The Earth's respiratory system is the majestic Amazon River, the largest in the world. Amazon River: width, length, description and photo. The source of the Amazon River The Amazon River where it originates where it flows

03.05.2020

Extending into neighboring countries. Amazon is the world's largest river in terms of basin area (7.2 million km²) and full flow.

The Amazon originates in the south, in a mountainous area, at an altitude of almost 5,000 m. , in fact, the famous Amazon begins. The river here is navigable, it is suitable for moving ships of medium size, in some places the width reaches 30 km, and the depth is 30 m. The Amazon is replenished with water from an area equal in area to Australia. Overcoming a distance of 3,700 km from west to east in the northern regions of Brazil, the river, flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, forms the largest inland delta on the planet (more than 100 thousand km²) and estuaries, covering a large one (port. Ilha do Marajó).

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Excursion into history

As the legends say, the river got its name more than 500 years ago from the Spanish conquistadors, who made an expedition to the deep forests of the great river, from where they returned under the great impression of the naked warlike Indian girls, who fought on an equal footing next to men and armed with bows and arrows. The brave and fearless warriors who struck the Spaniards resembled the mythical Amazons from Greek legends, thanks to them the river got its name.

The longest river on the planet

The Amazon, until now officially considered the world's most full-flowing river, but recognized as the second longest after the Egyptian Nile, according to the Brazilian INPE (National Center for Space Research), it is the longest river on the planet!

The Center's experts studied the waterway of the South American continent using satellite data. Researchers have solved one of the outstanding geographic mysteries by uncovering the place where the river flows through Peru and Brazil before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean: this point is located in the Andes mountain region in southern Peru, at an altitude of 5 thousand meters.

According to today's data, the length of the Amazon is 6992.06 km. (compare: the length of the African Nile is 6852.15 km). That is, the South American Amazon is the deepest and longest river in the world!

The Amazon River with all its tributaries is 20% of all fresh water on Earth. Of the twenty longest rivers on the planet, 10 rivers flow in the Amazon basin.

The Amazon is a special, unique ecosystem, there is no other like it on the globe. A huge variety of the most diverse and the Amazons form a real "underwater jungle": there are more than 3,000 species of fish alone (this is 10 times more than in all of Europe).

Photo of the Amazon from the International Space Station (ISS)

Other Amazon records

During the dry season, the river reaches a width of up to 11 km, covering 110 thousand km² with water, and during the rainy season it swells 3 times, covering 350 thousand km² and overflowing to a width of more than 40 kilometers.
The mouth of the river is also one of the achievements of the Amazon: it is the largest delta on the globe, up to 325 km wide. For 2/3 of its entire length, the river is navigable.
With all its tributaries, the river forms a grandiose water system with a length of more than 25 thousand kilometers! The main channel of the greatest river is navigable for 4300 km, and ocean liners from the mouth can rise almost 1700 km - up to.
The territory of the Amazon basin, stretching from the Andes to the Atlantic coast, from which the river is replenished with water, reaches 7.2 million km², which is only slightly less than the area of Australia. Considering all the tributaries, the Amazon owns 1/4 of all the running water of our planet!
According to the observations of the astronauts, the river continues its course in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, which differs from the coast at a distance of about 400 km. In its lower reaches, the Amazon in some places spills over 150 km, and in a funnel-shaped mouth - about 230 km. If you climb 4 thousand km up the river, then the width of its main channel ranges from 2 to 4 km, the depth reaches 150 m, and the speed of the current is 10-15 km/h.
Only in the Amazon can one observe the most unique phenomenon of nature - sharp rises in water in the river under the influence of the ocean tide, when a huge water shaft 4-5 m high ("") with a terrifying roar rushes upstream the river, sometimes reaching places located 1400 km from the ocean.
Some tributaries of the river carry the purest water from the majestic, snow-capped peaks of the Andes, others - muddy moisture from the slopes of the hills, and still others - transparent, the color of strongly brewed tea, water from numerous swamps.

