New Airão began when the Jesuits founded a
settlement at the mouth of the Jau River in 1668 named Santo Elias de Jau. The
region was inhabited by Indians Uaimiri, Atroaí, Crichanã, Carabinari and
Jauaperi. Everything indicates that the mission village of Santo Elias de Jau
was the second or third nucleus of settlement organized by the Portuguese in
Amazonian lands. In 1759, the village was elevated to a town with the name Airão
by Joaquim de Melo Póvoas, first governor of the captaincy of São José do Rio
Negro. Later, the district around Airão became part of Manaus and when it was
