March 29, 2025

The Amazon River is by far the largest volume of water in the world. It encompasses more water than the Nile, the Yangtze and the Mississippi combined.

As we begin our journey down the Amazon River did you ever wonder why it even exists or how it got its name?

Let me tell you about it.

The monumental journey along the length of the Amazon River begins in 1541. By this time the Spanish had control over most of South America and certain conquistadors were carving out their own territories. Francisco de Orellana had a potent cocktail of ambition, adventure and ego. If you recall my blog on Santa Marta, Colombia (January 31, 2025) I wrote:  “More importantly to the Spanish conquistadors was the fact that the natives threw mass amounts of gold into the lake as part of the celebration. This fueled the myth of El Dorado–literally “the golden one”, a golden city which many explorers tried to find. Orellana was in pursuit of this golden city rumored to be east of the Andes. It was not just gold that Orellana was after, he hoped to find cinnamon in the rain forest a spice even more precious than gold in Europe during this time.

In early 1541, Orellana took off with 200 Spaniards and 500 indigenous porters to begin their exploration east of the Andes which is now known as Ecuador and Peru. Almost from the start the expedition was cursed. The terrain was brutal, thick rain forest, unrelenting insects and a total lack of appropriate supplies. Most of the indigenous porters died early on and the Spaniards running out of supplies resorted to boiling their belts to make soup.

By early 1542, the expedition found themselves stuck and starving somewhere in the Amazon rainforest, although it was not called that at the time. Orellana decided to have his men build a makeshift river boat and with 40 of his men went down a river in an attempt to find food for the others. The river was the Napo a tributary of the Amazon River.

Now here is where the story gets interesting. Orellana reported that because the Napo River was narrow with strong currents he could not turn their river boat back. Others suggest that he left the others behind to pursue riches on his own. With no maps, no knowledge of where they were going or how long the river stretched, they sailed deeper and deeper into the unknown. For 8 months they floated and paddled down the river. The size of the river must have been overwhelming. The Amazon River is 4,026 miles long and in some areas 14 miles wide. Even on a ship our size this is a monumental journey even today. With shifting tides, there are times when there is only 6 feet between the hull of our ship and the river’s bottom!

Even though this was the first recorded journey down the Amazon River it does not mean that Orellana and his crew were the first ones here. Some of the indigenous people were friendly they offered food and assistance. Others were hostile shooting arrows from the banks and raiding their camps at night. You might imagine these fierce tribesmen gathered at the banks, strong, brutal, hairy, muscular South America’s answer to the cave man.

On June 24, 1542, a friar who was onboard to memorialize the journey recorded a particularly fierce battle attack by a large group of indigenous people. The all-male crew had a extremely difficult time with these fighters who used bows and arrows with remarkable proficiency. These tall, fair skilled fighters with long braided hair were woman. The female fighters lived separately from men only meeting with them certain times of the year for reproductive purposes. Orellana was reminded of the Amazon women of Greek mythology. These women were revered for their physical prowess and strength comparable to the bravest of men. Orellana named the river the amazon in their honor. The story griped Europe who was becoming more fascinated with South America and the name stuck.

In August of 1542, after 6,000 miles of total travel from the highlands of Ecuador the rain forest departed, and the river widened to the Atlantic Ocean.

Francisco de Orellana never found the golden city of El Dorado but what he did find was even better-The Amazon River.

Thanks for traveling with us.