Miami to Buenos Aires

The huge fires used by ranchers to clear forested land for their cattle pasture can even be seen from space, as this satellite image shows.

The distinctive "herringbone" pattern of deforestation can be seen across the Rio Branco region. Growth in deforestation is noticeable in a single year, as the side images show.

An aerial view of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest - the impact of "slash and burn" clearing is obvious in this image.

Deforestation in Acre province - land is often deforested to provide pasture land, which is worth more in industry and also in resale value than virgin forest.

Charred tree stumps and broken branches are all that remains after an area of forest has been cleared using "slash and burn" techniques.

Large areas of forest, which took tens of years to grow and flourish, can be destroyed in a matter of hours by fire, to clear the land for use as pasture.

Fire rages through a section of untouched rainforest, quickly destroying all vegetation. Across the Amazon, an area the size of three football pitches is deforested every minute.

Cattle graze across cleared forest land, which is turned into pasture. This makes the land worth 5 to 10 times as much when sold, and allows ranchers to raise profitable beef cattle.

A satellite image of the Amazon Basin, showing remaining rainforest in red, herbaceous vegetation cover in green (indicating areas of deforestation), and bare ground in blue.

Cattle wander through the smoke caused by further "slash and burn" clearing of the forest around them, to produce low grade pasture of savannah grass.

The canopy of the Amazon rainforest, where trees grow to heights of 35 metres. The long, strong vines hanging from the top of the trees to the ground are called lianas.

Destroyed and burned vegetation litters the track of a logging and access road through the Amazon rainforest.

The aftermath of "slash and burn" clearance of the rainforest. Between 1995 and 2005, Acre lost an average of 600 square kilometres of forest per year.

1919 - A group of rubber workers pose for a photograph - workers flocked from across the region to be part of the "white gold" rush.

The natural latex rubber flows out of the "tapped" (cut) bark, down the carved channel and into a pot placed to collect the sap.

A pile of rubber gloves, one of the many commonplace products to be made from the natural latex produced by the rubber tree.

Gashes in the upper bark of this rubber tree show the natural latex oozing out of the cuts. This sap is collected and harvested for industrial use.

A rubber tree plantation of young four-and-a-half year old trees, planted by Henry Ford in his Fordlandia settlement in Brazil.

The Teatro Amazonas Theatre in Manaus is one of the most famous symbols of the wealth brought by the rubber boom, allowing grand buildings like this to be built.

John Boyd Dunlop invented the first rubber tyre in 1887, one of the many products sparking the Rubber Boom and a huge demand for natural rubber products.

1919 - Rubber is harvested using the traditional methods of the Amazonian Indians, who made use of the natural latex sap long before the Industrial Revolution.

Rubber is collected from a tapped tree: if harvested sustainably, the rubber trees can have a productive lifespan of up to 25 years.

Chico Mendes, a famous rubber tapper, conservationist and supporter of maintaining the Amazon's forests, demonstrates how to tap a rubber tree.

The area across the Amazon Basin where the Rubber Boom occurred between 1879 and 1912, with Rio Branco in the south-west of the region.

1915 - A rubber tree tapped using methods popular during the Rubber Boom, which are similar to those used today. Note the bright white stream of latex flowing down the tree.

A close up of the lower trunk of a rubber tree. Also known as banyans, these distinctive trees have a wide ranging system of aerial roots which grow high up the main trunk.

Aerial photograph of members of an uncontacted tribe in Acre, taken with a high zoom lens to avoid unnecessary intrusion.

A warrior from an uncontacted tribe in Acre draws his bow at the distant threat of a passing aircraft.

The Yanomamo tribe, one of the largest tribes in the Amazon, remained uncontacted until the early 20th century. As contact with the outside world increases, their traditions are being eroded.

A global map of uncontacted peoples. There are 67 uncontacted tribes in Brazil, the highest concentration of uncontacted peoples in the world.

Tribal huts visible through clearings in the trees are often the most obvious signs of isolated tribes, found within deep and impenetrable forest.

A family of uncontacted tribes people in the Acre region. Photographs of these tribes are rare as any access (even low flights in aircraft) over their land is strictly prohibited.

Many of the uncontacted people in Acre will never have seen an aircraft before, and have had no contact whatsoever with the outside world.

These stunning shots of uncontacted tribes people are taking using a high zoom lens from an aircraft to try and strictly limit any disturbance to the tribes.

Yanomami children, dressed in traditional clothes, tattoos and adornments. Uncontacted until the early 20th century, modern influences are now encroaching on traditional ways of life.