

Amapá’s major products are cabinet woods (mahogany, cedar, pine, eucalyptus, rosewood), medicinal plants, wild-animal skins, rubber, jute, Brazil nuts, fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. Gold is found in the stream gravels. Amapá is known primarily for the very large manganese and significant iron-ore mines inland from Macapá. In the late 1970s factories were built to produce ferromanganese and silicomanganese from the mines’ ore. Oil was discovered in the continental shelf off Amapá state, and exploratory wells were drilled. Small-scale agriculture supports a very large proportion of the population, with many others earning their living from the fishing industry. Macapá’s port (Pôrto Santana), highways, and railroad link Macapá to the state’s interior and to northwestern Brazil. Area 55,141 square miles (142,815 square km). Pop. (2010) 669,526.