Where does the Amazon River originate and where does it flow? and got the best answer

Answer from deleted[guru]
Starting a conversation about the Amazon, you have to think in advance about the availability of the necessary stock of synonymous words, since speaking about this river, in almost every sentence you need to use the phrase "largest". The Indians call the Amazon "Parana-Tingo", which means "Queen of the Rivers" . Indeed, this river in all respects is the greatest in the world. A quarter of all the waters carried into the oceans by the rivers of our planet are the waters of the Amazon, which desalinate the sea 400 kilometers from the mouth. Its basin occupies the largest area of all river basins in the world - about seven million square kilometers, while the Amazon's closest rivals - the Congo in Africa and the Mississippi in North America - occupy only about three and a half million square kilometers, i.e., an area two times smaller. The Amazon collects the waters of more than 500 tributaries, and the whole of Australia can be located on the territory irrigated by this water web. At the mouth of the Amazon is the world's largest river island - the island of Marajo, which has an area of 48 thousand square kilometers, which allows you to place on it, for example, the Netherlands.

Answer from 2 answers[guru]

Hey! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: where does the Amazon River originate and where does it flow?

Answer from Karimov Ruslan[guru]
Starts in the Andes and flows into the Atlantic

Answer from Jovetlana Dubrovsky[guru]
AMAZON RIVER (Brazil - Peru) The Indians call the Amazon "Parana-Ting", which means "Queen of the Rivers". And indeed, this river is in all respects the greatest in the world. It carries a quarter of all the waters carried into the ocean by the rivers of our planet. And the area of its basin - more than seven million square kilometers - allows you to place in it the entire mainland of Australia or a country like the United States. At the mouth, the width of the Amazon reaches two hundred kilometers, and the depth is one hundred meters! Even near the Peruvian city of Iquitos, three and a half thousand kilometers from the mouth, the depth of the river is more than twenty meters, so ships get here. northern hemisphere (in March - September), on its left tributaries, then in the southern (from October to April) - on the right tributaries. Thus, the great river actually lives in conditions of constant flooding. Until recently, it was not known exactly where the sources of the Amazon are located. Its length, together with the main of the two sources, the river Ukayali, was approximately determined at 6565 kilometers, which put the Queen of Rivers in second place in the world after the Nile, whose length is one hundred plus kilometers longer. But an international expedition organized in 1995, having reached the upper reaches of the Ucayali, discovered that this source, in turn, is formed from the confluence of two rivers: Apurimac and Urubamba. Coming to the source of the Alurimak River, the researchers determined that the total length of the entire grandiose water system Apurimac - Ucayali - Amazon is 7025 kilometers and, therefore, it is she who is the first in the world in length. The Nile with its sources the White Nile, Albert Nile, Victoria Nile, Lake Victoria Kagera is almost three hundred kilometers shorter. I hope the reader will excuse the author for the abundance of numbers, but speaking of such a giant as the Amazon, one cannot do without at least a brief "ki. The Amazon has more than 500 tributaries. Seventeen of them are from 1800 to 3500 kilometers long. (This, for comparison, is the length of the Don and Volga!) The huge mass of river water carried by the Amazon desalinates the sea 400 kilometers from the mouth. an island located in the delta of the Amazon - the island of Marajo, has an area of \u200b\u200b48 thousand square kilometers, that is, larger than Switzerland or the Netherlands, and the entire delta is larger than Bulgaria in area. on the plain through narrow rocky gorges - pongo. At the bottom of these gorges there is no place even for a narrow path - it is a continuous bubbling ferocious stream with stones sticking out here and there, sometimes narrowing to twenty meters. Particularly wayward character in Maranion. On the way from the goron passes through 27 pongos. The lower, most formidable of them is Pongode Manserice ("Gate of the Parrots"). Breaking through the last canyon, the river enters the vast plain of the Amazon and becomes navigable.

Answer from growth[guru]
It flows from Central Asia to the north of the country, and flows into the Arctic Ocean!

