Through which country does the Amazon River flow? great amazon river

26.04.2020 | beauty

Amazon short message will tell a lot useful information about the largest and full-flowing river in the world.

Message on the topic: "Amazon"

Amazon- this is a South American river, in terms of the size of the basin, the length river system and deep water is the largest in the world. It is formed by the confluence of the Ucayali and Maranion rivers. Among the largest inflows are Purus, Zhurua, Madeira, Xingu, Tapajos, Tocantins, Japura, Isa.

The Amazon is a deep-sea river that forms a 25,000 km waterway system. On its banks are large ports - Santarém, Obidos, Belen, Manaus, Iquitos.

The river begins in the Andes in Peru and ends in Brazil in the Atlantic Ocean.

Amazon length ranges from 6259 to 6800 km (according to different sources).

Who discovered the Amazon?

The river was discovered by Francisco de Orellana, a conquistador, the first European to cross South America in its widest part. summer day In 1542, his detachment entered into battle with the supposedly legendary Amazons near the waters of the river. At first, Francisco wanted to name the reservoir after himself, but then he changed his mind and gave it the name "Amazon".

The Amazon flows in the direction near the equator and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It forms the largest delta in the world. The river is the most water-bearing. The object changes the color and salt composition of the ocean at a distance of 320 km.

Floods fall on different times of the year. On the left tributaries, it falls on April - October, on the right - October - April. The fresh water inflow into the ocean is so great that it dilutes sea salt from the mouth by 300 km. As a result, sharks enter the Amazon, which rise upstream by 3,500 km.

The rainy season starts in March and ends in May. Precipitation provokes a spill, and the water level rises to 20 m.

The Amazon is swamps and jungles running parallel to the equator. Temperatures are high and stable. The annual temperature is 25-28°C. Even at night it does not fall below 20°C.

Flora and fauna of the Amazon

1500 species of fish, 250 mammals, 1800 species of birds live here. Here you can meet jaguar, tapir, sloth, armadillo, spider monkey, caiman crocodile, boa, anaconda, peccary, freshwater dolphin. Among birds, parrot, macaw, toucan, caliber, gaviao are common. Mosquitoes and butterflies also fly in the air. And in the waters swim piraraku, piranha, tukunare, anuana, porak, piraiba.

The Department of Geophysics of the Brazilian National Observatory has established that under the Amazon, at a depth of 4,000 m, the underground river Hamza flows, which feeds groundwater. It was opened in 2011. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The water has a high salinity level.

The study found that, with the exception of the direction of flow, the Amazon (land) and Hamza (underground) rivers have significantly different characteristics, the most obvious of which are their width and flow rate. While the width of the Amazon River varies from 1 to 100 km, the underground river Hamza reaches a width of 200-400 km. However, the flow rate in the Amazon is 5 m/s, and the speed in the underground river does not exceed 1 millimeter per second.

We hope that the report about the Amazon helped you learn a lot of useful information about the South American river. And you can add a message about the Amazon River through the comment form below.

There are many unique natural formations on our planet that deserve heightened attention. One of the first places among them is the Amazon River. This is truly one of the wonders of the world, but not man-made, but created by Mother Nature. The very word "Amazon" is inextricably linked with ancient Greek mythology. Amazons were called female warriors who did not tolerate male presence near them.

These women had their own queen and their own state, located on Black Sea coast Asia Minor. Warlike ladies entered into a physical relationship with foreign men and gave birth to children. Born boys were mercilessly killed, and girls were raised and brought up in their traditions. It sounds rather gloomy and evokes unpleasant thoughts. But why, then, was the most full-flowing and longest river of the planet called the Amazon?

Only real Amazons bathe in the Amazon River

History of the discovery of the Amazon River

In the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors began to rule the lands of South America. They actively explored unfamiliar places, looking for a mysterious country called El Dorado. It was said that the pavements in the cities of this country were made of gold bars, and the walls of the houses were decorated with precious stones. This prompted the Spaniards to go further and further into the impenetrable forest jungle.

