Descripción de Iquitos - Perù:

Iquitos is the largest city in the Peruvian rainforest, with a population of 370,962. It is the capital of Loreto Region and Maynas Province. Located on the Amazon River, it is only 106 m (348 ft) above sea level, although it is more than 3,000 km (1,864 mi) from the mouth of the Amazon at Belém (Brazil) on the Atlantic Ocean. It is situated 125 km (78 mi) downstream of the confluence of the Ucayali and Marañón rivers, the two main headwaters of the Amazon River. Iquitos has long been a major port in the Amazon Basin. It is surrounded by three rivers: the Nanay, the Itaya, and the Amazon. The city can be reached only by airplane or boat, with the exception of a road to Nauta, a small town roughly 100 km (62 mi) south. Ocean vessels of 3,000 tons or 9,000 tons[1] and 5.5 metres (18 ft) draft can reach Iquitos from the Atlantic ocean, 3600 km away. Most travel within the city is via bus, motorcycle, or auto rickshaw (mototaxi, motocarro or motokar). Transportation to nearby towns often requires a river trip via peque-peque, a small public motorized boat. The climate is hot and humid, with an average relative humidity of 85%. The wet season lasts from around November to May, with the river reaching its highest point in May. The river is at its lowest in October.European-Peruvians established Iquitos as a Jesuit mission to the indigenous peoples in the 1750s. In 1864 it started to grow when the settlers created the Loreto Region and made Iquitos its capital. It is the seat of a Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate.[2] Iquitos was known for its rubber industry through the rubber boom of the first decade of the 20th century; it attracted thousands of immigrants from around the world, mostly young, single men who hoped to make their fortunes in rubber. The rise of the automobile and related industries had dramatically increased the worldwide demand for rubber. Some men became merchants and bankers, and made their fortunes that way. Many of the European men married indigenous women and stayed in Peru the rest of their lives, founding ethnically mixed families. The immigrants brought European clothing styles, music and other cultural elements to Iquitos. Among the unique communities formed by the 19th-century rubber boom immigration was one of Sephardic Jews from Morocco. Many of the men married Peruvian women and made families in Iquitos. They established a synagogue and the Jewish Cemetery. By the end of the 20th century, four or five generations later, most descendants were no longer practicing Jews. In the 1990s, a descendant of a Jewish settler undertook serious study of the religion and began to revive Judaism among his family, friends, and other Sephardim descendants. After years of study, with the help of a sympathetic Conservative rabbi in Lima and another from Brooklyn, New York, eventually a few hundred people learned and practiced and converted. (Conversion was necessary as their mothers were not Jewish.) Many of the converts emigrated to Israel under its "right of return" policy.[3] The wealthiest Europeans built great mansions in the late 19th century, some of which survive. Casa de Fierro (Spanish for the Iron House) was designed by Gustave Eiffel, designer of the Eiffel Tower. After rubber seeds were smuggled out of the country and began to be cultivated in quantity elsewhere, the Peruvian boom came to an end. The city is still an important trading port in the Amazon basin. [edit]