Answer from Enchanted[guru]
The Amazon River is located in South America, and flows between the Brazilian and Guiana plateaus. Its length is 6516 kilometers. The Amazon is the most abundant river in the world. On the way to the ocean, it absorbs more than 15,000 rivers and streams. The Amazon Basin is over 7 million square kilometers. The source of the river lies among the desert expanses in the Peruvian Andes, where the Marañon, by which the Amazon is known in the upper reaches, flows out of Lake Llauricocha at an altitude of 4300 meters, about 10 degrees S. sh. A significant part of the Amazon basin occupies an unchanging plain covered with tropical forests, with a hot and humid equatorial climate: the temperature is around +26 +28 degrees all year round, precipitation is more than 2000 millimeters per year. The depth of the river in the middle course is 70 meters. High water creates a significant speed for the current, which exceeds 2.55 kilometers per hour, despite the small and even fall of the river. The lowest level of the river occurs in August and September. In many places, the Amazon flows in several channels. The valley is rich in lakes connected with the river by tributaries. The upper part of the current is winding, while the lower part, starting from Manaus, is more straightforward. Before flowing into the ocean, the Amazon is divided between large islands into a series of branches, forming a funnel-shaped mouth, the total width of which near the ocean itself is 230 kilometers. The banks of the Amazon are flat and gradually descend to the river in three steps. The upper step is free from floods, the middle one is flooded only during large floods, and the lower one is flooded even with small spills. Of the numerous tributaries of the Amazon, more than 17 are huge rivers from 1500 to 3500 kilometers long, more than 100 are navigable. The main tributaries on the left are Napo, Isa, Yapura, Rio Negro, Zhari. On the right are Ucayali, Zhavari, Jurua, Purus, Madeira, Tapajos, Xingu and Tocantins. The Amazon and its tributaries are very rich in organic life. From animals there are manatees, dolphins, water pigs. Also a lot of fish. Most of the Amazon basin, with its extremely sparse population (mainly Indians and mestizos), belongs to Brazil; its southwest and western regions lie within Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Together with its tributaries, the Amazon forms an extensive system of inland waterways. Its significance for the Amazonian lowland is all the more great because river routes are the only means of communication in this vast region of South America, covered with virgin tropical forest and extremely poorly developed. The abundance of rapids and waterfalls on many tributaries of the Amazon creates, however, obstacles to the development of navigation in its basin. The water transport of the Amazon basin serves mainly the needs of the forestry industry that prevails in the river basin - mainly the sale and export of rubber, then Brazil nuts, valuable forest species, etc. The ports of Belem (Para) at the outlet of the Amazon to the ocean and Manaus are the main centers of import and export trade. The mineral resources of the river basin are extremely poorly explored. The western part of the basin belongs to the Subadinsk oil-bearing region. In the eastern - Brazilian part of the river basin, deposits of gold, diamonds, and crystalline quartz have been discovered.

Where does the Amazon River originate and where does it flow?

Peru - anpe
Flowed out (from the Andes mountains from the confluence of the two rivers Marañon and Ucayali)
Gyrlo (Atlantic Ocean)
AMAZON RIVER
(Brazil Peru)

The Indians call the Amazon Parana-Thing, which means the Queen of the Rivers. Indeed, this river is in all respects the greatest in

the world. It carries a quarter of all the waters carried into the ocean by our rivers.

planets. And the area of its basin is more than seven million square meters.

kilometers allows you to place in it the entire mainland of Australia or

a country like the USA. At the mouth, the width of the Amazon reaches two hundred

kilometers, and a depth of one hundred meters! Even near the Peruvian city of Iquitos, three and a half thousand kilometers from the mouth, the depth of the river

more than twenty meters, so ships get here.
The fullness of the Amazon is explained simply: it flows almost exactly

along the equator, and the usual summer rainy season for these places alternately occurs in the northern hemisphere (in March September), on its left

tributaries, then in the south (from October to April) on the right tributaries.

Thus, the great river actually lives in a constant flood.

