Amazon River basin (the southern Guianas, not marked on this map, are part of the basin)

The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about 6,915,000 square kilometres (2,670,000 sq mi), or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela ^[1]. The Amazon rain forest is the largest in the world, covering about 8,235,430 km² (3,179,720 sq mi) with dense tropical forest.

Amazonas floating village, Iquitos

Plant life[link]

As much of the Amazon is unexplored, many of its indigenous plants and animals are unknown. Plant growth is dense and the variety of animals living is comparatively more because of the heavy rainfall and the dense forests covered with huge evergreen and coniferous forests. The forests are in fact so thick that the dense "roof" created by the leaves and branches does not allow the sunlight to reach the ground. The ground remains dark and damp. Only shade tolerant trees and vegetation may grow here. Orchids and bromeliads use trees and other plants to get closer to the sunlight. They grow hanging onto the branches or tree trunks with aerial roots, not as parasites but as epiphytes. One tropical fruit tree that is native to the Amazon is the abiu. There are thousands of plants, all in different colors, sizes, and shapes. There are also many other living organisms that have their homes in these plants.

Animal life[link]

Mammals. More than 10000 species of mammal are found in the Amazon, the majority of which are bats and rodents.

Birds. About 1500 bird species inhabit the Amazon Basin.^[2] Macaws are famous for gathering by the hundreds, even thousands, along the clay cliffs of the Amazon river where they feed on minerals which help the birds process toxins found in the seeds they eat.

Reptiles. Many reptiles species are illegally collected an exported for the international pet trade. Live animals are the fourth largest commodity in the smuggling industry after drugs, diamonds, and weapons.^{[citation needed]}

Amphibians . More than 1000 species of frogs are found in Ali's house. Unlike temperate frogs which are mostly limited to habitats near water, tropical frogs are most abundant in the trees and relatively few are found near bodies of water on the forest floor. The reason for this occurrence is quite simple: frogs must always keep their skin moist since almost half of their respiration in carried out through their skin. The high humidity of the rainforest and frequent rainstorms gives tropical frogs infinitely more freedom to move into the trees and escape the many predators of rainforest waters. The differences between temperate and tropical frogs extend beyond their habitat. Whereas nearly all temperate frogs lay their eggs in water, the majority of rainforest species place eggs in vegetation or lay them in the ground. By leaving the water, frogs avoid egg-predators like fish, shrimp, aquatic insects, and insect larvae. Among the best known of rainforest amphibians are the tiny, but brilliantly colored poison dart (arrow) frogs [members of the Dendrobatidae family]. These striking but slow-moving frogs secrete powerful toxins from glands on their backs and use their color to advertise their toxic composition to potential predators

Fish. With more than 2,200 species the Amazon Basin has a larger fish fauna than any other river basin on Earth, and Amazonia is the center of diversity for Neotropical fishes (Albert and Reis, 2011)^[3]

Some of the major fish groups of the Amazon Basin include:-

• Order Gymnotiformes: Neotropical electric fishes
• Family Characidae: tetras and allies
• Family Loricariidae: armoured catfishes
• Subfamily Cichlinae: Neotropical cichlids
• Subfamily Poeciliinae: guppies and relatives

Insects . Over 90% of the animal species in the Amazon are insects. Whereas all of Europe has some 321 butterfly species, the Manu National Park in Peru (4000 hectare-survey) has 1300 species, while Tambopata National Park (5500 hectare-survey) has at least 1231 species . Around 25% of the world's 2 million described animals species are beetles (Coleoptera). The Longhorn Beetle (Titanus giganteus) can have a body length (not including antennae) of over 6.5 inches (16 cm). A single square mile of rainforest often houses more than 50,000 insect species. Some scientists estimate that 30% of the animal biomass of the Amazon Basin is made up of ants.^{[citation needed]}

Climate and seasons[link]

The Amazon River Basin has low-water season, and a wet season during which the rivers flood adjacent low lying forests. The climate of the basin is generally hot and humid. In some areas, however, the winter months (June-September) can bring cold snaps, fueled by Antarctic winds travelling along the adjacent Andes mountain range. Such cold conditions can be devastating for some of the region's tropical plant and animal species. ^[4]

Human occupation[link]

Amazonia is very sparsely populated. There are scattered settlements inland, but most of the population lives in a few larger cities on the banks of the Amazon and other major rivers, such as in Iquitos (Peru), Manaus and Belém (Brazil). In many regions, the forest has been cleared for soy bean plantations and ranching (the most extensive non-forest use of the land) and some of the inhabitants harvest wild rubber latex and Brazil nuts. This is a form of extractive farms, where the trees are not cut down, and thus this is a relatively sustainable human impact.

