The Amazon is one of the natural wonders of the planet, familiar to everyone from school. In terms of popularity, this river can compete with the Egyptian Nile and the Indian Ganges. The unique ecosystem of the longest waterway on earth (more than 7 thousand km from the source of the Apachete) attracts thrill-seekers, exoticism, South American flora and fauna, and just ordinary tourists who want to expand the boundaries of their travels.
Flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, the Amazon forms the world's largest delta. The largest river island of Marajo, located just in the delta, the giant water lily Victoria regia, huge palm trees, the largest freshwater fish on the planet and the river dolphin are included in the list of Amazonian "rarities".
It is believed that the Spanish conquistador Francisco de Orellana discovered the Amazon in the 16th century. Initially, the conqueror of the New World wanted to give the river his name, but in the end he changed his mind. The river owes its name to a mysterious tribe of women warriors who attacked Orellan's detachment. Currently, the real existence of the Amazons is being questioned. Men with long hair could well have played their role.
Sources and tributaries
The main question that arises in the disputes about Parana Tingo or "Queen of the Rivers", as the local people call the Amazon, is whether its waters are the longest on the planet, and, if so, where is the source of the river. 15 years ago, in the mid-90s. 20th century, an international expedition, having gone to the Peruvian mountains, was able to give an exact answer, which is currently the official version included in geography textbooks.
The source of the Amazon is the Apachete stream, which, after a long way, merging with other streams and rivers, turns into Apurimac, and then through Ucayali - into the Amazon. It is noteworthy that the Ucayali River is located in Peru, as well as the Marañon River, which for a long time was considered as the main source.
Before the expedition to the Andes, which put an end to the disputes about the Amazon, the first place among the most long rivers the planet was occupied by the Nile, but persistent South American researchers were able to prove that the Amazon was longer. The difference is literally a few hundred meters.
The number of tributaries that make the Queen of Rivers the most abundant on the planet is enormous. Over five hundred rivers and streams flow into the Amazon. The largest are 9, among them about 20 - more than 1.5 thousand km long. An interesting effect is associated with one of the tributaries: at the confluence of the Rio Negro, not far from the Brazilian city of Manaus, the Amazon is two-colored. Some of the water is white, some is dark. The light shade is due to the fact that the Amazon carries a large amount of silt.
Before the confluence with the Rio Negro, the Amazon bears a completely different name - Solimoins (this is the name of the river in Brazil) or Rio de Janeiro Marañon (Peruvian name).
Amazon hotels
The main accommodation facilities on the Amazon are lodges, and the lodges are very diverse in terms of service and quality of service - from modest 3 * to luxurious 5 *.
Flora and fauna of the Amazon
The navigable Amazon is home to so many animals. Species diversity freshwater fish is up to one third of total all over the earth. The most famous among the river inhabitants are the giant arapaima, the maximum known weight is 200 kg, the length is up to 3 m, and the piranhas, dangerous for people, are from 13 cm to 40 cm long. coincidence of circumstances can harm a person. Generally speaking, the local nature is extremely dangerous for two-legged, and the stories about bloodthirsty caimans are not fiction, but the harsh truth, although, as the natives testify, in order to get into their teeth, it is necessary, at least, to get out of big water and delve into the rain forests.
One of the main tourist attractions for those traveling in the Amazon is piranha fishing for raw meat. Day and night canoe trips are also popular, during which you can get acquainted with the animal and plant world.
Almost the entire Amazon basin is framed by jungle, covering the territory of nine South American states - Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, etc. For the abundance of vegetation, in addition to the river itself, there is a huge amount of rainfall.
Amazon nature
Amazon cities
Most of the river flows through Brazil. The largest Brazilian port is Manaus, which is also the capital of the state of Amozanas. It is good to come here in order to see the aborigines, the jungle, watch how the Rio Negro flows into the Amazon and feel like a pioneer.
