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Map showing the course of the Amazon, selected tributaries, and the approximate extent of its drainage area
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Nevado Mismi
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Atlantic Ocean
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Brazil (624%), Peru (163%)<br> Bolivia (120%), Colombia (63%)<br> Ecuador (21%)
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6,387 km (3,969 mi)
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5,597 m (18,364 ft)
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219,000 m³/s (7,735,080 ft³/s)
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6,915,000 km&2 (2,669,882 mi&2)
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The (occasionally ''River Amazon''; is
One Of The Two Longest River s on Earth, the other being the
Nile in Africa. The Amazon has by far the greatest total flow of any river, carrying more than the
Mississippi ,
Nile , and
Yangtze rivers combined — so while it may not be the ''longest'' river, it is undoubtedly the ''largest''; it is also known as ''The River Sea''. Its
Drainage Area , called the
Amazon Basin , is the largest of any river system.
The quantity of fresh water released to the entering the oceans worldwide. It is said that 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 a hundred miles out to sea.
The main river (which is usually between one and six miles wide) is navigable for large ocean steamers to , 3,600 km (2,250 miles) from the sea. Smaller riverboats can reach 780 km (486 mi) higher as far as
Achual Point . Beyond that, small boats frequently ascend to the
Pongo De Manseriche , just above Achual Point.
The Amazon drains an area of some
6,915,000km &
2 (2,722,000 mile&
2), or some 40 percent 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, just a short distance from the
Pacific Ocean ; and, after a course of about 6,400 km (4,000 mi) through the interior of
Peru and across
Brazil , it enters the
Atlantic Ocean at the
Equator .
The Amazon has changed its drainage several times, from westward in the early
Cenozoic to its present eastward locomotion following the uplift of the
Andes .
, with a sole sign of a wooden cross.]]
The ultimate source of the Amazon has only recently been firmly established as a stream on a 5,597 metre (18,363 ft) peak called
Nevado Mismi in the Peruvian
Andes , roughly 160 km west of Lake
Titicaca and 700 km S.E. of
Lima . The mountain was first suggested as the source in
1971 but this was not confirmed until
2001 . The waters from Nevado Mismi 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 Solimoes, which turns into the Amazon only after it meets the Rio Negro near Manaos.
After the confluence of
Río Apurímac and
Ucayali , the river leaves Andean terrain and is instead surrounded by
Flood Plain . From this point to the
Marañón , some 1,600 km (1,000 mi), the forested banks are just out of water, and are inundated long before the river attains its maximum flood-line. The low river banks are interrupted by only a few hills, and the river enters the enormous
Amazon Rainforest .
See Also: Amazon Rainforest
From the east of the
Andes , the Amazon
Rainforest begins. It is the largest rainforest in the world and is of great
Ecological significance, as its biomass is capable of absorbing enormous amounts of
Carbon Dioxide .
Conservation of the Amazon Rainforest has been a major issue in recent years.
The rainforest is supported by the extremely wet climate of the Amazon basin. The Amazon, and its hundreds of tributaries, flow slowly across the landscape, with an extremely shallow gradient sending them towards the sea:
Manaus , 1,600 km (1,000 mi) from the
Atlantic , is only 44 m (144 ft) above sea level.
The
Biodiversity within the rainforest is extraordinary: the region is home to at least 2.5 million insect species, tens of thousands of plants, and some 2,000 birds and mammals. One fifth of all the world's species of birds can be found in the Amazon rainforest.
The diversity of plant species in the Amazon basin is the highest on Earth. Some experts estimate that one square kilometre may contain over 75,000 types of trees and 150,000 species of higher plants. One square kilometre of Amazon rainforest can contain about 90,000 tons of living plants.
satellite image of a flooded portion of the river.]]
The average depth of the river in the height of the rainy season is 40 m (120 ft) and the average width can be nearly twenty-five miles. It starts to rise in November, and increases in volume until June, then falls until the end of October. The rise of the Negro branch is not synchronous; the rainy season does not commence in its valley until February or March. By June it is full, and then it begins to fall with the Amazon. The Madeira rises and falls two months earlier than the Amazon.