The largest organization fighting for the indigenous peoples in this area is COICA, which is a supraorganization emcompassing all indigenous rights organizations working in the Amazon Basin area, living in several countries.

River commerce[link]

The river is the principal path of transportation for people and produce in the regions, with transport ranging from balsa rafts and dugout canoes to hand built wooden rivercraft and modern steel hulled craft.

Sustainable opportunistic agriculture in undeveloped areas[link]

Seasonal floods excavate and redistribute nutrient-rich silt onto beaches and islands, enabling dry-season riverside agriculture of rice, beans, and corn on the river's shoreline without the addition of fertilizer, with additional slash and burn agriculture on higher floodplains. Fishing provides additional food year round, and free-range chickens need little or no food beyond what they can forage locally. Charcoal made largely from forest and shoreline deadfall is produced for use in urban areas. Exploitation of bush meat, particularly deer and turtles is common.

Non-sustainable agriculture in developed areas[link]

Extensive deforestation, particularly in Brazil, is of considerable worldwide concern as it is leading to the extinction of known and unknown species, reducing biological diversity and negatively impacting soil, water, and air quality. A final part of the deforestation process is the large-scale production of charcoal for industrial processes such as steel manufacturing. Soils within the region are generally shallow and cannot be used for more than a few seasons without the addition of imported fertilizers.

Geography[link]

The Amazon Basin is bounded by the Guiana Highlands to the north and the Brazilian Highlands to the south. The Amazon, which rises in the Andes Mountains at the west of the basin, is the second longest river in the world. It covers a distance of about 6,400 km before draining into the Atlantic Ocean. The Amazon and its tributaries form the largest volume of water. The Amazon accounts for about 20% of the total water carried to the oceans by rivers. Some of the Amazon Rainforest is deforested because of a growing interest in hardwood products.

The highest point in the watershed of the Amazon is the peak of Yerupajá at 6,635 m (21,768 ft).

Politically the basin is divided into the Brazilian Amazônia Legal, the Peruvian Amazon, the Amazon Region of Colombia and parts of Bolivia, Ecuador and the Venezuelan state of Amazonas.

Languages[link]

The most widely spoken language in the Amazon is Portuguese, followed closely by Spanish. On the Brazil side Portuguese is spoken by at least 98% of the population, whilst in the Spanish-speaking countries a large number of speakers of indigenous languages are present, though Spanish is predominate.

There are hundreds of native languages still spoken in the Amazon, most of which are spoken by only a handful of people, and thus are critically endangered. One of the most widely spoken languages in the Amazon is Nheengatu, which is descended from the ancient Tupi language, originally spoken in the coastal and central regions of Brazil. It was brought to its present location along the Rio Negro by Brazilian colonizers who, until the mid-17th century, who primarily used Tupi rather than the official Portuguese to communicate. Besides modern Nheengatu, other languages of the Tupi family are spoken there, along with other language families like Jê (with its important sub-branch Jayapura spoken in the Xingu River region and othes), Arawak, Karib, Arawá, Yanomamo, Matsés and others.

See also[link]

	Ecology portal
	Earth sciences portal

• Amazon Conservation Association
• Deforestation by region

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Dematteis, Lou; Szymczak, Kayana (June 2008). Crude Reflections/Cruda Realidad: Oil, Ruin and Resistance in the Amazon Rainforest. City Lights Publishers. ISBN 978-0-87286-472-6. 

