# Amazon Rainforest By [Kelemen](https://paragraph.com/@kelemen) · 2023-05-29 --- The **Amazon rainforest**,[\[a\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_rainforest#cite_note-2) also called **Amazon jungle** or **Amazonia**, is a [moist broadleaf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_and_subtropical_moist_broadleaf_forests) [tropical rainforest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_rainforest) in the [Amazon biome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_biome) that covers most of the [Amazon basin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_basin) of South America. This basin encompasses 7,000,000 km2 (2,700,000 sq mi), of which 5,500,000 km2 (2,100,000 sq mi) are covered by the [rainforest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainforest). This region includes territory belonging to nine nations and 3,344 formally acknowledged [indigenous territories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_territory_\(Brazil\)). The majority of the forest, 60%, is in [Brazil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaz%C3%B4nia_Legal), followed by [Peru](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_Amazonia) with 13%, [Colombia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_natural_region) with 10%, and with minor amounts in [Bolivia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivia), [Ecuador](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuador), [French Guiana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Guiana), [Guyana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guyana), [Suriname](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suriname), and [Venezuela](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuela). Four nations have "[Amazonas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazonas_\(disambiguation\))" as the name of one of their first-level administrative [regions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions), and [France](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France) uses the name "[Guiana Amazonian Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiana_Amazonian_Park)" for French Guiana's protected rainforest area. The Amazon represents over half of [Earth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth)'s remaining rainforests,[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_rainforest#cite_note-3) and comprises the largest and most [biodiverse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiverse) tract of [tropical](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropics) rainforest in the world, with an estimated 390 billion individual [trees](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trees) in about 16,000 species.[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_rainforest#cite_note-eurekalert.org-4) More than 30 million people of 350 different ethnic groups live in the Amazon, which are subdivided into 9 different national political systems and 3,344 formally acknowledged [indigenous territories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_territory_\(Brazil\)). Indigenous peoples make up 9% of the total population, and 60 of the groups remain largely isolated.In the Amazonas, there has been fighting and wars between the neighboring tribes of the [Jivaro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jivaroan_peoples). Several tribes of the Jivaroan group, including the [Shuar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuar_people), practised [headhunting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headhunting) for trophies and [headshrinking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrunken_head).[\[6\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_rainforest#cite_note-7) The accounts of missionaries to the area in the borderlands between Brazil and Venezuela have recounted constant infighting in the [Yanomami](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanomami) tribes. More than a third of the Yanomamo males, on average, died from warfare.[\[7\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_rainforest#cite_note-8) The [Munduruku](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munduruku) were a [warlike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrior) tribe that expanded along the [Tapajós](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapaj%C3%B3s) river and its tributaries and were feared by neighboring tribes. In the early 19th century, the Munduruku were pacified and subjugated by the Brazilians.[\[8\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_rainforest#cite_note-9) During the [Amazon rubber boom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_rubber_boom) it is estimated that diseases brought by immigrants, such as [typhus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhus) and [malaria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria), killed 40,000 native Amazonians.[\[9\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_rainforest#cite_note-10) In the 1950s, Brazilian explorer and defender of indigenous people, [Cândido Rondon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A2ndido_Rondon), supported the [Villas-Bôas brothers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villas-B%C3%B4as_brothers)' campaign, which faced strong opposition from the government and the ranchers of Mato Grosso and led to the establishment of the [first Brazilian National Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xingu_National_Park) for indigenous people along the [Xingu River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xingu_River) in 1961.[\[10\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_rainforest#cite_note-11) In 1961, British explorer [Richard Mason](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Mason_\(explorer\)) was killed by an uncontacted Amazon [tribe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_in_Brazil) known as the [Panará](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panar%C3%A1_people).[\[11\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_rainforest#cite_note-12) The [Matsés](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mats%C3%A9s) made their first permanent contact with the outside world in 1969. Before that date, they were effectively at-war with the Peruvian government. --- *Originally published on [Kelemen](https://paragraph.com/@kelemen/amazon-rainforest)*