Explore the real-world places that appear in Manaus by Leo A. Despres. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Manaus Free Trade Zone (SUFRAMA), Distrito Industrial (Manaus Industrial District), Port of Manaus (Porto de Manaus), Mercado Adolpho Lisboa (Municipal Market), Amazonas Theatre (Teatro Amazonas) and 5 more.
Av. Ministro Mário Andreazza — Administrative heart of the 1967 incentive program
Despres treats the Free Trade Zone created in 1967 as the engine of the dependent capitalist development he analyzes. Fiscal incentives administered through this agency drew multinational and national firms to Manaus, reshaping the labor market that working-class families had to navigate. The book uses this institutional framework to show how state policy produced new forms of employment and insecurity.
SUFRAMA, the Superintendence of the Manaus Free Trade Zone, was established in 1967 to manage the tax-incentive regime. It was designed to integrate the Amazon region economically and to create an industrial pole far from Brazil's southeastern centers.
SUFRAMA continues to administer the Free Trade Zone and its incentives from its Manaus headquarters. It is a government office rather than a tourist site.
Southeast Manaus along Av. Buriti — Factories of the industrial pole
The industrial district is where the new factory jobs studied by Despres were concentrated, especially in electronics and assembly. Working-class men and women moved between these wage jobs and other sectors of the urban economy. The book examines how factory work interacted with household economies and family organization rather than replacing older survival strategies.
The district grew from the late 1960s onward as companies relocated to take advantage of Free Trade Zone incentives. It became one of Brazil's major electronics and motorcycle manufacturing centers.
The district hosts hundreds of factories and employs tens of thousands of workers. It is an industrial area not open to general visitors.
Roadway Dock on the Rio Negro — Gateway of goods and migrants
The port is the link between Manaus, the interior, and the wider world, carrying the goods and migrants central to the city's growth. Despres describes the riverine commerce and casual labor that coexist with the formal industrial sector. Many working-class families draw income from port-related trade and services.
The floating dock was built by a British firm in the early 1900s during the rubber boom to handle the Rio Negro's seasonal water-level swings of many meters. It remains a historic engineering feat.
The port still handles river passengers and cargo, and the floating dock structure is visible from the waterfront. Visitors can see the boats and the riverfront activity.
Visit: Porto de Manaus (Roadway Dock) (landmark)
Rua dos Barés — Informal trade and household provisioning
The market exemplifies the informal and petty-commodity sector that Despres shows operating beside factory employment. Working-class families buy food here and sell produce, fish, and goods to supplement wages. It illustrates the mixed modes of production he analyzes.
Opened in 1883 and modeled on Paris's Les Halles, with iron structure imported from Europe during the rubber boom. It was named for a former mayor.
A functioning market selling fish, produce, herbs, and crafts, and a popular tourist stop. The ironwork building is a protected landmark.
Visit: Mercado Municipal Adolpho Lisboa (landmark)
Largo de São Sebastião — Symbol of the rubber boom
The opera house represents the city's earlier boom, against which Despres frames the Free Trade Zone era. Manaus's development is cyclical and dependent, and the theatre stands as a reminder of past prosperity. Contemporary working-class residents live in a very different economic world.
Completed in 1896 during the rubber boom, funded by wealth from rubber exports. It was built with imported European materials.
It is a performing arts venue and top tourist attraction offering guided tours and concerts.
Visit: Teatro Amazonas (theater)
Centro — Public square in the historic center
Public spaces like this square are part of the city life in which working-class families take part, a theme of Despres's study of social engagement beyond the workplace. The historic center contrasts with the peripheral neighborhoods where many workers live.
The square, with its wave-patterned Portuguese stone pavement, was laid out in the early 1900s around the Amazonas Theatre.
A lively public plaza hosting events, cafés, and tourists.
Visit: Largo de São Sebastião (park)
South of the center along the Rio Negro — Working-class riverside neighborhood
Riverside neighborhoods like Educandos are the type of setting where Despres examines household economies and domestic group organization. Families combine factory wages, informal work, and kin networks. Neighborhood associations and social ties shape engagement with the wider city.
Educandos developed around the early 20th-century Educandos area and its waterways, and grew with migration into the city. Many igarapé-side settlements expanded in the Free Trade Zone era.
A densely populated residential and commercial district with a working-class character. It is not a tourist destination.
North Zone — Large peripheral working-class district
Peripheral districts like Cidade Nova house migrants drawn by industrial jobs and show urbanization in dependent capitalism. Despres is concerned with how families there organize their households and neighborhood life. Housing and services lag behind rapid population growth.
Cidade Nova was developed from the 1970s as a planned housing area to absorb Manaus's rapidly growing population. It became one of the city's largest neighborhoods.
A big residential district with commerce, schools, and services in Manaus's North Zone.
Stream neighborhoods near the center — Stilt housing
Stilt houses along urban streams illustrate the precarious housing of working-class migrants. Despres considers how housing, kinship, and income strategies interrelate. These areas show the human costs of rapid industrial growth.
The igarapés (small streams) of central Manaus were settled by low-income residents from the mid-20th century, and later urban projects such as the Prosamim program relocated many families.
Many streams have been channelized and the neighborhoods partially redeveloped, with parks and new housing.
Campus Setor Norte, Av. Gen. Rodrigo Octávio — Regional research hub
Local academic institutions are part of the research context in which an anthropological study like Despres's operates. The university trains professionals and studies the region's economy and society. It stands among the institutions shaped by Manaus's rapid expansion.
Founded in 1909 as Escola Universitária Livre de Manaós, it is one of Brazil's oldest universities. It became the Federal University of Amazonas in 1965.
A large public university with a campus open to visitors, including a botanical garden and museums.
Visit: Universidade Federal do Amazonas (landmark)
More by Leo A. Despres: All Leo A. Despres books