Amazonas is the largest Brazilian State and is named after the Amazon River. It was settled by the Portuguese in the early 18th century and became a state of the Brazilian Republic in 1889. Most of the state is tropical jungle, with cities clustered along navigable waterways and accessible only by boat or plane. The capital and largest city is Manaus, a modern city of 2 million inhabitants in the middle of the jungle on the Amazon River, 1,500 km upstream from the Atlantic Ocean.