The breadth of the Amazon in some places is as much as 6 to 10 km (4 to 6 mi) from one bank to the other. At some points, for long distances, the river divides into two main streams with inland and lateral
Channels , all connected by a complicated system of natural
Canal s, cutting the low, flat igapo lands, which are never more than 5 m (15 ft) above low river, into many islands.
At the narrows of
Óbidos , 600 km (400 mi) from the sea, the Amazon narrows, flowing in a single streambed, a mile (1.6 km) wide and over 200 ft (60 m). deep, through which the water rushes toward the sea at the speed of 6 to 8 km/h (4 to 5 mph).
From the village of
Canaria at the great bend of the Amazon to the Negro 1,000 km (600 mi) downstream, only very low land is found, resembling that at the mouth of the river. Vast areas of land in this region are submerged at high water, above which only the upper part of the trees of the sombre forests appear. Near the mouth of the Rio Negro to Serpa, nearly opposite the river Madeira, the banks of the Amazon are low, until approaching Manaus, they rise to become rolling hills. At Óbidos, a bluff 17 m (56 ft) above the river is backed by low hills. The lower Amazon seems to have once been a
Gulf of the
Atlantic Ocean , the waters of which washed the cliffs near Óbidos.
Only about 10% of the water discharged by the Amazon enters the mighty stream downstream of Óbidos, very little of which is from the northern slope of the valley. The drainage area of the Amazon basin above Óbidos is about 5 million km&
2 (2 million mile&
2), and, below, only about 1 million km&
2 (400,000 mile&
2), or around 20%, exclusive of the 1.4 million km&
2 (600,000 mile&
2) of the Tocantins basin.
In the lower reaches of the river, the north bank consists of a series of steep, table-topped
Hill s extending for about 240 km (150 mi) from opposite the mouth of the Xingu as far as
Monte Alegre . These hills are cut down to a kind of
Terrace which lies between them and the river.
Monte Alegre reaches an altitude of several hundred feet. On the south bank, above the Xingu, an almost-unbroken line of low
Bluff s bordering the flood-plain extends nearly to Santarem, in a series of gentle curves before they bend to the south-west, and, abutting upon the lower Tapajos, merge into the bluffs which form the terrace margin of the Tapajos river valley.
The width of the mouth of the river is usually measured from
Cabo Do Norte to
Punto Patijoca , a distance of some 330 km (207 mi); but this includes the ocean outlet, 60 km (40 mi) wide, of the Para river, which should be deducted, as this stream is only the lower reach of the Tocantins. It also includes the ocean frontage of
Marajó , an island about the size of
Denmark lying in the mouth of the Amazon.
Following the coast, a little to the north of Cabo do Norte, and for 160 km (100 miles) along its Guiana margin up the Amazon, is a belt of half-submerged islands and shallow sandbanks. Here the tidal phenomenon called the
Bore , or ''Pororoca'', occurs, where the depths are not over 4
Fathom s (7 m). The tidal bore starts with a roar, constantly increasing, and advances at the rate of from 15 to 25 km/h (10 to 15 mph), with a breaking wall of water from 1.5 to 4 m (5 to 12 ft) high. The bore is the reason the Amazon does not have a
Delta ; the ocean rapidly carries away the vast volume of
Silt carried by the Amazon, making it impossible for a delta to grow. It also has a very large tide sometimes reaching 20 feet.
The waters of the Amazon support a diverse range of wildlife. Along with the
Orinoco , the river is one of the main habitats of the
Boto , also known as the Amazon River Dolphin. The largest species of river dolphin, it can grow to lengths of up to 2.6 m.
