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Like the coastal city of Bel?m, Manaus -- located deep within the jungle near the confluence of the Negro and Amazon (Solimoes) Rivers -- was transformed from a small, insignificant town into an important metropolis during the rubber boom of the 19th century. Today, Manaus is served by an international airport and has become a city of over one million people with a thriving eco-tour business that specializes in guiding intrepid tourists into the dark forests of the Amazon. For travelers who don't want to venture any farther into the heart of darkness, the city itself offers a number of sightseeing opportunities and attractions. One of the most spectacular is the "meeting of the waters," where the dark waters of the Rio Negro flow side by side with the clearer waters of Rio Solimoes for over three miles without mixing. Daily tour boats from Manaus ferry tourists to see this remarkable natural phenomenon. With rubber came money, and Manaus is dotted with architectural bequests from this period. The neoclassical Amazonas Theater was constructed entirely of imported materials -- Italian marble, Portuguese stonework, English wrought iron, French furniture -- and hosted performances by some of Europe's most famous entertainers. The Rio Negro Palace, built for a wealthy German rubber merchant, now houses the state government. The Indian Museum and Museu do Homem do Norte feature exhibits about the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, and the January Lake Ecological Park is a showcase for the astonishing diversity of the region's nonhuman inhabitants. The city's designation as a free trade zone makes it a shopper's paradise for imported goods, and local products and handicrafts are also offered in the riverfront Municipal Market, a complex constructed of imported European cast iron that copies Paris' famous Les Halles.