When people think of the great rivers of the world, the Amazon River of South America immediately comes to mind. Filled with giant snakes and fish that like the taste of blood and flesh, the Amazon is like no other place in the world. Located near the equator, the Amazon River starts as a small stream in the Andes Mountains within a hundred miles of the Pacific Ocean. From here, it travels along the northern part of the continent. Rain and melting snow increase its size. So do more than a thousand tributaries. The Amazon River’s path takes it through the world’s largest rain forest, a place where many thousands of plants and animals make their home. For several months out of the year, high rains cause the Amazon River to leave its banks and wash into the Amazon basin for millions of square miles. The flooded forests create a unique ecosystem like no other place in the world. The Amazon River creates life, food, and medicines.

In this volume, the Amazon and its adjacent rainforest are presented in all their important facets: First, there is the vast river system itself, with its network of white, black, and clear water rivers. The different water qualities have an enormous impact on people, animals and plants. On the other hand, the people who live along this "Rio Mar," the ocean river, are described. They are the Caboclos, the descendants of the European immigrants and the indigenous people, and it is the different indigenous peoples who have mostly settled along the riverbanks, since the rivers here replace the roads and make contact with other people possible in the first place. Although these ethnic groups have been in contact with Western civilization for generations,they have surprisingly preserved a number of remarkable traditions that are described here. The treasure of the Amazon is its plants and animals. Therefore, the most fascinating flowering plants, including numerous medicinal plants, trees, epiphytes and lianas from different habitats are described in detail and illustrated with excellent photographs. Finally, it is the animals, especially in and around the river, that have always fascinated Alexander von Humboldt. Not only is the lifestyle of the legendary pink dolphins, piranhas and tarantulas explained here, but the impressive amphibians, reptiles and mammals of the jungle are also discussed.epiphytes and lianas from different habitats are described in detail and illustrated with excellent photographs. Finally, it is the animals, especially in and around the river, that have always fascinated Alexander von Humboldt. Not only is the lifestyle of the legendary pink dolphins, piranhas and tarantulas explained here, but the impressive amphibians, reptiles and mammals of the jungle are also discussed.epiphytes and lianas from different habitats are described in detail and illustrated with excellent photographs. Finally, it is the animals, especially in and around the river, that have always fascinated Alexander von Humboldt. Not only is the lifestyle of the legendary pink dolphins, piranhas and tarantulas explained here, but the impressive amphibians, reptiles and mammals of the jungle are also discussed. This book is a translation of the original German 1st edition Faszination Amazonas by Lothar Staeck, published by Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature in 2019. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors.

Surveys the origin, geological borders, water, plant and animal life, and economic and ecological aspects of the Amazon River.