| One thing to add to renta's explanation about the exploration of the Amazonas rain forest...Europeans lived in Manaus in the late 1800's. About 700 of them participated in the collection of latex from rubber trees. They built an Opera House that is today a tourist destination. It held (guess what) about 700 people. Google Manaus Opera House to see this amazing building that is 1000 miles up the Amazon in a city unreachable by any road. The Opera House was built in 1896 and the presence of Europeans in the local forest allowed some exploration for orchids and other stuff. That's when the local two Catt species were found.
While visiting the Opera House, I met an Australian couple who were backpacking across South America. They started in Sao Paulo and walked up through the grasslands of the Brazilian central plateau (which I think is called the Brazilian Shield). Then intersected the Amazon and proceeded westward to Manaus. They intended to continue west to Iquitos, Peru and beyond. Iquitos is another 1000 miles west of Manaus. Since ocean going vessels can travel as far as Iquitos, it means the Amazon is navigable for 2000 miles without any damns/locks and such.
Anyway, my point is that European explorers have had access to the area for well over 100 years. Renata is certainly correct in saying that overall exploration is limited. As was on the news recently, there are several isolated tribes that have no contact with the outside world. In the news videos they were pointing arrows at the plane from which they were being taped. So some exploration and far from complete.  |