ABSTRACT
Much like Asia’s, Amazonian borders are still ambivalent. Encompassing a territory that spans nine nations, they go beyond the political boundaries. The upper Madeira region, which is formed by its four main river courses, the Madeira, Guaporé, Mamoré and Beni rivers, is one of Amazonia’s transnational border areas, between modern-day Brazil and northeastern Bolivia (see Figure 8.1). Until fairly recently the southwest of Amazonia was an undefined and unknown region, located initially in the confines of the Iberian domains in South America, and remaining in the distant boundaries of the two American nations.