Also present in large numbers are the notorious
Piranha , carnivorous fish which congregate in large schools, and may attack livestock and even humans. Although many experts believe their reputation for ferocity is unwarranted, a school of piranha was apparently responsible for the deaths of up to 300 people when their boat capsized near
Óbidos in
1981 . However, only a few species attack humans, and many are solely fish-eaters, and do not school.
The
Anaconda snake is found in shallow waters in the Amazon basin. One of the world's largest species of snake, the Anaconda spends most of its time in the water, with just its nostrils above the surface. Anacondas have been known to occasionally attack fishermen.
The river also supports thousands of species of fish, as well as crabs and turtles.
The first descent by a European of the Amazon from the
Andes to the sea was made by
Francisco De Orellana in 1541.
The first ascent by a European of the river was made in 1638 by
Pedro Teixeira , a
Portuguese , who reversed the route of Orellana and reached
Quito by way of the
Napo River . He returned in 1639 with the two
Jesuit fathers
Acuna and
Artieda , who had been delegated by the viceroy of
Peru to accompany Texeira.
Before the conquest of South America, the ''Río de las Amazonas'' had no general name; instead, indigenous peoples had names for the sections of the river they occupied, such as
Paranaguazu ,
Guyerma ,
Solimões and others.
In the year 1500,
Vicente Yañez Pinzon , in command of a
Spanish expedition, became the first European to explore the river, exploring its mouth when he discovered that the ocean off the shore was fresh water. Pinzon called the river the ''Rio Santa Maria de la Mar Dulce'', which soon became abbreviated to Mar Dulce, and for some years, after 1502, it was known as the Rio Grande.
Pinzon's companions called the river ''El Río Marañón''. The word Marañón is thought by some to be of indigenous origin. This idea was first stated in a letter from
Peter Martyr to
Lope Hurtado De Mendoza in 1513. However, the word may also be derived from the
Spanish word ''"maraña"'' — meaning a tangle, a snarl, which well represents the bewildering difficulties which the earlier explorers met in navigating not only the entrance to the Amazon, but the whole island-bordered, river-cut and indented coast of what is now the Brazilian state of
Maranhão .
The name ''Amazon'' arises from a battle which
Francisco De Orellana had with a tribe of
Tapuya s where the women of the tribe fought alongside the men, as was the custom among the entire tribe. Orellana derived the name Amazonas from the ancient
Amazons of
Asia and
Africa described by
Herodotus and
Diodorus .
.]]
For 350 years after the European discovery of the Amazon by Pinzon, the Portuguese portion of its basin remained an almost undisturbed wilderness, occupied by indigenous tribes split into countless fragments by their quest for food. Because of the difficulty of
Hunting And Gathering food, the indigenous inhabitants probably had a population density no higher than one person to every 13 km&
2 (5 sq. miles) of territory.
A few settlements on the banks of the main river and some of its tributaries had been founded by the Portuguese either for trade with the Indians or for evangelizing purposes. The total population of the Brazilian portion of the Amazon basin in 1850 was perhaps 300,000, of whom about two-thirds comprised by Europeans and slaves, the slaves amounting to about 25,000.
The principal commercial city,
Para , had from 10,000 to 12,000 inhabitants, including slaves. The town of Manáos, now
Manaus , at the mouth of the Rio Negro, had from 1,000 to 1,500 population. All the remaining villages, as far up as
Tabatinga , on the Brazilian frontier of Peru, were very small.
On
September 6 1850 , the emperor,
Dom Pedro II , sanctioned a law authorizing steam navigation on the Amazon, and gave Barao Maua (
Irineu Evangilista De Sousa ) the task of putting it into effect. He organized the "Compania de Navigacao e Commercio do Amazonas" at Rio de Janeiro in 1852; and in the following year it commenced operations with three small steamers, the ''Monarch'', the ''Marajó'' and ''Rio Negro''.
At first, navigation was principally confined to the main river; and even in 1857 a modification of the government contract only obliged the company to a monthly service between Para and Manáos, with steamers of 200 tons cargo capacity, a second line to make six round voyages a year between Manaós and Tabatinga, and a third, two trips a month between Para and Cameta. This was the first step in opening up the vast interior.