In Peru, the largest city on the Amazon is Iquitos, a city in the jungle, connected to civilization only by air and water transport. Stilt houses, an Indian village, high humidity can be a real challenge for a city dweller accustomed to the comfort.
Amazon river has broken many records. This is the deepest river in the world, it collects 40% of the water South America... The volume of water thrown off by the river into the ocean is so great that it is equal to 1/5 of the total volume of river water on the planet. Many of its tributaries are in themselves the greatest rivers in the world. More recently, the Amazon is also the longest river in the world. It has the widest river mouth in the world, it is 10 times wider than the English Channel. Not surprisingly, at the mouth of the Amazon lies the world's largest river island the size of Scotland.
During the rainy season, it floods forests equal to that of England. During the dry season, millions of fish are trapped in its lagoons, a paradise for predators. There are more fish species in the river than in the entire Atlantic Ocean. To cross it rainforests on the plane you need to spend 4 hours.
Characteristics of the Amazon River
Length of the Amazon River: 6992 km
Drainage basin area: 7,180,000 km? For comparison, the area of Australia is 7 692 024 km2.
River mode, food: The Amazon receives its nourishment from numerous tributaries, and due to the humid climate, the river receives a lot of water from precipitation. Upstream important role plays snow food.
Amazon mode is interesting and quite challenging. It is quite full all year round. Right and left tributaries of the river have different time floods. The fact is that the right tributaries are located in the Southern Hemisphere, and the left ones are in the Northern. Therefore, in the right tributaries, floods are observed from October to March (summer in the Southern Hemisphere), in the left tributaries, from April to October (summer in the Northern Hemisphere). This leads to some smoothing of the flow. The southern tributaries bring more water and in May - July lead to maximum water level rises. The minimum runoff is observed in August - September. In the lower reaches, ocean tides also play an important role, extending up the river for 1400 km. When the water rises, the river floods gigantic territories - the largest flood in the world. The width of the floodplain reaches 80-100 km.
Average water discharge at the mouth: 220,000 m3 / s. The maximum flow during floods reaches 300,000 m3 / s and even more. The minimum flow rate during the dry season is 70,000 m3 / s. For comparison, the water consumption in the Volga is 8060 m? / S i.e. almost 28 times less.
Where it proceeds: The Amazon flows mainly through Brazil, but small parts of the Amazon Basin belong to Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.
The Amazon originates at an altitude of 5 thousand meters from the snow-capped peaks of the Peruvian Andes. Melt water, connecting with other streams, rushes down to the endless jungle. In addition to the high altitude of the mouth of the Amazon, it is necessary to take into account the fact that it is located at the latitude of the Equator and therefore the climate here is changeable, during the day the hot sun weakens the ice grip and the melt water goes down. Tons of melted snow combine together to form powerful streams and gain acceleration.
Soon descending to a height of 3.5 thousand meters, the Amazon enters the kingdom wet forests... Here waterfalls are often found on the river, and the current of the Amazon is still turbulent, it has to make its way through the mountain ranges. Descending from the Andes, the Amazon spills over a wide valley (Amazonian lowland). Here it flows surrounded by the tropical jungle.
The direction of the flow of the Amazon is predominantly from west to east, and it does not depart far from the equator. It is interesting that under the Amazon at a depth of 4 thousand meters, the underground river Hamza flows, it feeds on groundwater.
The main channel of the Amazon is navigable all the way to the foot of the Andes, i.e. at a distance of 4300 km. Ocean vessels can climb up the river at a distance of 1690 km from the mouth, to the city of Manaus. The total length of all waterways in the Amazon Basin is 25,000 km.
After the confluence of the Xingu River, the Amazon looks more like a sea. The width of the river reaches 15 km and it is already impossible to see the opposite bank.
