Silves, Amazonas Explained

Silves
Settlement Type:Municipality
Pushpin Map:Brazil
Pushpin Mapsize:250
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Brazil
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Brazil
Subdivision Name1:North
Subdivision Name2: Amazonas
Area Total Km2:3,749
Population As Of:2020
Population Total:9,230
Population Density Km2:2.4
Timezone:AMT
Utc Offset:-4
Coordinates:-2.8389°N -58.2092°W
Blank Name:Climate

Silves or Ilha de Silves is an island municipality in the state of Amazonas, northern Brazil. It is located 10 km straight line north or about 40 km by water from the Amazon River, 200km (100miles) east of Manaus (almost halfway between that city and the Amazonas-Pará state border). Its population was 9,230 (2020)[1] and its area is 3749km2.[2]

History

Silves is one of the oldest municipalities in the state of Amazonas. It was established in 1660 (some sources say 1663) as a Jesuit Indian mission, the aldea of Santa Cruz. It was abandoned a year later when Jesuits were evicted from the area for failure to cooperate with Portuguese slave raiders. In 1685, it was reestablished by Mercedarian Theodozio da Viega at the same site and known by the name of aldea de Saracá (named for the lake). Two more villages were founded by Mercedarian missionaries on Rio Urubu and had the names of São Pedro Nolasco and São Raimundo. They disappeared shortly after founding. In 1759, the aldea of Saracá was elevated to a village with the name Silves, after civil parish of Silves, Portugal.

See also

Notes and References

  1. https://cidades.ibge.gov.br/brasil/am/silves/panorama IBGE 2020
  2. [Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics|IBGE]