The River Sea: The Amazon in History, Myth, and Legend Book

Since its discovery by Europeans in 1500, explorers, visionaries, soldiers of fortune, men of God, scientists, and slavers have been drawn to the legendary Amazon. The River Sea is a sweeping chronicle of those brave and hardy souls, ranging from the Spanish seafarer Vicente Pinzón, who discovered the river, to contemporary heroes and heroines, like Sister Dorothy Stang and Chico Mendes, whose efforts to save the rain forest cost them their lives.

Among the vast cast of characters who people this drama of the Amazon are Francisco de Orellana, the first European to traverse the river from the Andes to the sea; the fiery priest Bartolomé de las Casas, defender of the indigenous peoples; the great scientist explorers Alexander von Humboldt and Alfred Russel Wallace; the madman and psychopath Lope de Aguirre; and the Peruvian Evangeline, Isabel Godin, who in 1769 crossed the continent, braving the terrors of the jungles to reunite with her husband, whom she had not seen in twenty years.

The River Sea is a compelling account of five centuries of the history, the myths, and the legends of Río Amazonas, the most exotic and fascinating locale on earth.

Library Journal

The Amazon River and its many tributaries have been a focus of mystery, adventure, and exploration ever since the initial Spanish sighting of the river's mouth by the Vicente Pinzón expedition in 1500. De Bruhl (Sword of San Jacinto: A Life of Sam Houston) provides a coherent account of the history of the Amazon basin, a largely chronological overview of its exploration and development. He looks closely at a number of specific expeditions into the vast Amazon wilderness, including the unplanned voyage of Francisco de Orellana from the Andes Mountains of Ecuador to the river's mouth in 1541 42 and the disastrous Pedro de Ursúa-Lope de Aguirre expedition, which began in 1559. Nearly 200 years later, less exploitative and more scientifically focused expeditions started, the earliest led by Charles-Marie de la Condamine in 1743. In 1800, there was Alexander von Humboldt; later, Alfred Russel Wallace, Henry Walter Bates, and Richard Spruce, mid-century Englishmen who spent several years discovering and cataloging new plant, insect, and animal species. De Bruhl provides balanced coverage of the development and growth of Spanish and Portuguese settlements in the Amazon region, the late 19th-century rubber boom, and the 20th-century exploitation of the Amazon area and its indigenous people by ranchers and loggers. VERDICT An effective, engaging, and well-researched presentation that should appeal to both history and natural history enthusiasts.—Elizabeth Salt, Otterbein Univ. Lib., Westerville, OH