Discover Brazil's Wild Wonderland
This YouTube clip contains a brief overview and dramatization of the story of Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett. Fawcett was responsible for many expeditions in the early 20th century, mapping territory and defining clear boundaries between Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. The Pantanal towns of Corumbá and Cuiabá were sometimes used as a base for these. Over time, Fawcett came to believe evidence of a lost civilization somewhere northeast of Cuiabá. His last expedition in 1925 garnered international attention - but then he disappeared, and was never heard from again.
This short preview is from Lost Cities of the Amazon, which explores the work of archaeologist and anthropologist, Michael Heckenberger who has been studying a phenomenon known as terra preta dos Indios (black earth of the Indians). This is soil which the indigenous inhabitants of the region transformed - taking it from original near-sterile form, to make it some to the most fertile in the world. There is evidence that the Amazon once supported large and well-developed pre-Colombian communities.
The full episode, and the series, is available from iTunes although mightn't be available in all regions.
This short preview is from Lost Cities of the Amazon, which explores the work of archaeologist and anthropologist, Michael Heckenberger who has been studying a phenomenon known as terra preta dos Indios (black earth of the Indians). This is soil which the indigenous inhabitants of the region transformed - taking it from original near-sterile form, to make it some to the most fertile in the world. There is evidence that the Amazon once supported large and well-developed pre-Colombian communities.
Pantanal Escapes