Until recently, it was not known exactly where the origins of

Amazons. Its length, together with the main of the two sources, the river

Ukayali, approximately determined at 6565 kilometers, which put the Queen of the Rivers in second place in the world after the Nile, whose length is one hundred

extra kilometers more. But an international expedition organized in 1995, having reached the upper reaches of the Ukayali, found that

that this source, in turn, is formed from the confluence of two rivers: Apurimac and Urubamba. Coming to the source of the Alurimak River, the researchers determined that the total length of the entire grandiose water system

Apurimac Ucayali Amazon 7025 kilometers and therefore

it is she who is the first in the world in length. Nile with its sources Be

lym Nile, Albert Nile, Victoria Nile, Lake Victoria

Kageroy is shorter by almost three hundred kilometers.

which giant, like the Amazon, cannot do without at least a brief statistic-“

ki. The Amazon has over 500 tributaries. Seventeen of them are from 1800

up to 3500 kilometers. (This, for comparison, is the length of the Don and Volga!) The huge mass of river water carried by the Amazon desalinates

sea 400 kilometers from the mouth.

The world's largest river island located in the delta

The Amazon island of Marajo has an area of 48 thousand square kilometers, that is, larger than Switzerland or the Netherlands, and the entire delta is larger than Bulgaria in area.

The river gets its name from the confluence of the Ucayali with the river Amazon.

Maranion. Both sources begin in the Andes and break through to the plain

through the narrow rocky pongo gorges. At the bottom of these gorges there is no place

even for a narrow path, it is a continuous seething ferocious stream with stones sticking out here and there, sometimes narrowing to twenty

meters. Particularly wayward character in Maranion. On the way from the mountains

he goes through 27 pongos. The lower, most formidable of them Pongo

de Manserice (Gate of the Parrots). Breaking through the last canyon, the river enters the vast plain of the Amazon and becomes