One such seeker was Francisco de Orellana (1505-1546). By origin, this man was a nobleman, and by vocation he can be described as an adventurer and traveler. Spanish king endowed him with the title of adelantado, whose task it was to explore and conquer new lands.

So Orellana began to conscientiously fulfill the functions assigned to him. At first he participated in the conquest of Peru, and then, in 1541, under the command of Gonzalo Pissarro, he went deep into the jungle in search of the fabulously rich land of El Dorado. However, no land was found. But Orellana with his detachment went to the Napo River, which was one of the left tributaries of the Amazon. But then no one knew about it.

In the autumn of 1541, Pissarro set up camp near the river. It was decided to build a brigantine, launch it into the water and go with the flow. The brigantine was built and named "San Pedro". Pissarro decided to put Francisco de Orellana and his people on this ship and send him on a reconnaissance expedition.

In total, this reconnaissance detachment included 57 conquistadors. They also took Indians with them, but they accompanied the brigantine in several canoes. This small expedition set off at the end of December 1541. Having sailed down the Napo for several days, the Spaniards decided not to return to the head camp, but to continue their journey through unknown land. Moreover, sailing along the river was many times easier than wading on foot through the jungle. In addition, Orellana had the hope that somewhere ahead on the banks of the river perhaps lies the mysterious land of El Dorado. And why in this case it was necessary to share the glory of the discoverer with Pissarro.

Francisco de Orellana sails with his troop in the Amazon

Therefore, the brigantine sailed on and in mid-February 1542 ended up at the confluence of 3 full-flowing rivers. The conquistadors unanimously decided to continue their journey along the widest river, since it was on it that there could be the most Indian settlements. They were supposed to tell where to find Eldorado.

But the mighty river required a larger vessel. And the conquistadors built a real ship in 3 months. It was one and a half times larger than the San Pedro and was named Victoria, which means “Victory” in all languages of the world. On this new ship, treasure seekers rushed down the river, on which in some places it was not even possible to see the other from one side.

In the month of June, while traveling, the subjects of the King of Spain were attacked by Indians. They attacked unexpectedly when the conquistadors were resting on the shore. There were many women among the attackers, and they were white-skinned, muscular and tall. Such interesting information was told by the monk Carvajal, who participated in the Orellana expedition.

However, the words of the servant of God cannot be taken on faith. Here we can assume that their wives fought along with the men, but as for the white skin, the blind-sighted monk confused it with white war paint. But be that as it may, there is a fact that Indian women fought with the Spaniards. And subsequently, it was Carvajal who proposed calling the wide river the Amazon, by analogy with female warriors from ancient Greek myths.

At the end of August 1542, the Victoria was at the mouth of a mighty river. And when, leaving the mouth behind, the Spaniards fell into the ocean, they realized that they had crossed the mainland from west to east from the city of Cusco in Peru to the east coast of South America. We can safely say that Francisco de Orellana made a journey that, in its significance, was in no way inferior to the journey of Christopher Columbus.

Francisco de Orellana is considered one of the most prominent discoverers. A monument was erected to him in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

Adelantado discovered the great river and found a waterway that connected the west with the east. As for the name of the water stream, since Orellana discovered the river, he had every right to name it as he wanted. However, the Spaniard adventurer was not strong in ancient Greek mythology, so when the monk Carvajal said the words "Amazon River", the discoverer immediately agreed with this name.

Francisco de Orellana died in 1546, but the name remained in people's memory. In 1553, the Spanish priest, historian and geographer Cieza de Leon published the book Chronicles of Peru. In it, he designated the mighty river as the Amazon. And since then this name has become official and has come down unchanged to the present day..

Source of the Amazon River

Today, the great river is also considered the longest, although more recently, the Nile occupied the first place in this parameter. It stretches across the African continent for almost 6700 km. It seemed that no one could surpass such a distance. The Amazon River occupied, albeit an honorable, but second place. Its length was 6400 km. It was taken from a group of lakes located at an altitude of 5700 meters above sea level in the Peruvian Andes. From this place it was very close to Lima - only 230 km to the south-west.

