Silves, Amazonas


Silves or Ilha de Silves is an island municipality in the state of Amazonas, northern Brazil. It is located 10 km straight line north or about 40 km by water from the Amazon River, east of Manaus. Its population was 9,046 and its area is.

History

Silves is one of the oldest municipalities in the state of Amazonas. It was established in 1660
as a Jesuit Indian mission, the aldea of Santa Cruz. It was abandoned a year later when Jesuits were evicted from the area for failure to cooperate with Portuguese slave raiders. In 1685, it was reestablished by Mercedarian Theodozio da Viega at the same site and known by the name of aldea de Saracá. Two more villages were founded by Mercedarian missionaries on Rio Urubu and had the names of São Pedro Nolasco and São Raimundo. They disappeared shortly after founding. In 1759, the aldea of Saracá was elevated to a village with the name Silves, after civil parish of Silves, Portugal.