Amazon River

The Amazon River, situated in  South America, is the largest river in the world with a total river flow greater than the next ten largest rivers combined. The Amazon, which has the largest drainage basin in the world, accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world’s total river flow. In its upper stretches the Amazon river is called Apurímac (in Peru) and Solimões  (in Brazil).

The Amazon river (The River Sea) is the second longest river (Only the Nile, in Africa, is longer): 6280km long and during the wet season parts of the Amazon exceed 190 kilometers (120 mi) in width.

The Amazon collects water from just over 40 percent of South America’s Landmass: an area of approximately 7,050,000 square kilometers (2,720,000 sq mi). The Amazon river has a series of major river systems in Peru and Ecuador, some of which flow into the Marañón and Ucayali, others directly into the Amazon proper. Among others, these include the following rivers: Morona, Pastaza, Nucuray, Urituyacu, Chambira, Tigre, Nanay, Napo, and Huallaga.

The first European found the amazon because he was 200 miles out to sea and noticed that he was sailing in fresh water. He turned toward shore and found the amazon river. Ships still today anchor in the outflow of the Amazon, to remove the marine life(barnacles) attached to their hulls (salt water organisms can’t live in fresh water).