presence on the island is a large and splendid production of pottery this mystery has fascinated giovanni gallo the director of the marathon museum the link between past and present on this island has been broken the people just don't know anymore because a single family of indians that could transmit the legacy giovanni has collected all the artifacts and information in his museum making a sort of natural and cultural inventory of the heritage of maraju but his pride and joy is this collection of arawa pottery that he found in his many archaeological digs across the island i've been trying to make the young islanders that helped me on the dicks aware that the malara pottery is very precious would come and buy large vases and other pieces dirt cheap and take them back to their own countries some of the figurative pieces exposed in the museum remind one of inca sculpture most likely a vestige of the ottawa's original stay in the andes where the amazon has its source like in the rest of brazil they've always lived on the riverbanks and that's a very important point it's not the president of brazil who lays down the law it's the water the water governs everything here the seasons are with or without water you could say that there's the muddy season the watery season and the dry season it's water that rules the life of society in the village of salvatera the fishermen are waiting for high tide the only thing that will bring their beached boats back to life [Music] [Music] hardly any cars a few bicycles some carts life in surah the capital of marajo goes on at a leisurely pace there's one surprise and a big one the buffalo brigade police force apart from their curiosity value these well-groomed animals are proof of the importance of cattle raising in the island's economy [Music] foreign they raise cattle on the fazendas cattle ranches located in the middle of vast grazing lands it's the end of the rainy season and the only way to get to the facendas is my [Music] boat [Music] sailing up the small river branches what the indians called igarape roads of water we head for the fazenda [Music] [Music] these water buffalo they feed on water plants and they can float perfectly adapted to the island's swampy terrain according to the legend they arrived here when a french ship on its way to french guiana from india foundered on the shore of marajo with its cargo of buffalo today there are an estimated one million head of cattle in maraju the herds roam freely over vast grazing lands that are tendered by the vaqueros the island's cowboys the vaqueros who live with their families are almost completely self-sufficient they have meat milk fish from the igarapei and ponds and fruit picked in the forest all available to them 5500 hectares big just to give you an idea my neighbor has a spread of 30 000 hectares which is five times but to raise cattle in this region you need a lot of room from two and a half to almost three hectares per animal per year [Music] we have about 2 500 or 2 700 head of zebu they originally came from india and about 200 buffalo buffalo from india as well what oh the water buffalo is by far the most highly valued animal in maraju not only because of its large size and the quality of its milk but especially because it carries out a natural drainage of the small rivers and fields in winter when the rains turn the island into one huge lake the vaqueros sometimes ride for days across the plains to herd the cattle back to the corral to be counted what come on my god [Music] what is really treated like a member of the family who's 88 is nearly blind but he's still a vaquero in his bones and he cherishes the memories of the years he spent riding on the planes [Applause] over [Music] then the herb would start [Music] [Laughter] shouting [Music] [Applause] [Music] when we finish counting them we'd head off to another corral and we'd start all over have you ever seen an oil [Music] in those days we didn't have any flutes just violins violas the kind of guitar sometimes we'd even take a pair of spoons and we'd play them like this [Music] we dance with them until the break of day [Music] oh in the port of belem the ships come and go to and from the furthest corners of the amazon this is where they unload the fruit a little further on passengers are waiting for the departure the amazon is a highway that crosses the country the travelers bound for santa rem and manaus come very early in the day to get a good spot to hang their hammock it's a long trip four five even eight days it's best to be comfortable [Music] not all the gaiolas on the river do the long hauls some of them just ferry the people of belem out to the beaches on the delta [Music] um on our way back we can feel the pull of the ocean it's low tide and in the amazon long stretches of sand emerge from the receding waters open spaces that are all so many invitations to play for footballers and all sorts of sports lovers the amazon river this leisure space for all the inhabitants of belem and the surrounding region is also a road to hope and dreams for all those who undertake the voyage for santa rem manaus or boavista and a new life on the other side of amazonia [Music] hmm foreign [Music] oh

Channel: Stop Over - Documentary, Discovery, History

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Keywords: travel, adventure, boat, sail, trip, ocean, sea, river, sailboat, cruise, stopover, stop, over, Queen Elizabeth 2, Royal Clipper, Le France, Le Norway, Sun Boat II, Classica, Vat Phou, Bolero, Wind Song, Grigoriy Mikheev icebreaker, Silver Cloud, destination, voyage, Stopovertv, Discover, Travel, travels, explore, Stop Over, History

Id: 4cgluommARY

Length: 50min 59sec (3059 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 05 2014