For the mixed martial artists and brothers with the same nickname, see Ildemar AlcAntara
and Iuri AlcAntara.
Marajó is an island located at the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil.
It is part of the state of Pará.
Marajó is the largest fluvial island in the world, and the second largest island in South
America.
With a land area of 40,100 square kilometres Marajó is comparable in size to Switzerland.
It is approximately 295 kilometres long and 200 kilometres wide.
The island is known for the pororoca, a tidal bore phenomenon in the river that creates
large waves reaching 4 meters in height.
It is a tourist destination, especially among surfing enthusiasts.
The northeast coastline of Marajó faces the Atlantic Ocean.
The outflow from the Amazon between January and July is so great that the sea at the mouth
is made up of fresh water for some distance from shore.
The city of Belém lies to the south across the southern fork of the river's mouth.
The island sits almost directly on the equator.
Together with smaller neighboring islands, separated from Marajó by rivers, it forms
the Marajó Archipelago, with an aggregate area of 49,602 square kilometres.
Large parts of the islands are flooded during the rainy season because of higher water levels
of the Amazon River along the coast and heavy rainfall in the interior.
Marajó is almost entirely flat.
During the rainy season, much of the island becomes flooded as a large lake.
The east side of the island is dominated by savanna vegetation.
There are large fazendas with animal husbandry.
This is also the location of Lake Arari, which has an area of 400 square kilometres but shrinks
by 80% during the dry season.
There are large herds of domesticated water buffalo on the island.
The west side of the island is characterized by Várzea forests and small farms.
Lumber and açaí are produced there.
To the north of the large savanna area are palm swamps, mainly with Buriti Palm and Euterpe
oleracea.
During the rainy season, the swamps are flooded one meter high.
Little is known about the ecology of these swamps.
There are 20 large rivers on the island.
Because of the changing water levels and regular seasonal flooding, many settlements are built
on stilts.
The most important towns are in the southeast of the island: Soure, Salvaterra, and the
largest city, Breves.
They feature a basic touristic infrastructure and are popular because of the generous, lightly
populated beaches.
The city of Soure, on the island's Atlantic Coast, serves as an entry point to the island
via its ferry link to Belem.
The island was the site of an advanced pre-Columbian society, the Marajoara culture, which existed
from approximately 400 B.C. to 1600 A.D.
The island has been a center of archaeological exploration and scholarship since the 19th
century.
Scholars from the 1980s forward have divided the pre-Columbian period into the Ananatuba
phase, the Mangueiras phase, the Formiga phase, the Marajoará phase, and the Aruíphase.
Marajó had a population of approximately 40,000 people until the arrival of the Portuguese
in the 16th century.
The population lived in homes with tamped earth floors.
They were organized into matrilineal clans.
Tasks were divided by sex, age, and skill level.
The arrival of the Europeans was catastrophic to the indigenous population of the island;
90% died due to hugh mortality from Eurasian infectious diseases; they lacked immunity
against these diseases, which had become endemic in European and Asian cities.
But, in the 1918–1919 pandemic worldwide of the Spanish influenza, Marajó was the
only major populated area not to have any documented cases of the illness.
The island is also the location of the Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Marajó.