Amazon

This location of the source of the Amazon was announced back in early XVIII century Jesuit Samuel Fritz. He was ardently supported by the Italian naturalist Antonio Raymond in the second half of the 19th century. He stated that the great river begins its thorny path in the cordillera (an accumulation of parallel ridges and mountain ranges) Raura, where it receives the first life-giving drops of moisture from the melting snows from the top of the Yarup. Here she timidly makes her way through the small stream of Gaytso to the lakes of Santa Ana and Lauritsohu.

From them comes the mountain river Marañon. Its rapid streams reach the Pongio de Manserish canyon, flow through it, descend into the valley. Here they turn into a wide, majestic and slow river, which solidly and slowly carries its waters to the east. As much as 1800 km it flows in splendid isolation. Having passed this path, Maranion meets the Ucayali River. The latter is clearly inferior to the former in width: it is three times narrower. Reunited, these two streams form the great Amazon, ending its journey in the waters of the Atlantic.

At first glance, everything is clear and clear: found source of the Amazon River, its main tributary is the Marañon. According to the logic of things, this issue should be considered resolved and safely closed. But the ways of the Lord are inscrutable, and the convolutions of human souls are unknown and triple mysterious.

In 1934, a certain Colonel Gerardo Dianderas made a statement to the Peruvian Geographical Society. The essence of his somewhat excited speech was that the priority is not the Marañon River, but Ucayali, which starts from the Apurimac River, and that, in turn, originates on the slope of Mount Huagry. Such a bold and daring vision of the problem did not impress the venerable researchers, although there was a reason for the colonel's statement.

It so happened historically that narrower and shallower rivers are always given the green light. If we take the Kama and the Volga, then at the place where they meet, the Kama is more full-flowing, but the river that has merged into a single whole is called the Volga. The same can be said about the Angara and the Yenisei. The purest and broadest Angara is reunited with the muddy and narrow Yenisei. It would seem that all the trump cards are in the hands of the river flowing from Baikal, but it is the Yenisei that flows into the Arctic Ocean. Mississippi and Missouri did not escape this fate. By all measures, Missouri is in first place, but proudly North America is for some reason the Mississippi.

The Ucayali River, in its size, did not stand close to the Marañon, a large navigable river. This, probably, by analogy with other rivers, was the reason that many researchers began to zealously search for the sources of the Ukayali River.

In 1953, the Frenchman Michel Perron went to the Peruvian Andes. After 15 years, an American married couple Frank and Helen Schreider visited there. In 1969, the great and serious work "The General Geography of Peru" was published. It said that the original source of the Amazon River begins on Mount Misli, in southern Peru, 220 km west of Lake Titicaca.

Thus, the great river was moved to the east and made much longer. But where exactly it originates - no one knew about it yet. In 1971, the American photographer Laurent McIntyre headed up the Apurimac River. Having done a long and hard way, he came to the conclusion that the source of the Amazon River is the Caruasantu stream, located at around 5160 meters above sea level.

But the stubborn American was not the last. After him, other researchers went to the Andes, who named other streams, for example, such as Yanokocha or Apacheta. The question hung in the air until 1996. It was at this time that an international expedition was created, which was faced with the task of finding the true source of the Amazon River and finally putting all the dots over the “I”.

The researchers completed the task. Nowadays, all schoolchildren, all schools in the world know that The Amazon River originates in the Peruvian Andes at an altitude of 5170 meters. Coordinates of this point: 15° 31′ 05″ S and 71° 43′ 55″ W. This is where Apacheta Creek begins its journey. It merges with the Caruasantu stream, and together they form the Loketu stream.

The latter gains strength from many mountain streams and passes into the Hornillos River, which, in turn, merging with a couple of the same mountain rivers, turns into a swift and turbulent stream Apurimac. His long path runs through the highlands, and only when he reaches the valley, having absorbed many other waters, he calms down, spreads along the lowlands and becomes Ucayali.