navigable.
In PERU it starts and ends in Anapa
I read the answers. It turns out that you can do a round-the-world trip on the Amazon!!
Amazo#769;nca ("Amazonas") is a river in South America, the largest in the world in terms of basin size and water flow. It is formed by the confluence of the Maranion and Ucayali rivers. The length from the source of Marañon is 6400 km, from the source of Ucayali over 7000 km. The area of the basin is 7180 thousand km#178; (according to other sources, 6915 thousand km # 178;).
Most of the Amazon basin belongs to Brazil, the southwestern and western regions of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Flowing for the most part along the Amazonian lowland in a sublatitudinal direction near the equator, the Amazon flows into the Atlantic Ocean, forming the world's largest inland delta (over 100 thousand km # 178;) and a funnel-shaped mouth.
Starts in the Andes and flows into the Atlantic
It originates from the Maranion and Ucayali rivers, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
It flows from west to east, crossing the entire mainland. Bert starts high in the Andes and flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Amazon River is located in South America, and flows between the Brazilian and Guiana plateaus. Its length is 6516 kilometers.
The Amazon is the most abundant river in the world. On the way to the ocean, it absorbs more than 15,000 rivers and streams. The Amazon Basin is over 7 million square kilometers. The source of the river lies among the desert expanses in the Peruvian Andes, where the Marañon, by which the Amazon is known in the upper reaches, flows out of Lake Llauricocha at an altitude of 4300 meters, about 10 degrees S. sh. A significant part of the Amazon basin occupies an unchanging plain covered with tropical forests, with a hot and humid equatorial climate: the temperature is around +26 +28 degrees all year round, precipitation is more than 2000 millimeters per year. The depth of the river in the middle course is 70 meters. High water creates a significant speed for the current, which exceeds 2.55 kilometers per hour, despite the small and even fall of the river.
The lowest level of the river occurs in August and September. In many places, the Amazon flows in several channels. The valley is rich in lakes connected with the river by tributaries. The upper part of the current is winding, while the lower part, starting from Manaus, is more straightforward. Before flowing into the ocean, the Amazon is divided between large islands into a series of branches, forming a funnel-shaped mouth, the total width of which near the ocean itself is 230 kilometers.
The banks of the Amazon are flat and gradually descend to the river in three steps. The upper stage is free from floods, the middle one is flooded only during large floods, and the lower one is flooded even with small spills.
Of the numerous tributaries of the Amazon, more than 17 are huge rivers from 1500 to 3500 kilometers long, more than 100 are navigable. The main tributaries on the left are Napo, Isa, Yapura, Rio Negro, Zhari. On the right are Ucayali, Zhavari, Jourua, Purus, Madeira, Tapajos, Xingu and Tocantins.
The Amazon and its tributaries are very rich in organic life. From animals there are manatees, dolphins, water pigs. Also a lot of fish.
Most of the Amazon basin, with its extremely sparse population (mainly Indians and mestizos), belongs to Brazil; its southwest and western regions lie within Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Together with its tributaries, the Amazon forms an extensive system of inland waterways. Its significance for the Amazonian lowland is all the more great because river routes are the only means of communication in this vast region of South America, covered with virgin tropical forest and extremely poorly developed. The abundance of rapids and waterfalls on many tributaries of the Amazon creates, however, obstacles to the development of navigation in its basin. The water transport of the Amazon Basin mainly serves the needs of the timber industry that prevails in the river basin - mainly the sale and export of rubber, then Brazil nuts, valuable forest species, etc.
The ports of Belem (Para) at the outlet of the Amazon to the ocean and Manaus are the main centers of import and export trade.
The mineral resources of the river basin are extremely poorly explored. The western part of the basin belongs to the Subadinsk oil-bearing region. In the eastern - Brazilian part of the river basin, deposits of gold, diamonds, and crystalline quartz were discovered.
mouth
It flows from Central Asia to the north of the country, and flows into the Arctic Ocean!
Starting a conversation about the Amazon, you have to think in advance about the availability of the necessary stock of synonymous words, since when talking about this river, in almost every sentence you need to use the phrase “the largest”.
The Indians call the Amazon "Parana-Tingo", which means "Queen of the Rivers". And indeed, this river in all respects is the greatest in the world. A quarter of all the waters carried into the oceans by the rivers of our planet are the waters of the Amazon, which desalinate the sea 400 kilometers from the mouth. Its basin occupies the largest area of any river basin in the world - about seven million square kilometers, while the Amazon's closest rivals - the Congo in Africa and the Mississippi in North America - occupy only about three and a half million square kilometers, i.e., an area two times smaller. The Amazon collects the waters of more than 500 tributaries, and the whole of Australia can be located on the territory irrigated by this water web. At the mouth of the Amazon is the largest river island in the world, the island of Marajo, which has an area of 48 thousand square kilometers, which makes it possible to place, for example, the Netherlands on it.

The Amazon River is the deepest river in the world. Parana Ting - the Indians solemnly call this river, which means "Queen of all rivers" in translation. The mouth of the Amazon River was discovered by the Spaniard Vincent Yanes Pinson back in 1550, and he also recognized the true royal grandeur of this river.

The history of the discovery of the great river

The very first to enjoy the beauties of the shores of a beautiful pearl in 1541 was the Spaniard Francisco de Orellana. It was he who was the first to swim to find out which river the Amazon was, without being afraid of hostile Indians. During one of the hot battles with the natives, the conquistadors noticed that in the very first ranks of the warriors, half-dressed tall and strong women were fighting shoulder to shoulder, who skillfully held bows and arrows in their hands. Looking at them, the Spaniards remembered the Amazons, which is why Orellana decided to name this river in honor of them the Amazon. He made a journey starting from the foothills of the Andes, further along the bed of the Napo River and along the Amazon to the very Atlantic Ocean.

After this, notes on the great river were left by Condamine from France, Humboldt from Germany, and also an Englishman named Bates. The latter described thousands of insects that live in the river basin, and the botanist Spruce was able to collect samples of almost 7,000 plants previously unknown to science.

