AMAP

estado (state), northern Brazil. It is bounded on the north by a small portion of Suriname and by French Guiana, on the northeast by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south and west by the Brazilian state of Par, and on the southeast by the Amazon River. Formerly a part of Par state, Amap was created a territory in 1943 and became a state in 1990, with its capital at Macap (q.v.). Most of its 54,161 square miles (140,276 square km) is tropical rain forest, but there are patches of savanna along the coast, which has long remained scantily populated. The major products are cabinet woods (mahogany, cedar, pine, eucalyptus, rosewood), medicinal plants, wild-animal skins, rubber, jute, Brazil nuts, fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. Gold is found in the stream gravels. Amap is known primarily for the large manganese and iron-ore mines inland from Macap. In the late 1970s factories were built to produce ferromanganese and silicomanganese from the mines' ore. Oil was discovered in the continental shelf off Amap state, and exploratory wells were drilled. Macap's port (Prto Santana), highways, and railroad link Macap to the state's interior and to northwestern Brazil. Pop. (1989 est.) 248,100.