The Amazon is not simply a rainforest or a river. It’s a continent of landscapes: a flowing sea of myriad streams and lakes holding one-fifth of all the world’s running water, and the home of myriad tribes. Alongside rainforests are table-top mountains, savannahs, and igapó swamps where fish eat fruit from the branches of trees. The first European to clap eyes on the Amazon was the Spanish conquistador Francisco de Orellana, who stumbled on the great wilderness by accident in 1542. Orellana’s men encountered a tribe who erected giant jaguar totems in homage to their rulers, who they said were a tribe of fierce women. Orellana referred to them as Amazons – after the legendary female warriors of Asia Minor written about by Herodotus and Homer.

Source: The Culture Trip