What is the Amazon River?

Welcome back to History's Not Boring! Join Mira and Finn as we journey deep into the wildest place on Earth: the mighty Amazon River! Did you know the Amazon stretches for 4,000 miles through a massive, mysterious jungle? We're traveling back in time to meet the daring and sometimes lost explorers who tried to map it! First, we’ll follow a Spanish explorer named Francisco de Orellana, who got totally lost in 1541 and became the first European to travel the entire length of the river! He even named it after legendary women warriors he claimed to have battled! But he wasn't the last to brave the jungle. You won't believe the wild true stories of rubber barons building a giant opera house right in the middle of the rainforest, or the mysterious Percy Fawcett who vanished without a trace in 1925 while searching for a secret Lost City! Best of all, we'll learn about the brilliant Indigenous peoples who didn't just survive in this extreme jungle—they completely thrived there for over 10,000 years! Grab your compass and your map, because this jungle adventure is going to be epic!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to History's Not Boring by Kidopoly.com. I'm Mira! And I'm Finn! Today we have a very special episode. A huge hello to Marcello and Talia in Riverside, California.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Yeah! Your grandma Kathy asked us to cover today's adventure, and it is totally epic.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

We are travelling to the wildest place on earth. A river so massive, it's actually wider than 10 miles in some spots. 10 miles? You couldn't even see the other side of the water! Exactly! We're talking about the Amazon River in South America. It pumps 55 million gallons of water into the ocean every single second.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Wait, 55 million gallons? That's like emptying 80 Olympic swimming pools every single second. You got it!

SPEAKER_00 0:54

The Amazon is basically a moving ocean of fresh water, covered by a dense jungle that spans over 2.5 million square miles. So who was the first person to actually explore it? Well, before any European explorers arrived, indigenous peoples had been living in the Amazon for at least 10,000 years.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

10,000 years? That's way older than the ancient pyramids in Egypt.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Right. They didn't just survive in the jungle, they completely thrived. They built huge networks of villages connected by wide roads.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

They had roads inside the thick jungle.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Yes, and they created rich dark soil to farm the land perfectly. But in the year 1541, everything changed when a Spanish conquistador named Francisco de Orellana stumbled into this world.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

What was he doing there? Did he want to see the giant river?

SPEAKER_00 1:53

He didn't even know the river existed. He was on an expedition with his commander, Gonzalo Pizarro. They left the city of Quito with 220 Spanish soldiers.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Just 200 guys in that massive jungle.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Well, they also forced 4,000 Native Americans to march with them. They were searching for El Dorado, a legendary city of gold, and something just as valuable. Cinnamon.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Cinnamon! Like the brown spice I put on my French toast.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Exactly. In the 1500s, spices were so rare in Europe that a sack of cinnamon was worth its weight in solid gold.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Wow! Did they find a giant cinnamon forest?

SPEAKER_00 2:40

No. Their journey was a disaster. They crossed the freezing, snowy Andes mountains, where many died from the cold, and then descended into the stealing, bug-infested jungle.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

That sounds terrible. Going from freezing ice straight to a hot, sweaty jungle. It was awful.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

The jungle was so thick, they had to literally hack through the vines with heavy steel swords. Soon they ran completely out of food.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Don't tell me they had to eat giant jungle spiders.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Actually, it was worse. They were so starving, they boiled their own leather belts and the tough leather soles of their shoes just to have something to chew on.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Boiled shoe soles? That is absolutely revolting.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

They were desperate. So, Pizarro's main expedition built a makeshift boat together named the San Pedro. Pizarro then ordered Oriana to take 50 men downriver on it.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Now how do you build a boat in a jungle without nails or tools? Great question!

SPEAKER_00 3:46

They actually melted down the iron horse shoes from their dead horses to make nails and used torn clothes and blankets to seal the wood. That's actually pretty smart. Did they sail back home? They couldn't! Oriana sailed down a fast-moving river called the Napo to find a nearby village for food. But the current was roaring so fast, it swept his boat away. Wait, they couldn't just paddle back to the others. Nope. Paddling upstream against that rushing water was totally impossible. Oriana was separated from Pizarro's army forever.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

So 50 guys were just trapped on a tiny, leaky wooden boat in the middle of a giant jungle.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Exactly. Starting in December 1541, they began drifting down what turned out to be the largest river system in the entire world.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

How long were they stuck floating on that river?