Here you can already feel the closeness of the Atlantic and you can observe the ebb and flow. The river bed is divided into many branches that flow into its huge delta. The Amazon Estuary is the widest estuary in the world. There are thousands of islands at the mouth of the Amazon, the largest of which has an area equal to the area of Scotland. In this gigantic estuary, there is a constant struggle between salt and fresh water. The tides of the Atlantic Ocean make their way deep into the river, sweeping away everything in its path. This phenomenon is called the Amazon tidal wave or vice wave.
Flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, the Amazon forms the world's largest delta with an area of 100,000 square kilometers. This huge delta is home to the world's largest river island, Marajo.
From its 300-kilometer mouth, the river releases more water into the ocean than anything European rivers taken together. From space, the flow of its murky waters is discernible in the ocean a hundred kilometers away. from the coast.
The Amazon River at the mouth.
230 km northeast of Lima, from Lake Lavrikokha on the flat Bombon Upland (4300 m), stretching between the West and East; at first it flows in meanders through a narrow mountain valley 220 km long, forming a series of waterfalls and rapids; only at Hen de Bracamoras, after 700 km of extension, it becomes navigable; after that, it turns in an arc of 250 km to the northeast and east and cuts through the Cordillera with 13 streams, or pongo (gate). Near Rentema, it flows at an altitude of 378 m and expands to 1,600 m, then, after running through a space of 950 km, it enters the wooded area under the tropics, where, no longer presenting obstacles to navigation, continues its way along the lowlands of Peru and 3,650 km and flows under into. Its total length is 5,000 km.
Estuary of the amazon consists of three main branches forming the islands of Caviana and Mexiana, and at the island of Marayo it is 250 km wide. From this main mouth, called the Braganza Canal, or Rio Macapu, there are a number of branches to the south, of which the largest is called Tahapuru, connecting with the Rio Gran Para, which flows into the ocean in the northeast. Lying between the two main estuaries of about. Marayo has an area of 19,270 square kilometers. Despite the mass of land washed away from the shores, the Amazon does not form deltas at its mouth, on the contrary, it demolished several islets from it; there are many shoals in it, and therefore its course often changes. The upper reaches of the river to Tabatinga are called Tunguragua and Marañon, before the confluence of the Rio Negro, it is called Solimos and further to the mouth - Amazonas. The common name "Amazon River" comes from the legend according to which a tribe of warlike women lived on its banks, or from the word "Amassona", that is, boat destroyers, by which name the Indians in the 16th century called this tribe.
The Amazon has more than 200 tributaries, of which 100 are navigable; 17 rivers of the first magnitude flow into it with a length of 1500-3500 km; all these rivers form a water area of 7,337,000, and with the exception of the Tocantin - 6,500,000 km2 East slope of the Andes from 3 ° north. latitude to 20 ° south latitude delivers its waters to the Amazon River. Its six tributaries are more significant in length and quantity of water, but even the largest of them, the Rio Negro and Madeira, when they flow into it, have no effect on its course; their waters only at first in a narrow space near the banks have a different color, then they completely merge with it. Almost all tributaries form deltas at their confluence and often from the main river there are branches that flow into the tributaries, so that a continuous network of branches and islands is formed: you can, for example, sail in boats from Santarem up to Obidos, bypassing the main course of the river. The branching of one of the lateral branches of Madeira, again connecting with the Amazon after 350 km of its course, formed its largest island, Ilga dos Tumpinambaranas, with an area of 14,300 square kilometers, on which the last remnants of the once powerful Tumpinambas people have survived.
The entrance to the Amazon is very dangerous, as there are many shoals at the estuaries. As a tropical river, the Amazon is the opposite of the Nile, since it does not pass through different belts, but flows almost its entire length in the direction and therefore overflows almost all of its space to incredible limits from falling rains. The rainy time for the Amazon and all its mountain tributaries is from January to March, and then the water, having risen 10-15 m, protrudes from its shores for many miles. The high water lasts about 120 days. Stretching along the coast, virgin and across the world of animals, it represents a wide variety of tropical countries.