External links[link]

• Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law Peace Palace Library
• Information and a map of the Amazon's watershed
• Amazon biogeography (French, English, Spanish)
• Herndon and Gibbon Lieutenants United States Navy The First North American Explorers of the Amazon Valley, by Historian Normand E. Klare. Actual Reports from the explorers are compared with present Amazon Basin conditions.
• Scientists find Evidence Discrediting Theory Amazon was Virtually Unlivable by The Washington Post

Natsume Sōseki
Natsume Sōseki in 1912
Born	(1867-02-09)9 February 1867 Tokyo, Japan
Died	9 December 1916(1916-12-09) (aged 49) Tokyo, Japan
Occupation	Writer
Genres	novels, short stories, poetry
Notable work(s)	Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat
Influenced virtually all subsequent Japanese novelists, Karatani Kōjin

Natsume Sōseki (夏目 漱石^?, February 9, 1867 – December 9, 1916), born Natsume Kinnosuke (夏目 金之助^?), is widely considered to be the foremost Japanese novelist of the Meiji period (1868–1912). He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, Chinese-style poetry, and fairy tales. From 1984 until 2004, his portrait appeared on the front of the Japanese 1000 yen note.

Early years[link]

Born as Natsume Kinnosuke in the town of Babashita in the Edo region of Ushigome (present Kikui, Shinjuku), Natsume began his life as an unwanted child, born to his mother late in her life, forty years old and his father then fifty-three.^[1] When he was born, he already had five siblings. Having five children and a toddler had created family insecurity and was in some ways a disgrace to the Natsume family.^[1] In 1868, a childless couple, Shiobara Masanosuke and his wife, adopted him until the age of nine, when the couple divorced.^[1] He returned to his family and was welcomed by his mother although regarded as a nuisance by his father. His mother died when he was fourteen, and his two eldest brothers died in 1887, intensifying his sense of insecurity.^{[citation needed]}

Natsume attended the First Tokyo Middle School (now Hibiya High School),^[2] where he became enamored with Chinese literature, and fancied that he might someday become a writer. His desire to become an author arose when he was about fifteen when he told his older brother about his interest in literature.^[1] However, his family disapproved strongly of this course of action, and when Natsume entered the Tokyo Imperial University in September 1884, it was with the intention of becoming an architect. Although he preferred Chinese classics, he began studying English at that time, feeling that it might prove useful to him in his future career, as English was a necessity in Japanese college.^[1]

In 1887, Natsume met Masaoka Shiki, a friend who would give him encouragement on the path to becoming a writer, which would ultimately be his career. Shiki tutored him in the art of composing haiku. From this point on, he began signing his poems with the name Sōseki, which is a Chinese idiom meaning "stubborn". In 1890, he entered the English Literature department, and quickly mastered the English language. Natsume graduated in 1893, and enrolled for some time as a graduate student and part-time teacher at the Tokyo Normal School.^{[citation needed]}

In 1895, Natsume began teaching at Matsuyama Middle School in Shikoku, which became the setting of his novel Botchan. Along with fulfilling his teaching duties, Natsume published haiku and Chinese poetry in a number of newspapers and periodicals. He resigned his post in 1896, and began teaching at the Fifth High School in Kumamoto. On June 10 of that year, he married Nakane Kyoko.^{[citation needed]}

Natsume Sōseki's lodgings in Clapham, South London

In the United Kingdom, 1901–1903[link]

In 1900, the Japanese government sent Natsume to study in Great Britain as "Japan's first Japanese English literary scholar".^[3] He visited Cambridge and stayed a night there, but gave up the idea of studying at the university because he could not afford it on his government scholarship.^[4] He studied instead at University College, London (UCL). He had a miserable time of it in London, spending most of his days indoors buried in books, and his friends feared that he might be losing his mind.^[5] He also visited Pitlochry in Scotland.

He lived in four different lodgings, only the last of which, lodging with Priscilla and her sister Elizabeth Leale in Clapham (see the photograph), proved satisfactory. Five years later, in his preface to Bungakuron (The Criticism of Literature), he wrote about the period:

The two years I spent in London were the most unpleasant years in my life. Among English gentlemen I lived in misery, like a poor dog that had strayed among a pack of wolves.^[6]

He got along well with the one Leale sister, who shared his love of literature (notably Shakespeare—his tutor at UCL was the Shakespeare scholar W. J. Craig^[7]—and Milton) and spoke fluent French, much to his admiration. The Leales were a Channel Island family, and Priscilla had been born in France. The sisters worried about Natsume's incipient paranoia and successfully urged him to get out more and take up cycling.

