Called Rio Roosevelt, the river flows through the heart of Brazil. It feeds into the Madeira River which in turn feeds into the Amazon.
After his presidency, Roosevelt took what was supposed to be a speaking trip to South America. He soon found himself on an expedition to discern whether or not the ominous sounding “River of Doubt” fed into the much larger Madeira river further north. The Brazilan explorer Rondon and Roosevelt led the expedition together and it turned out to be a disaster, with most of the men barely making it out alive. If it wasn’t for rubber-tappers in the depths of the jungle helping the group Roosevelt wouldn’t have survived the ordeal. The “River of Doubt” needed a new name after it was confirmed that it fed into the Madeira and Rondon made sure Brazil’s guest of honor receveid credit for the discovery.
