Projeto RADAM: a better look at the Brazilian tropics

Fifty-four % of Brazil's national territory, most of it in the Amazon, has been covered by Projeto RADAM. The original images are difficult to obtain and the examples used in this article were taken from secondary, but still adequate mosaics of the radar imagery. These illustrate the principal physical units of the Amazon, thevárzea, theterra firme, and several types of highland, as well as the principal kinds of rural settlement: native clearings, ranches and new colonies. Two illustrations are included from the extension of this imagery into northeastern Brazil, one showing the coastal mountain range and the other an oasis-like settlement in the semi-arid interior.