The Amazon River is the largest in the world
The Amazon River (Portuguese: Rio Amazonas; Spanish: Río Amazonas) of South America is by far the largest river in the world by volume, with a total river flow greater than the next top ten largest rivers flowing into the ocean combined.
In fact,The Amazon, which has the largest drainage basin in the world, accounts for approximately one fifth of the world's total river flow.
Because of its vast dimensions, it is sometimes called The River Sea.
At no point along its length is the Amazon crossed by bridges.
This is only partly because of its huge dimensions—for most of its length the Amazon is not so wide that a modern bridge could not span it—but also because, for most of its length, the river flows through tropical rainforest, where there are few roads and even fewer cities.
Whilst the River Amazon is clearly the largest river in the world by most measures, the majority of the geographic community today regards the Amazon as only the second longest river, just slightly shorter than the River Nile in Africa, which flows into the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt.
However, the discovery of a new tributary of the Amazon now leads some scientists to consider the Amazon as the longest river in the world.
Unlike the Nile, which flows through an extremely dry desert region, with no tributaries after its two large branches, the White Nile and Blue Nile, meet in Khartoum, capital of Sudan, the Amazon flows through such a large tropical basin in such a high rainfall area of both tropical forest and Andes Mountains, that its tributaries are extremely numerous, covering almost half a continent.
The Amazon and the Nile could not be more different, even though they are very similar in length!!
In fact, the Amazon basin, the largest drainage basin in the world, covers an area of some 6,915,000 square kilometres or 2,670,000 sq miles, or about 40 per cent of South America.
It gathers its waters from 5 degrees north latitude to 20 degrees south latitude. Its most remote sources are found on the inter-Andean plateau, on the western side of South America, just a short distance from the Pacific Ocean.
The area covered by the water of the Amazon and its tributaries more than triples over the course of a year.
In an average dry season 110,000 square kilometres (42,000 sq mi) of land are water-covered, whilst in the wet season the flooded area of the Amazon Basin rises to 350,000 square kilometres (135,000 sq mi).
At its widest point the Amazon River can be 11 kilometres (7 mi) wide during the dry season, but during the rainy season when the Amazon floods the surrounding plains it can be up to 45 kilometres or 28 miles wide.
The quantity of water released by the Amazon to the Atlantic Ocean is enormous: up to 300,000 m³ per second in the rainy season.
The Amazon is responsible for a fifth of the total volume of fresh water entering the oceans worldwide.
Offshore of the mouth of the Amazon, potable water can be drawn from the ocean while still out of sight of the coastline, and the salinity of the ocean is notably lower for 200 kilometres out to sea.
The Amazon is a truly phenomenal river!!
It has long been said to originate from the Apacheta cliff in Arequipa at the Nevado Mismi, which is marked with a white, wooden cross.
This accepted location is currently being challenged by some investigators. They say that the furthest point of its catchment is even further from the Atlantic Ocean, making it longer than the Nile and the longest river in the world.
The Upper Amazon has a series of major river systems in Ecuador and Peru, some of which flow into the Marañón and others directly into the Amazon proper.
Amongst others, these include the following rivers: Tigre, Napo, Nanay, Morona, Pastaza, Nucuray, Urituyacu, Chambira, , Huallaga, and Ucayali.
The headstreams of the Marañón—which for many years had been seen as the origin of the Amazon—flow from high above central Peru's Lake Lauricocha, from the glaciers in what is known as the Nevado de Yarupa.
Rushing through waterfalls and gorges in an area of the high jungle called the pongos, the Marañón River flows about 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) from west-central to northeast Peru before it combines with the Ucayali River, just below the provincial town of Nauta, to form the Amazon River.
The accepted most distant source of the Amazon was firmly established in 1996, 2001 and 2007 as a glacial stream on a snowcapped 5,597 m (18,363 ft) peak called Nevado Mismi in the Peruvian Andes, roughly 160 km (100 mi) west of Lake Titicaca and 700 km (430 mi) southeast of Lima.
The waters from Nevado Mismi flow into the Quebradas Carhuasanta and Apacheta, which flow into the Río Apurímac which is a tributary of the Ucayali which later joins the Marañón to form the Amazon proper.
Formally, though, the union of the Ucayali and the Marañón form the Amazon River, which changes its name to Solimões on the triple frontier between Peru, Colombia and Brazil, and later changes its name back to the Amazon only after it meets the Rio Negro near the city of Manaus, about half-way from the Peruvian border to the Atlantic.
This confluence near Manaus is known in Brazil as the "Meeting of Waters" (Portuguese: Encontro das Águas) as the very dark, almost black, coloured waters of the Rio Negro meet the sandy coloured Rio Solimões.
For over 6 km or 3.6 miles, these waters run side by side without mixing. The name Solimões is only known by Brazilians, because for Peruvians and Colombians the name is always Amazon River.
The average depth of the river in the height of the rainy season is 40 m (131 ft) and the average width can be nearly 40 km or 25 miles, as we have already stated.
It starts to rise in November, and increases in volume until June, then falls until the end of October. The rise of the Rio Negro branch does not occur at the same time.
About 60 miles upstream from Manaus lies the world's largest river archipelago.
There are hundreds of islands, covered in thick vegetation, with a myriad of small creeks all formed by the ever-changing waters and the seasons.
When the Rio Negro is low, white sand beaches are revealed, as well as the roots and trunks of the trees.
As a natural paradise, it allows visitors to experience the unique ecology of the Amazon, including an amazing variety of vegetation and fauna, such as monkeys, sloth and exotic birds that make their habitat in the tropical forest.
River cruising allows visitors to view these wonderful sights and to hear the amazing sounds of the verdant rainforest.
Amazon cruises are increasing greatly in popularity.
Even the upper Amazon can be visited by smaller cruise ships. Much larger, ocean-going vessels ply the waters of the lower reaches.
Belem, a city located some 90 miles from the open sea and slightly south of the equator, is the great port of the Amazon.
The city was founded by the Portuguese in 1616 as the City of Our Lady of Bethlehem (Belem), and its original role was to protect the mouth of the river and establish Portugal's claim to the region.
However, Belem rapidly became established as an Indian slaving port and a source for cacao and spices from the Amazon region. Because of the export of slaves, the local population went into such decline that by the mid-18th century a royal decree was issued to encourage and reward every Portuguese who married an Indian woman.
Belem clings to the image of its heroic and mystic past, when, at the turn of the century, the rubber boom gave it extraordinary impetus, raising it to the level of the great European cities of the period. As the capital of Para, Belem is the most important city in northern Brazil.
Today, visitors enjoy an atmosphere of intriguing and exotic ambiance plus colonial architecture mixed with a surprisingly modern skyline.
Cultural events take place in the splendid Teatro da Paz, and the Goeldi Museum and Zoological Gardens are well worth a visit. There are good restaurants to try some local cuisine, and shops and markets offer a wide variety of Amazonian arts and crafts.
The Amazon, with its amazing scenery and wildlife is becoming increasingly popular as a cruise destination, especially.
However, the Amazon rainforest is also a vital wilderness that must be protected, for the good of all life on Planet Earth. It's verdant growth has a massive influence on the planet's climate. Its trees are immensely important for absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The flora of the Amazon basin also contain irreplaceable medicines that have not even been discovered by the general population of the world as yet. Some of these have been used for hundreds of years by indigenous tribes.
The secrets of the cures for various cancers may well lie in the Amazon jungle!
Who knows what "treasures" this vast wilderness contains? They may well be worth far more than gold and precious stones!!