The Land of Cinnamon and Gold: 500 Years of Amazon Science and Exploration

Featured Speaker: Thomas Lovejoy, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, United Nations Foundation; Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, College of Science, George Mason University

The Amazon is as big as the 48 contiguous United States and represents the greatest terrestrial repository of biodiversity on Earth. The Amazon river system contains 20 percent of all the world’s river water and more species of fish than any other river. It has been inhabited for millennia by very sophisticated indigenous tribes, some of which remain uncontacted. Not surprisingly, the Amazon has drawn the attention of scientists and explorers. Thomas Lovejoy presents the highlights of exploration and science from the 1539-1541 expedition of Francisco de Orellana up to the present day.