EnvironmentSouth America

Amazonia was inhabited

501 BCE – 1500

The rainforest is partly a garden somebody made

In depth

Estimates of the pre-1492 population have been revised sharply upwards, to perhaps eight or ten million. A large share of Amazonian trees are species people cultivated and spread — Brazil nut, cacao, palms. The forest as we see it today is partly the aftermath of that population collapsing after European contact and the gardens growing over.

For children

Amazonia was long seen as untouched wilderness. But in the soil lies *terra preta* — black, extremely fertile earth made by people from charcoal and waste. Satellite and laser survey have revealed roads, earthworks and hundreds of sites beneath the forest.

Connects to

The American population collapseJan 1, 1520 – Jan 1, 1600
Caral — the oldest city in the Americas2,601 BCE – 1,801 BCE
The Columbian ExchangeJan 1, 1500

Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org