Originating from São José do Rio Negro fortress, built in 1671, Manaus is the capital of Amazonas state and is located at the bank of the Negro river, which is a tributary of the Amazon river. The city gained wealth with the rubber businesses (extracted from rubber-trees) that gained momentum at the beginning of the 20th century and declined in the 50’s. Nowadays, the city has approximately 1,079,000 inhabitants (51.2% of men and 48.8% of women). Many residents work in the areas of commerce, tourism, industry (metallurgical, electronics and mechanics) and the growing of oranges, lemon, cupuaçu (the fruit of a plant of the cacao tree family), avocadoes, manioc, papayas and pineapple. There are approximately 377 schools in Manaus, 7 daily journals and approximately 100 thousand telephones. Those born in the capital of Amazon state are called manauenses or manauaras.
