World’s Largest Tropical Rain Forest

Amazonia, as the Brazilians call it, sprawls over territory in eight countries. Including the Tocantins, it is an area of 2,700,000 square miles (7,000,000 km²), or about the size of Australia. Brazil’s share is almost 2,000,000 square miles (5,000,000 km²). Although it is the world’s largest tropical rain forest, only about 65 percent of the entire area is more or less dense jungle. The rest is woodsy grassland, open country and shrubland. An incredible arterial network of 50,000 miles (80,000 km) of waterways crisscross this immense region. Over 14,000 miles (23,000 km) are navigable—equal to over half the earth’s circumference.

What did this pioneering survey reveal? It confirmed that there is a total of 1,235,000,000 acres (500,000,000 ha) of Amazon soil. Also, 70 percent is said to be suitable for farmland and cattle ranches. Almost 25 million acres (10 million ha) have been described as highly fertile.