Ukayali a large river. Its width is less than a kilometer. She calmly carries her waters until she meets the even more powerful Maranion River. And now the two rivers merge into one. Further, the purebred Amazon is already flowing. Now its length is 7100 km, and, being the longest river in the world, it deserves the title of queen of rivers.

Amazon River Delta

Her River Majesty ends her movement in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Here, the freshwater flow is so great that it dilutes the sea salt for almost 300 km. from the mouth. This attracts many species of sharks into the river, which do not feed with bread, but let them flounder in fresh water. These terrible predators rise up the Amazon for 3500 km.

The river delta occupies a huge area of 100 thousand km², its width is 200 km. It is dotted with many straits and channels, between which there are small, large and simply huge islands. Huge - these are the islands of Mashian, Kaviana, Zhanauku and a number of others. The wide straits: Perigozu, South, North - they cut the land into pieces, depriving it of the opportunity to move into the sea, which is characteristic of the deltas of large rivers.

The Amazon Delta does not protrude into the waters of the Atlantic, but, on the contrary, is shifted inland. This is most likely due to the powerful ocean tides, which constantly come into conflict with the mighty streams of the river. In this struggle, the cosmic forces of the moon prevail over the forces of the earth's surface. The sea tide begins to push fresh water: it drives it back to the mouth.

The result of such opposition is a huge shaft of water, which reaches a height of four meters. It rolls in a wide front upstream at a speed of 25 km/h. The wave height gradually decreases, the speed decreases, but this happens far from the border with the ocean. The impact of the tide is felt even at a distance of more than 1000 km from the mouth of the river.

Amazon deep water river. At the place where it flows into the ocean, its depth reaches 100 meters and very slowly decreases its value upstream. Even at a distance of 3000 km from the mouth, the water column reaches 20 meters. Therefore, for ocean ships, the waters of this river are their home. The last river port receiving sea vessels, located in the city of Manaus, 1700 km. from the mouth. River water transport darts back and forth along the Amazon at a vast distance of 4300 km.

Amazon river basin

The queen herself, of course, is impressive, but we must not forget that more than 200 tributaries flow into it. And almost half of them are navigable rivers. Some of these rivers are very full-flowing and stretch inland for more than 1500 km. All of them, together with the Amazon itself, create the greatest formation, the like of which is nowhere else on the planet. This Amazon river basin.

It has not just a huge, but a gigantic area. It is equal to 7180 thousand km², the lands of such South American countries as Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia fall within its borders. The area of the entire mainland is 17.8 million km², which is only 2.5 times the royal possessions of the Amazon, and such a part of the world as Australia would be perfectly placed on this territory.

The river basin almost coincides with the Amazonian lowland, which is called Amazonia.. Its area is 5 million km²: from the Andes to Atlantic Ocean and from the Guiana to the Brazilian plateau. There is a huge forest area here - wet a tropical forest. In terms of its size, it has nothing equal on Earth and produces a gigantic amount of oxygen, which is why it is called lungs of the planet.

The indigenous people of the Amazon are the real Amazons.

In essence, the Amazon is a jungle and swamps that stretch parallel to the equator, therefore, throughout the lowland climatic conditions practically the same. The temperature here is high and stable. The whole year keeps 25-28 ° Celsius. Even at night, the temperature almost never drops below 20° Celsius.

The rainy season here begins in March and lasts until May. Heavy rainfall causes rivers to flood. In the Amazon, the water level rises by 20 meters, flooding everything around for tens of kilometers. The flood lasts 120 days, then the river retreats to its original banks, sometimes, in some places it changes its course.

Animal world of the Amazon

Given such climatic conditions, there is a huge amount of different living creatures in the river, some of which are not found in other parts of the world. From predatory fish there are sharks here. Basically it is a blunt-nosed shark (bull shark). Its dimensions are more than three meters, and its weight reaches 300 kg. She can attack a person, but given his bony constitution, this type of food is not a priority for her.