The source of the Amazon River, its tributaries and channel

This river is truly unique. Almost one and a half thousand kilometers from the mouth, the tributaries and the Amazon River itself spill during high tides. The Amazon has over 500 tributaries of various lengths, seventeen of which are longer than 1,500 km. For example, these are Madeira and Tapajos, Xingu and Isa, Rio Negro and others.

Deep in the Andes is the source of the Amazon River, where it is born, and then flows mainly through the territory of Brazil, where this river is called Solimões. The total length of the entire river is 6.4 thousand km, this is together with the tributary of the Maranyon, and the tributary of the Ucayali is seven thousand kilometers.

From a total area of 7190 thousand kilometers, the Amazon collects its waters, and the main part of this basin belongs to the state of Brazil. Already before joining the Atlantic Ocean, the riverbed breaks up and flows between large islands into various branches, creating mouths in the form of funnels. The Amazon River is a navigable river and major ports are located on it.

River regime and seasons

The right tributaries of the river are in the Southern Hemisphere, and the left ones are in the Northern Hemisphere, so their water enters the basins at different times of the year. That is, they have floods at different periods of time. On the tributaries on the right, the flood begins in October and lasts until March, in the left tributaries the flood passes just the opposite: from April to October, that is, in the summer months of the Northern Hemisphere. It is this characteristic feature that causes the amazing fullness of the Amazon River. In a second, the Amazon River releases more than 55 million liters of water into the world ocean, which is created by tributaries, melting snow from the Andes and tropical rains.

The largest increase in its level begins in spring and ends at the end of July, that is, the flood continues in this place for more than 120 days. For three months the forests in the valley near the river are flooded, then the water gradually disappears. In September and August the water level is quite low.

Which river is longer?

The question is often asked: "Which river is longer: the Volga, the Amazon?" If we compare the Amazon with the great Russian river Volga, then the length of the first river is 6992 kilometers, and the Volga is only 3530 km long, which is also quite a significant indicator. However, it should be noted that the Amazon River is not the longest river in the world, as previously thought, but the most full-flowing.

True, the Volga is the longest river in Europe, and on the territory of Russia it is of great importance not only as a transport highway, but also as a source of life in arid regions. In terms of importance in its region, it is no less important than the great Brazilian river.

seventh wonder of the world

The Amazon is one of the seven most amazing natural wonders of the world. Unique not only for its full flow, it is incomparable with anything else in terms of the exceptional richness of flora and fauna and its bright beauty. Together with its tributaries, it links different countries. It is impossible to unequivocally determine where the Amazon River flows, as it runs in a blue ribbon through the territory of Peru, through Bolivia, crosses Brazil and Venezuela, as well as Ecuador and the territory of Colombia.

Of course, the longest river in the world is the Nile, but in fairness, the Amazon is very little inferior to the African pearl, sharing with it the palm of the most significant rivers on our planet.

Although the latter fact is now disputed. It was recently reported that scientists from Brazil came to the conclusion that the source of the Amazon River is not in the north of Peru, as previously thought, but on an ice-covered mountain called Mismi, at an altitude of five thousand meters. The change in the source makes it possible for the Amazon to “catch up” with the Nile in length. So, perhaps, there will be absolutely nothing to answer the question of which river is longer than the Amazon.

A quarter of all the water that flows from the rivers into the world's oceans is the waters of the Amazon. The mouth of the river placed another record holder - the largest river island on the planet, Marajo. The largest island could accommodate such a country as the Netherlands.

Rainforest and Amazon

All life on our planet depends on whether there will be a tropical rainforest. It is he who regulates the climate on our planet, absorbs all the harmful gases that are contained in the air. Only thanks to the presence on earth of the taiga and the rainforest around the Amazon, global warming did not completely destroy us. That is, the Amazon River with its unique basin is the lungs of our planet.

The amazing thing is that when the rainy season comes, all the trees stand in the waters of the Amazon to the very crown, and do not die. They have long been fully adapted to such a change in water levels in this river. Almost the entire Amazon basin is occupied by the world's largest rainforest tract. Here you can constantly hear the sound of drops of water falling from the leaves, as it rains almost daily.

