Amazon Theatre Amazon Theatre The Amazon Theatre () is an opera house located in Manaus, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. It is the location of the annual "Festival Amazonas de Ópera" (Amazonas Opera Festival) and the home of the Amazonas Philharmonic Orchestra which regularly rehearses and performs at the Amazon Theater along with choirs, musical concerts and other performances. The Amazonas Theatre was built during the Belle Époque at a time when fortunes were made in the rubber boom. Construction of the Amazon Theatre was first proposed in 1881 by a member of the local House of Representatives,
Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest In the pre-Columbian era, parts of the Amazon Rainforest were a densely populated open agriculture. After the European colonization in the 16th century, with the hunt for gold, Western diseases, slavery and later the rubber boom, the Amazon Rainforest was depopulated and the forest grew larger. Prior to 1974s, access to the forest's largely roadless interior was difficult, and aside from partial clearing along rivers the forest remained intact. Deforestation accelerated greatly following the opening of highways deep into the forest, such as the Trans-Amazonian highway in 1972. In parts of the Amazon, the poor soil made plantation-based agriculture unprofitable.