Known for the Amazon River and bloodthirsty piranhas. These are small fish, the sizes of which range from 16 to 40 cm depending on the species (two dozen species in total). Their weight does not exceed one kilogram. In youth, their small bodies are silver-blue in color with dark speckles. Color changes with age. Lived piranhas are olive-silver with a purple or red tint. A well-defined black stripe appears along the entire edge of the caudal fin.

flock of piranhas

A distinctive feature of small predatory fish is their teeth. They are triangular in shape, 4-5 mm high. The jaws of piranhas are designed so that when they close, the upper teeth clearly fit into the grooves between the lower teeth. This provides the fish with a death grip. They can bite both a bone and a stick. Pieces of meat instantly find themselves in the voracious mouth of such a beast. In just a few minutes, a flock of piranhas can gnaw the carcass of a horse or pig, leaving only a bare skeleton from it.

Amazonian dolphins hunt piranhas effectively. These are medium sized individuals. Their length rarely exceeds two meters, weight, as a rule, is from 100 to 200 kilograms. Caimans also feast on piranhas, but in general they prefer other food, since the amount of meat on the bodies of these small predators is much inferior to the amount of meat on the fatter bodies of other animals.

In total, there are 2,500 species of a wide variety of fish in the Amazon. What is only an electric eel. This snake-like creature is 2 meters long, and the magnitude of the voltage of its electric charge is 300 volts. A large abundance in the river and ornamental fish. Many of them have long settled in home aquariums in all parts of the planet. For example, the same swordsmen and guppies are probably known on all continents.

The wealth of the underwater world of the queen of rivers would not be complete without the existence in it of such a terrible creature as anaconda. The water boa, the largest snake in the world, reaching a length of 8-9 meters, is what an anaconda is. Her skin is grayish-green in color with two rows of large brown spots of a rounded or oblong shape, which serves as an excellent disguise both in the selva and in the muddy waters of the great river.

The anaconda has practically no opponents. She can destroy both the caiman and the jaguar. Her throw is lightning fast, her grip is deadly. The snake wraps its strong muscular body around the victim and strangles. Then she opens her mouth, which can stretch to an incredible size, and slowly puts herself on the carcass of a strangled prey. Namely, it does not swallow the same caiman or caliban, but pulls on it like a glove on a hand. After that, the anaconda lies lazily in warm water or selva and waits for the victim to be digested.

There are a great many legends, stories, stories about anacondas, most of which are beautiful fiction. Some European researchers consider the anaconda to be an absolutely safe and cowardly animal. There are many stories about how fearless travelers grabbed a water boa constrictor panickingly crawling into the jungle by the tail, pulled it into the light of day and stunned it with a blow to the head with a fist.

Maybe once there were such heroes, but today neither photography nor film has recorded anything like this. For your information, it should be noted that the jump of the anaconda takes a fraction of a second. The unfortunate one will not even have time to gasp, as he will be entwined with beautiful colorful rings, which are powerful clumps of muscles. They will begin to squeeze the body with terrible force - a couple of minutes, and the victim turns into an ordinary piece of meat, quite suitable for internal consumption.

The skin of the anaconda is covered with mucus. There is a belief that if a person gets smeared in this mucus, he will get rich very quickly. Therefore, locals catch anacondas and show them to tourists. They try to touch the snake as thoroughly as possible, but whether they get rich after that or not - there are no statistics here. The only thing that can be said with certainty is that the locals always win, showing anacondas to curious pilgrims for money.

The Amazon River is a unique formation on Earth that holds many mysteries. But this enticing mysterious world is not at all going to be revealed to people. After all, they mercilessly cut down the selva, predatory destroy animal world, and thus mindlessly destroying Amazonia, which rightfully bears the honorary title of the lungs of the planet.

The article was written by ridar-shakin
Based on materials from foreign and Russian publications

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. Covering 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 dense 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 the entire running water 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 along 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 strong tea, water from numerous swamps.

The Amazon (port. Amazonas) is a river in South America, the largest in the world in terms of basin size, full flow and length of the river system. It is formed by the confluence of the Maranion and Ucayali rivers. The length of Marañon from the source is 6400 km, Ucayali is over 7000 km. The Amazon is also fed by numerous tributaries; about 20 of them are over 1500 km long. The most significant tributaries: on the right - Zhurua, Purus, Madeira, Tapajos, Xingu, Tocantins; on the left - Isa, Japura, Rio Negro.