The jungles of Brazil near the Amazon River have not yet been fully explored, and now plants unknown to science are found there. It is in these forests that almost 50 percent of all plant species of our planet live. A lot of plants from the Amazon rainforest are a real panacea, they are used to make rare medicines for the treatment of various diseases.

Nourishes the entire planet with oxygen

The Amazon Basin is not only home to unique plants and animals. Tropical rain forests supply oxygen to the atmosphere. However, every year people destroy more than one hundred thousand kilometers of unique flora. Moreover, forests are cut down not only in Brazil, but also in other countries. A perfectly functioning ecosystem can perish and push humanity towards disaster. The forest is the main supplier of oxygen, the conditioner of our common planet. If the wealth of the Amazon can be preserved, Brazil will continue to be one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

Home of hummingbirds and flamingos

The Amazon jungle is home to birds with surprisingly bright and rich plumage, such as colorful yellow and green parrots with bright red heads, the famous pink flamingos and the smallest birds in the world - tiny hummingbirds. Millions of colorful butterflies flutter in the air. Scientists say that 1.5 thousand species of various flowers, 760 species of large trees, about 125 mammals and about 400 species of birds grow here. There are about 800 species of palm trees alone near the Amazon.

Monkeys live in the crowns of huge trees. Very funny tapirs walk along the river, which look like a furry pig. There are also formidable jaguars, as well as anacondas.

The famous Victoria regia lily grows in the waters of the river, on the leaf of which a five-year-old child can stand and not drown.

The Amazon is home to 2,000 species of different fish. In all European rivers taken together, there are ten times fewer species. The Congo River, which is also famous for its diversity of species, contains three times less of them. Piranhas have become rather notorious, turning into a common noun, including in our country. By the way, you can see the famous toothy fish in the Sevastopol Aquarium. Naturally, there are in the Amazon and crocodiles, alligators, as well as electric eels, which are noticeably shocked.

aborigines

A very small village of native Indians still lives in the center of Brazil around the land flooded by the Amazon on a tiny hill. More than a hundred people settled in the simplest houses made of local wood. They grow cassava, similar to our potatoes, and fish. A small tribe has not left for centuries, as if guarding the most abundant and beautiful river on earth, thanks to which our entire planet can breathe freely.

The Amazon is a river that is familiar to every person almost from school. It annually receives thousands of tourists, scientists and ecologists, just nature lovers. None of them leave disappointed, taking home the brightest and most colorful impressions.

Everyone is able to recognize the Amazon River if they see it. These intertwined winding water systems are one of nature's most beautiful wonders. But even the most powerful rivers have a rather modest origin.

Textbooks tell people that rivers originate high in the mountains. When it rains, snow melts or underground springs rise to the surface, water begins to collect in small pools, after which it flows down. Several small streams join together into large streams, and they intertwine with each other, creating rivers. Naturally, this means that mighty rivers like the Amazon or the Nile have dozens or even hundreds of starting points. However, geographers like to simplify everything - they try to choose from all the potential possibilities a single point, which they call the specific beginning of the river. But how do they make this decision? And does it matter at all?

First definition

Various definitions of the concept of the source of a river have been used for a long time, and now there are even more of them. However, there are two common definitions that have been used much more frequently than the others. Traditionally, geographers and explorers have defined the source of a river as the most distant point that supplies the most water. This is far from the best way to define the source of a river. Each tributary that flows into the river is unique, and the flow of water in it may differ depending on the season and other conditions.

Problems with definition

The main problem with this definition is that the amount of water in each of the streams that make up a river can vary throughout the year. So depending on when exactly one goes to the river and looks at it, almost any of the streams can be the main one. Moreover, it will take several years of detailed observations of the flow of water to really determine which of the streams delivers the most water to the river. Such information is not always available without any problems. This means that many decisions about the "true" source of a river were made based on which stream looked like the one that supplied the most water to the river.

