Today you will arrive in Belém, the capital of Pará, founded by the Portuguese in 1616 to defend the entrance of the Amazon from the French. This hot and humid equatorial city, lying just south of the equator, is nestled between the Guamá River and Guajará Bay. Belém is a surprisingly rewarding city, with shaded streets lined with mango trees, and its rich history is reflected in its impressive colonial architecture, museums, and monuments, from the Portuguese empire times to the belle époque masterpieces of the 19th-century's rubber boom, earning it the nickname "Paris of the Tropics", often disputed with Manaus.