The success of the venture called attention to the opportunities for economic exploitation of the Amazon, and a second company soon opened commerce on the Madeira, Purus and Negro; a third established a line between Para and Manáos; and a fourth found it profitable to navigate some of the smaller streams. In that same period, the Amazonas Company was increasing its fleet. Meanwhile, private individuals were building and running small steam craft of their own on the main river as well as on many of its tributaries.
On , 1867.
Manáos (now Manaus), Para and Iquitos are now thriving commercial centres. The first direct foreign trade with Manáos was commenced about 1874. The local trade of the river was carried on by the English successors to the Amazonas Company—the Amazon Steam Navigation Company—as well as numerous small river steamers, belonging to companies and firms engaged in the rubber trade, navigating the Negro, Madeira, Purfis and many other streams. The principal exports of the valley were
India-rubber ,
Cacao ,
Brazil Nut s and a few other products of very minor importance.
Four centuries after the European discovery of the Amazon river, the total cultivated area in its basin was probably less than 25 square miles (65 km&
2), excluding the limited and rudely cultivated areas among the mountains at its extreme headwaters. This situation changed dramatically during the
20th Century .
, the largest city on the Amazon, as seen from a
NASA satellite image, surrounded by the muddy Amazon River and the dark
Negro River .]]
Wary of foreign exploitation of the nation's resources, Brazilian governments in the 1940s set out to develop the interior, away from the seaboard where foreigners owned large tracts of land. The original architect of this expansion was President
Getúlio Vargas , the demand for rubber from the Allied forces in
World War II providing funding for the drive.
The construction of the new capital
Brasilia in the interior in
1960 also contributed to the opening up of the Amazon basin. A large scale colonization program saw families from north-eastern Brazil relocated to the forests, encouraged by promises of cheap land. Many settlements grew along the road from Brasilia to
Belem , but rainforest soil proved difficult to cultivate.
Still, long-term development plans continued. Roads were cut through the forests, and in 1970, the work on Trans-Amazon highway network began. The network's three pioneering highways were completed within ten years, connecting all the major cities of the Brazilian Amazon interior.
Cattle farming became a major impetus in
Deforestation , with military governments in the
1960s and
1970s heavily subsidising the creation of large ranches. By the
1980s the rate of destruction of the rainforest was dizzying, and it is estimated that over a fifth of the total area of the rainforest has now been
Clearcut . The preservation of the remaining forest is becoming an ever more prominent concern.
The Amazon has over 1,000
Tributaries in total. Some of the more notable are:
# 6,387 km -
Amazon ,
South America
# 3,379 km -
Purus ,
Peru /
Brazil , (2,948 km) (3,210 km)
# 3,239 km -
Madeira ,
Bolivia /
Brazil
# 2,820 km -
Yapura ,
Colombia /
Brazil
# 2,750 km -
Tocantins ,
Brazil , (2,416 km) (2,640 km)
# 2,575 km -
Araguaia ,
Brazil (tributary of Tocantins)
# 2,410 km -
Juruá ,
Peru /
Brazil
# 2,250 km -
Negro ,
South America
# 2,100 km -
Xingu ,
Brazil
# 1,900 km -
Tapajós ,
Brazil
# 1,749 km -
Guaporé ,
Brazil /
Bolivia (tributary of Madeira)
# 1,575 km -
Içá (Putumayo) ,
South America
# 1,415 km -
Marañón ,
Peru
# 1,300 km -
Iriri ,
Brazil (tributary of Xingu)
# 1,240 km -
Juruena ,
Brazil (tributary of Tapajós)
# 1,200 km -
Tapajós ,
Brazil
# 1,130 km -
Madre De Dios ,
Peru /
Bolivia (tributary of Madeira)
# 1,100 km -
Huallaga ,
Peru (tributary of Marañón)
