Orellana Descends the Amazon

1541

Francisco de Orellana, separated from Gonzalo Pizarro's expedition while searching for cinnamon, floated down the Napo and into the Amazon River and followed it all the way to the Atlantic. He reported river skirmishes with armed women, giving the great river the name of the Greek warrior Amazons. His seven-month journey through complex agricultural societies remains one of the most extraordinary feats of exploration in the age of discovery.