The Amazon forms a whole network of shipping lanes. From the mouth to the Andean slopes, it stretches along a continuous navigable road and near Tabatinga reaches a depth of 13 m, so that the largest ships can navigate on it. For sailing ships it is also quite comfortable, since almost all year round there are upward trade winds. Most of the tributaries are navigable for several hundred kilometers. The total length of all waterways along which Brazilian steamers sail was in 1873 9,900 km. The mouth of the Amazon was discovered in 1500 by Vikentiy Pinzon, and its source in 1537. The first traveled along it a companion of Pizarro, Francis de Orellana (1540-41), who launched the legend of the land of the Amazons and the golden land, or Eldorado. Of the travelers who subsequently explored this river, remarkable in their explorations are Pedro Texeira (1637-39), the Jesuit pastor Samuel Fritz ("Apostle A. R."), Condamine (1743-44), Speaks and Marcius (1820), Mau (1826), Peppit (1831-32), Prussian Prince Adalbert (1842), Count of Castelnau (1846); especially important in this respect are the expedition of Herndon and Gibbon (1850-52), undertaken on behalf of the North American Union, and the scientific journey of Agassiz at the invitation of the Brazilian government.
Amazon tributaries: The main tributaries of the Amazon: on the right - Guallaga, Ucayali, Hawari, Khutagi, Hurua Teffe Aofi, Purus, Madeira, Tapayos, or Rio Preto, Hingu and Tocantin; left - Santio, Marogna, Pastaza, Napo, Putumayo, Yapura, Rio Negro with Cassiquiare, Huatuma and Trombetas.
Inhabitants of the Amazon: The entire area, irrigated by the main stream and tributaries of the Rio Negro and Madeira, is divided into 4 areas with different flora and fauna. The fauna of insects is very rich, especially the formic fauna; , with the exception of monkeys, few. The Amazon abounds in aquatic plants and animals, caimans, dolphins, fish and delicious turtles; the so-called "pira-ruku", or red fish, reaching 2-2.5 m in length and 60-80 kilograms in weight, is found in large numbers; it is salted, dried and sold in whole lots to Para. In the Amazon, there is a lot of manatee (sea cow), a genus of mammals that is significantly widespread here.
Freezing Amazon: does not freeze.
The Amazon is one of the most famous rivers in the world. Everyone knows where the Amazon is - it practically crosses South America. The river got its name in 1542. It was then that the travelers were forced to engage in battle with the Indian warriors, led by women. The Spanish were reminded of this of the female warriors - the Amazons. It is for this reason that the waterway received the name "river of the Amazons" - Rio de las Amazonas. It is likely that the warriors were not actually women, they just braided their hair in braids, which confused Spanish travelers.
Another version claims that the name comes from the Indian expression "big water" - Amazonas. This version is similar to the truth, except that the Indians do not use this expression in the names of other rivers. Some researchers believe that "amasunu" is the name of the destructive tidal wave that occurs at the mouth of the river. Confirmation of this version is that the Indians call the river this way only in the lower reaches, while on the average it was called Saolimoins.
The modern name of the river is Amazonas (in Russian - Amazonka). Where is this beautiful river located, what are its main characteristics and what happens on its banks - all this is worth getting to know the river better.
Source
To find out where the Amazon River is located, it is worth starting by examining its source. For a long time it was not known exactly where the river water originates from, but now the answer to this question has been found. The Apacheta stream flowing from the glacier of Mount Misimi is where the river is born. To say where the Amazon is located - in which country - is difficult, because it flows through the territory of several states. However, it begins in Peru, in the Andes, at an altitude of more than 5 thousand meters.
A little below the Apacheta it meets the Karuasantu brook, turning into a small river Loketu. On its way, the river is replenished with the waters of a huge number of different streams, gradually developing into the Hornillos River. Taking in the waters of several more rivers, the one named Apurimac is born.
