Barcelos, Amazonas
Barcelos, formerly Mariuá, is a municipality located in the state of Amazonas, northern Brazil. Its population was 27,638 and its area is. It is the second largest municipality in Brazil, equivalent in size to New York state in the United States and slightly larger than North Korea.
Since 1994, Barcelos has been the host of an annual festival celebrating ornamental fish, which is a significant source of income for the region. Project Piaba uses Barcelos as the starting point for their annual research expedition into the Rio Negro area. The region is the biggest exporter of this particular fish in Brazil with over 19 million specimens exported into Europe, Asia and the USA. Barcelos is known for Ecotourism.
History
Barcelos was originally named Mariuá, village of the Manaus Indians. When the captaincy of São José do Rio Negro was formed in 1755, Francisco Xavier de Mendonça Furtado, Governor General of state of Grao Para e Maranhao chose the aldeia de São José do Javari, a village founded by Carmelite Friar Matias São Boaventuras in 1728 near the mouth of the Javari River, as its capital. It was the capital of the captaincy of São José do Rio Negro from 1755 to 1791, and again from 1799 to 1808.Geography
The municipality area is 122,476 square kilometres, making it the second largest municipality in Brazil, equivalent in size to New York state in the United States and slightly larger than North Korea.The municipality contains part of the Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve.
It also contains part of the Amazonas National Forest.
It contains the Rio Unini Extractive Reserve, created in 2006.