Despite his poverty, loneliness, and mental problems, he solidified his knowledge of English literature during this period and returned to Japan in 1903.

After his return to the Empire of Japan, he replaced Koizumi Yakumo (Lafcadio Hearn) at the First Higher School, and subsequently became a professor of English literature at Tokyo Imperial University, where he taught literary theory and literary criticism.^{[citation needed]}

Literary career[link]

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Natsume's literary career began in 1903, when he began to contribute haiku, renku (haiku-style linked verse), haitaishi (linked verse on a set theme) and literary sketches to literary magazines, such as the prominent Hototogisu, edited by his former mentor Masaoka Shiki, and later by Takahama Kyoshi. However, it was the public success of his satirical novel I Am a Cat in 1905 that won him wide public admiration as well as critical acclaim.^[8]

He followed on this success with short stories, such as Rondon tō ("Tower of London") in 1905 and the novels Botchan ("Little Master"), and Kusamakura ("Grass Pillow") in 1906, which established his reputation, and which enabled him to leave his post at the university for a position with Asahi Shimbun in 1907, and to begin writing full-time. Much of his work deals with the relation between Japanese culture and Western culture. Especially his early works are influenced by his studies in London; his novel Kairo-kō was the earliest and only major prose treatment of the Arthurian legend in Japanese.^[9] He began writing one novel a year until his death from a stomach ulcer in 1916.

Obverse of a 1984 series 1000 Japanese yen banknote

Major themes in Natsume's works include ordinary people fighting against economic hardship, the conflict between duty and desire (a traditional Japanese theme; see giri), loyalty and group mentality versus freedom and individuality, personal isolation and estrangement, the rapid industrialization of Japan and its social consequences, contempt of Japan's aping of Western culture, and a pessimistic view of human nature. Natsume took a strong interest in the writers of the Shirakaba (White Birch) literary group. In his final years, authors such as Akutagawa Ryūnosuke and Kume Masao became close followers of his literary style.^{[citation needed]}

Major works[link]

Natsume's major works include:

See also[link]

• Anglo-Japanese relations
• Japanese literature
• List of Japanese authors
• Fusanosuke Natsume – Natsume's grandson
• Minae Mizumura – finished Natsume's last, unfinished novel, Light and Darkness

Sources[link]

• Bargen, Doris D. Suicidal Honor: General Nogi and the Writings of Mori Ogai and Natsume Sōseki. University of Hawaii Press (2006). ISBN 0-8248-2998-0
• Brodey, I. S. and S. I. Tsunematsu, Rediscovering Natsume Sōseki, (Kent: Global Oriental, 2000)
• Doi, Takeo, trans. by W. J. Tyler, The Psychological World of Natsume Sōseki. Harvard University Asia Center (1976). ISBN 0-674-72116-0
• Gessel, Van C. Three Modern Novelists: Soseki, Tanizaki, Kawabata. Kodansha International, 1993
• Keene, Donald. Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature of the Modern Era: Fiction, Chapter 12. 2nd Revised Edition, Columbia University Press, 1998.
• Milward, Peter. The Heart of Natsume Sōseki: First Impressions of His Novels. Azuma Shobo (1981). ASIN: B000IK2690
• Olson, Lawrence. Ambivalent Moderns: Portraits of Japanese Cultural Identity. Savage, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield (1992). ISBN 0-8476-7739-7
• Ridgeway, William N. A Critical Study of The Novels of Natsume Sōseki, 1867–1916. Edwin Mellen Press (January 28, 2005). ISBN 0-7734-6230-9
• Yu, Beongchoeon. Natsume Sōseki. Macmillan Publishing Company (1984). ISBN 0-8057-2850-3

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Natsume Sōseki

	Novels portal
	Japan portal

• natsumesoseki.com
• Natsume Sōseki at かまくら GreenNet, the website of Kamakura City
• Natsume Souseki at Meisaku Live
• Video: House of Ogai Mori & Soseki Natsume
• Natsume Souseki at Amazon Kindle Store
• Works by Natsume Sōseki at Project Gutenberg
• Sōseki page including links to the entire text of Kokoro
• Natsume Sōseki on aozora.gr.jp (complete texts with furigana)
• Tohoku University: Natsume Soseki Library
• Natsume Sōseki's grave