Having traveled a long way, on the highlands, the stream connects with Mantaro, turning into Yena. After merging with Perene and Urubamba, the upper course of the river becomes more calm and is called Ucayali. Further downstream, the larger and more powerful Marañon flows into the river, originating in Lake Llauricoca.
Merging into one, the rivers give birth to the one in question - the Amazon.
Estuary
It is very simple to answer the question of where the mouth of the Amazon is - in Brazil. Despite the fact that this mouth is all in one country. The area of the Amazon delta is more than 100 thousand kilometers. Two of the largest branches of the river form the largest island surrounded by fresh waters - Marajo. The mouth of the Amazon - the fifth part fresh water the whole planet.
When observing a river from space, the stream of water that the Amazon gives to the ocean can be discerned almost 400 kilometers from the coast.
River mode
The main reservoir of the planet's fresh water is the Amazon. Where is its source, where does the river get such a huge amount of water? The river receives its food from a large number of tributaries. In addition, the humid climate provides a large inflow of water and due to precipitation. Upstream the river is fed by melting snow in the Andes.
The river mode is challenging and interesting. Wherever the Amazon is located, you can observe a full-flowing river all year round. Tributaries from opposite sides rivers have different flood times. This is explained by the fact that the tributaries from the right bank are in the Southern Hemisphere, and from the left - in the North. For this reason, floods near the right-bank tributaries occur in October - March, and in the left-bank tributaries - in April - October. The result of these floods is flow smoothing.
The lower reaches of the Amazon River, where its source is located, largely depends on the tides of the ocean. The tidal wave rises almost one and a half kilometers upstream. During the rise, the waters flood huge areas along the banks of the river - this is the largest flood. The floodplain can be up to 100 kilometers wide.
Where does it take
It has long been known where the Amazon River is located - it flows, for the most part, in Brazil, but some parts of the basin cover parts of Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.
In the middle course, at an altitude of 3.5 thousand meters above sea level, the river runs along the picturesque banks of humid forests. On this site, waterfalls are not uncommon, the current is stormy, because the river has to make its way through an array of mountains. Descending from the mountain slopes, the Amazon spreads across the tropical jungle, across a wide
The river flows along the equator, practically without changing direction from west to east. It is curious that at a depth of 4 thousand meters, an underground river flowing underneath, fed by groundwater - Khamza.
Navigability
The main channel remains navigable to the very foot of the Andes, which is more than 4 thousand kilometers from the source. Ocean vessels can go up to the city of Manaus, located just 1690 kilometers from the estuary. The average length of all waterways is 25 thousand kilometers.
Closer to the source, the width of the Amazon reaches 15 kilometers - you can't even see the opposite coast.
Animal world
Home to many plants, the Amazon is home to a huge number of fish and animals. Due to strong water spills, aquatic inhabitants are far from the last place in the huge list of animals in the Amazon. During major floods, you can watch a unique sight - whole islands float along the river with many species of plants and animals that did not have time to escape.
One of the most famous fish The Amazons are piranhas. This fish can sense blood from a great distance. Having learned that there is prey, the flock rushes to the target with great speed. These predators in the process of pursuit reach the point that they rush at each other. Even the largest animal that gets into the water has no chance of saving its life - piranhas cope with the task in minutes.
The Amazon is home to a large number of unique fish and animals that cannot be found anywhere else on the planet. Scientists around the world are studying the banks of the river, but it is still impossible to say what about the river, its animal and flora everything is known - the dense forests of the Amazon coast are very difficult to study.
The Amazon River is the most aquiferous river in the world, carrying a fifth of the world's fresh water to the ocean. The flow of water is so huge that, pouring out into the Atlantic Ocean, the Amazon changes the salt composition and color of the ocean for 320 kilometers. In all respects, this is the greatest, one of the longest rivers in the world. The river is located in the north of South America, starting from the Andes in Peru, and ends in the Atlantic Ocean in Brazil. The length of the Amazon ranges from 6259 to 6800 km. different sources... In this article, you will learn about the set interesting facts and admire photographs of a real miracle of nature.
