theodore rooservelt

Theodore Roosevelt wanted to explore ever since 1909, were an African safari took him though a couple of jungles. This interest resulted in his being in Brazil in 1913 with the stated objective of obtaining animal, bird, and plant specimens from its central place. While there, the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs told Roosevelt about the uncharted River of Doubt and suggested he join forces with the famous Brazilian explorer Colonel Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon in exploring it. The trip was begun, perhaps unwisely, on December 9, 1913, the height of the rainy season. Roosevelt's entourage endured a 900-mile trek, including a 40-day excursion across the Paraguay-Amazon divide leading to the headwaters of the River of Doubt. Once the crew reached the River of Doubt, all travel would be made in seven canoes called dugouts. Dangerous rapids were the normal. The river claimed its first life on March 15 when one of the comrades, a man named Simplicio, drowned while attempting to rescue Kermit's overturned canoe. On April 27, 1913, Theodore Roosevelt reached the end of the River of Doubt and arrived in Sao Joao. The trip was considered a success in that it provided information necessary to map, for the first time ever, the interior of Brazil. Over 2,000 species of birds and 500 mammals had been collected for further study. The river was renamed Roosevelt River by the Brazilian government.