Tree of Rivers

The Story of the Amazon

John Hemming

• Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd
• Year: 2012
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9780500771235
• Subtopic: Ecosystems & Habitats
• Index: Biological Sciences

Amazonia contains by far the world's largest river and the greatest expanse of tropical rain forest, home to the greatest biological diversity on the planet. This enthralling book brilliantly explains why the rain forest is crucial for our planet's survival, and vividly describes the passionate struggles that have taken place to utilize, protect and understand it. John Hemming's thrilling account recalls the adventures and misadventures of intrepid explorers, Jesuits and the rubber barons who enslaved thousands of Indians. It also tells of nineteenth-century botanists, humanitarians and advocates for Indian rights, as well as the archaeologists and anthropologists who have uncovered the secrets of early man here. Hemming also describes the Amazon's flora, fauna and natural beauty, all now under threat as the forests are destroyed to feed our appetite for timber, beef and soya.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• About the Author
• Other Titles of Interest
• Contents
•    Plates Section I
• 1 Arrival of Strangers
• 2 Anarchy on the Amazon
• 3 The Empty River
•    Plates Section II
• 4 Directorate to Cabanagem
• 5 A Naturalist’s Paradise
•    Plates Section III
• 6 The Rubber Boom
• 7 The Black Side of Rubber
• 8 Explorers and Indians
•    Plates Section IV
• 9 Archaeologists Find Early Man
• 10 Planes, Chainsaws and Bulldozers
•    Plates Section V
• 11 The Largest River in the Largest Forest
• First descents of the Amazon River
• The Colonial Era and Cabanagem
• Routes of nineteenth-century naturalists
• The rubber boom
• The twentieth century, and archaeological sites
• Protected areas and highways
• Notes
• Index
• Copyright