SPEAKER_00 4:42

For eight terrifying months. They travelled over 4,000 miles. That is like driving from New York all the way to California and then turning around and driving back to Colorado. 4,000 miles on a homemade boat. Did they ever stop? They had to. Sometimes they met friendly indigenous tribes who traded with them, giving them thousands of turtles and roasted parrots to eat.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Well, roasted parrot definitely beats a boiled shoe sole.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

For sure. But other times, tribes fiercely defended their territory. Oriana's crew was attacked with deadly poisoned arrows. Poisoned darts? Did they survive the battles? Most did. During one really intense battle, Oriana claimed he saw tall, fierce women warriors leading the attack against his men. Women warriors, like a whole army of Wonder Women. Yes. He wrote that they fought fiercely, just like the legendary Amazons, a famous tribe of female warriors from ancient Greek mythology. Wait a minute. Is that why the river is called the Amazon? Bingo! He named the entire 4,000 mile river after them. In August 1542, his battered little boat finally spilled out into the Atlantic Ocean. He made it! He survived the whole 4,000 miles! He did, and for the next 300 years, the Amazon remained mostly wild. Until the late 1800s, when people went totally crazy for a new jungle treasure. Rubber.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Rubber? Like the stuff we use for bouncy balls and car tyres.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Exactly! The Amazon had thousands of natural rubber trees. The rubber barons made so much money they built a massive opera house right in the middle of the jungle city of Manaus.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

An opera house with fancy dresses and singing in the sweaty rainforest.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Yes, it's called the Teatro Amazonas. When it opened in 1896, they brought over 36,000 fancy ceramic roof tiles all the way from Europe.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

36,000 tiles? That is ridiculous! Did anyone else explore the jungle?

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Oh yes, and it was still super dangerous. In 1925, a famous British explorer named Percy Fawcett went deep into the Amazon.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

What was he looking for? More rubber or cinnamon?

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Neither. He was searching for a legendary, ancient hidden metropolis. He called the Lost City of Zed. A lost city? Did he find it? Nobody knows. He and his son vanished without a single trace. And their disappearance remains one of the greatest mysteries in history. Alright, Finn, it's time for the quiz. Let's see what you remember about the Amazon.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Okay, I'm ready. Hit me with those jungle facts.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

First question. What extremely valuable spice was Francisco de Orellana originally looking for? Next one. How many miles did Orillana travel down the river on his incredible journey? Question three. What gross thing did the starving Spanish explorers boil and eat? Here's number four. What bouncy material made the barons so rich they built a jungle opera house? Last question. What was the name of the mysterious place explorer Percy Fawcett was looking for when he vanished? Great job! Let's see how you did. The first answer is, he was looking for cinnamon. For question two, he travelled an amazing 4,000 miles. Number three, the answer is, they boiled and ate their own shoe soles and leather belts. Question four, it was rubber. And the final answer is, he was searching for the lost city of Z. Wow, I got them all!

SPEAKER_01 9:04

But man, boiling shoe soles is going to haunt my nightmares forever.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

I know, right? But the Amazon is just full of wild stories and incredible survival.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Yeah, it really is the wildest place on earth. I still can't believe it pumps 55 million gallons of water every second.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Hey listeners, if you loved learning about the legendary Amazon River today, we would absolutely love a five-star review. Just scroll down on your podcast app and tap the stars.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Yeah, leaving five stars helps other kids find the show and join our awesome history adventures.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Oh, and don't forget to check out our site, kidopoly.com. We've got tons of fun learning games and cool activities there.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

And if you want to shout out on the show or just want to say hi, email us at hello at kidopoly.com.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Thanks for exploring the jungle with us. See you next time on History's Not Boring. Bye everyone.