The Amazon represents over half of the total area of remaining rainforest on Earth. The majority of the rainforest is in Brazil, but its lush, emerald green canopy also reaches into Peru and Colombia. In all, the region includes territory belonging to nine nations and over 3,000 Indigenous territories.
Spanish conquistadors were the first Europeans to encounter the Amazon. But the true pioneers of Amazon rainforest exploration were the botanists, zoologists, and naturalists who discovered and recorded the region's vast wealth of flora and fauna, much of it new to science.
So, who were those brave and heroic individuals who helped broaden our understanding of one of the planet's last great and increasingly fragile wildernesses?
Click through and embark on a fascinating expedition to the Amazon.