Second definition

However, when cartographers began to map entire river basins, another definition began to gain popularity. According to him, the source of the river is the farthest point upstream on the longest tributary of the river. This definition takes into account not the volume of the flow, but the length of the inflow, so it is unlikely that this figure will change from season to season. In the course of history, information regarding the length of tributaries has almost never been available. Therefore, the names of the rivers were given on the basis of where the largest amount of water came from. So if you rely on one definition or another of the source of a river, you may end up at two (or more) different points. Moreover, it is worth noting that the origins of many large rivers are still unknown or disputes are still ongoing around them.

Where is the source of the Amazon?

Take the Amazon River as an example. Its length is about 6200-7000 kilometers, which makes it one of the longest and most abundant rivers in the world. The Amazon River basin passes through eight South American states - Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, as well as through Guiana, a department of France. However, no one could find the “true” source of this river for many centuries, and there are still fierce disputes regarding this issue. In 1707, a geographer named Samuel Fritz published a map that identified Lake Lauricocha, upstream of the Marañon River in the western Andes, in Peru, as the source of the Amazon. Fritz believed that it was in the Maranion that more water was contained than in the other tributaries of the Amazon, which made this river the most important stream.

New source

Then, in the mid-nineties, a series of scientific expeditions identified another likely source - the headwaters of the Apurimac River in Peru. However, over time, the location of the source continued to change. It was originally assumed that Lake Vilafro is the source of the Apurimac River and, accordingly, the Amazon River. However, other scientists believed that Mount Vakra, located about 200 kilometers from the city of Cuzco, is the true source. Then, in the sixties, the Peruvian geographer Carlos Peñaherrera del Aguilla identified the 5597-meter Mismi mountain as the source. The waters descending from this mountain are the source of life for the Apurimac River. Over the next thirty years, scientific expeditions largely confirmed the Mismi idea, popularizing it.

Latest data

Andrew Johnston was a member of one of these expeditions in 2000. Every day for two weeks, Johnston sent teams of men upstream of various streams to map different potential headwaters for the Amazon River. As a result, it became known that one small tributary called Carhuasanta was the longest in this area, which made it the source of the river. However, in 2014 everything changed again. James Kontos published a scientific work that talked about a completely different tributary of the Amazon - the Mantaro River, which was described as the true source. It turns out that in 2012, when he was preparing for an expedition to the Amazon in a kayak, Kontos made his little discovery. He was studying topographic maps of the area, noting the various tributaries he wanted to explore, when he noticed something interesting. The Mantaro River, which has a large number of bends, turned out to be longer than the Apurimac River.

Finding Evidence

Kontos measured the length of both the Mantaro River and the Apurimac River on topographic maps and high-resolution satellite imagery. He also rafted down both rivers while marking his progress with high-precision GPS devices. It was hard work - once during the expedition, Kontos found himself in a particularly difficult and rugged part of the Amazon, because of which he lost his kayak and all his equipment. Luckily, he was able to find them the next day. Kontos' measurements confirmed his find: the Mantaro River is actually 75-77 kilometers longer than Apurimac. And the farthest point was the mountain Cordillera Rumi Cruz, located upstream of the Mantaro.

Disagreement of geographers

However, many geographers disagreed with Kontos's statements - they drew attention to the fact that Mantaro remains completely dry for about five months of the year, since the Tablachaca dam, built in 1974, redirects its waters into a 20-kilometer tunnel. Thus, according to these scientists, it is Apurimac that remains today the source of the Amazon, since this river is the longest uninterrupted flow of water that persists throughout the year. Naturally, Kontos is not going to give up his discovery - he declares that the water, albeit with a slight deviation through the tunnel, still continues to flow, and this is still the same water from the Mantaro River.

Does the Amazon have a source?

So all the same - where is the source of the Amazon? At the moment, there is no specific answer to this question. Depending on which definition of the source you choose, you can find yourself at various points in the Marañon, Apurimac and Mantaro rivers. However, it is worth noting that the Amazon is not an exception, but rather one of the many examples of a situation where geographers have been unable to find a specific source for a large river for many years.