page_title: Marajó
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Marajó / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Sheet SA-22 of International Map of the World 1:1,000,000, with Marajo Island, Brazil
context_page_description: Marajó is a large delta island in the state of Pará, Brazil. It is the main and largest of the islands in the Marajó Archipelago. The island is bordered by the mouth of the Amazon River to the west and northwest, the Atlantic Ocean to the northeast and by the Pará River, a distributary of the Amazon to the east.
  From approximately 400 BC to 1600 AD, Marajó was the site of an advanced Pre-Columbian society called the Marajoara culture, which may have numbered more than 100,000 people at its peak. Today, the island is known for its large water buffalo population, as well as the pororoca tidal bore periodically exhibited by high tides overcoming the usual complex hydrodynamic interactions in the surrounding reaches of Amazon delta. It is the second-largest island in South America, and the 35th largest island in the world.
  With a land area of 40,100 square kilometres Marajó is comparable in size to Switzerland. Its maximum span is 295 kilometres long and 200 kilometres in perpendicular width.
context_section_description: The northeastern coastline of Marajó faces the Atlantic Ocean. The outflow from the Amazon between January and July is so great that the sea at the mouth is made up of freshwater for some distance from shore. The city of Belém lies to the south across the southern fork (also called the Pará River) of the river's mouth. The island sits almost directly on the equator.
  Together with smaller neighboring islands that are separated from Marajó by rivers, they form the Marajó Archipelago, with an aggregate area of 49,602 square kilometres (19,151 sq mi).
  The archipelago is contained in the 59,985 square kilometres (23,160 sq mi) Marajó Archipelago Environmental Protection Area, a sustainable-use conservation unit established in 1989 to protect the environment of the delta region.
  Large parts of the islands are flooded during the rainy season because of higher water levels of the Amazon River along the coast and heavy rainfall in the interior. Marajó is almost entirely flat. During the rainy season, much of the island becomes flooded as a large lake.
  There are 20 large rivers on the island. Because of the changing water levels and regular seasonal flooding, many settlements are built on stilts (Palafitas).
  The island is known for the pororoca, a tidal bore phenomenon in the river that creates large waves reaching 4 m (13 ft) in height. It is a tourist destination, especially for surfing of the bore.
caption: A detailed map with Marajó
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