The Amazon is a huge system of rivers and forests that crosses half of Brazil and extends into neighboring states. The Amazon River is the largest in the world in terms of basin size (7.2 million km2) and water content. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers - Marañon and Ucayali. The length of Marañon from the source is 6400 km, Ucayali is over 7000 km. The Amazon flows into the Atlantic Ocean, forming the world's largest internal delta (over 100 thousand km2) and funnel-shaped mouths - arms that cover the huge island of Marajo.
They say that the Amazon got its name thanks to the Spanish conquistadors, who, fighting on the banks of the great river with the Indians, were struck by the fearless fury of Indian women who fought on an equal basis with men. Brave and strong warriors reminded the Spaniards of the ancient myth of the Amazons - and thanks to them the river got its name.
During the dry season, the Amazon River reaches a width of 11 kilometers, covering 110 thousand square meters of water. km, and in the rainy season it triples, covering 350 thousand square meters. km and overflowing for 40 km or more. Another achievement of the Amazon is the mouth of the river, the largest delta in the world, with a width of 325 km. The river is navigable two-thirds of its length from the Atlantic Ocean.
In the small town of Belene at the mouth of the Amazon, large waves of water 4–5 m high roll up the river with a terrible roar during high ocean tides. Their strength is felt at a distance of 1400 km from the mouth. Downstream, after the confluence of the Shingu tributary.
The Amazon is 80 km wide, and its depth at Obidus is 135 m (approximately the average depth of the Baltic Sea). The Amazon provides about 15% of the total annual flow of all rivers the globe... Together with its tributaries, it forms a gigantic water system with a length of more than 25 thousand km. The main channel of the Amazon is navigable for 4,300 km, and ocean-going vessels climb 1,690 km from the estuary to Manaus.
It is home to flora only 30% studied by scientists. 25% of all medicinal substances in the world that are used in medicine are extracted from the plants of the Amazonian forest. 1800 bird species, 250 different mammals, 1500 different types fish - all this makes up the flora and fauna of the Amazon. The Amazon River and its tributaries make up 20% of all fresh water in the world. Of the 20 longest rivers in the world, 10 are in the Amazon basin. It is home to pink dolphins and bullfish, the length of which reaches 4 meters and weighs more than 500 kg. The famous predator, the piranha fish, is also an inhabitant of these places.
Pink River Dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), is a freshwater river dolphin, local to Orinoco, Amazon and River systems Araguaia / Tocantins of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela The Amazon River Dolphin's neck spine is not fused together and is therefore able to bend his neck at 90 degree angles to his body, and skillfully hunt fish in a flooded forest.
And here is the piranha that lives in the waters of the Amazon River
The Amazon's high water can be easily explained: 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 southern (from October to April), on the right tributaries The Great River actually lives in conditions of constant flooding.
So, is this Great Amazon River the longest river on our planet? Brazil's National Space Research Center (INPE) claims the Amazon is the longest river in the world. Center experts have studied the waterway in the north of the South American continent using satellite data. In their calculations, they were based on the results of an expedition carried out last year by scientists from Brazil and Peru. Then the researchers reached the source of the Amazon, located in the Peruvian Andes, at an altitude of 5 thousand meters. They unraveled one of the greatest geographic mysteries, finding the birthplace of a river that crosses Peru, Colombia and Brazil before reaching the Atlantic Ocean. This point is located in the mountains in the south of Peru, and not in the north of the country, as previously thought. At the same time, scientists installed several satellite beacons, which greatly facilitated the task for experts from INPE. Now, according to the National Center for Space Research, the length of the Amazon is 6992.06 km, while the Nile flowing in Africa is 140 km shorter (6852.15 km). So this makes the South American river not only the deepest, but also the longest in the world, ITAR-TASS notes. Until that moment, the Amazon was officially recognized as the deepest river, but it was always considered the second longest after the Nile (Egypt). The Amazon basin is on the list of the most