Founded by the Portuguese, Manaus became one of the world’s wealthiest cities at the height of the rubber boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today its former glory lingers in some of the grand buildings dotted about the city, including the ornate Teatro Amazonas opera house. Nearby is the famed ‘Wedding of the Waters’, where the dark Rio Negro and light Rio Solimoes join to form the Amazon, at first flowing side-by-side without merging.