Together with its tributaries, the Amazon forms a system of inland waterways with a total length of more than 25,000 km. Amazon deep water river. At the place where it flows into the ocean, its depth reaches 100 meters and very slowly decreases its value upstream. Even at a distance of 3000 km from the mouth, the water column reaches 20 meters, so for ocean ships, the waters of this river are their home. The last river port that receives sea vessels is located in the city of Manaus, 1700 km. from the mouth. River water transport darts back and forth along the Amazon at a vast distance of 4300 km. Main ports (from bottom to top): Belém, Santarem, Obidos, Manaus (Brazil), Iquitos (Peru).

The river is located in the north of South America, begins its journey from the Andes to Peru and ends in the Atlantic Ocean in Brazil. The length of the Amazon ranges from 6259 to 6800 km according to various sources. The Amazon River and its tributaries account for 20% of the world's fresh water. Of the 20 longest rivers in the world, 10 are in the Amazon.

The Amazon was discovered by the conquistador Francisco de Orellana, the first European to cross South America in its widest part. In the summer of 1542, his detachment allegedly saw a tribe of legendary Amazons and entered into battle with them. Today it is believed that they were either Indian women - who fought next to men, or squire-mistresses, or simply long-haired Indians whom the Spaniards mistook for women. Initially, de Orellana wanted to name the river after himself, but after the fight he settled on the "Amazon" option.

Most of the Amazon basin belongs to Brazil, the southwestern and western regions belong to Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Flowing mostly along the Amazonian lowland in a sublatitudinal direction near the equator, the Amazon flows into the Atlantic Ocean, forming the world's largest delta.

The Amazon River is the most water-bearing river in the world, carrying one-fifth of the world's fresh water to the ocean. The flow of water is so huge that, pouring into the Atlantic Ocean, the Amazon changes the salt composition and color of the ocean for 320 kilometers.

The full flow of the Amazon is explained by the fact that its northern and southern tributaries are located in different hemispheres; accordingly, floods occur at different times of the year: on the right tributaries - from October to April (summer season in the Southern Hemisphere), on the left - from April to October (summer season in the Northern Hemisphere).

During the dry season, the Amazon River reaches a width of 11 kilometers, covering 110 thousand square meters with water. km, and in the rainy season it triples, covering 350 thousand square meters. km and spilling over 40 km or more.

Another achievement of the Amazon is the mouth of the river, the largest delta in the world, which reaches a width of 325 km. The Amazon Delta does not protrude into the waters of the Atlantic, but, on the contrary, is shifted inland. This is most likely due to the powerful ocean tides, which constantly come into conflict with the mighty streams of the river. In this struggle, the cosmic forces of the moon prevail over the forces of the earth's surface. The sea tide begins to push fresh water - it drives it back to the mouth.

Here, the freshwater flow is so great that it dilutes the sea salt for almost 300 km. from the mouth. This attracts many species of sharks into the river, which do not feed with bread, but let them flounder in fresh water. These terrible predators rise up the Amazon for 3500 km.

Flora and fauna

In essence, the Amazon is a jungle and swamps that stretch parallel to the equator, so the climatic conditions are almost the same throughout the lowland. The temperature here is high and stable. The whole year keeps 25-28 ° Celsius. Even at night, the temperature almost never drops below 20° Celsius.

Only 30% of the studied flora lives here. 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 various kinds fish - all this makes up the flora and fauna of the Amazon.

Many secrets are hidden in the forests: even today, many major tributaries The Amazons have not been explored. Of the approximately 15,000 species of Amazonian animals, thousands of birds and fish, as well as hundreds of mammals, are unclassified. An approximate list of animal species, of which some are famous, others are rare, and others are on the verge of extinction, includes the jaguar, tapir, peccary, spider monkey, sloth, armadillo, Caiman crocodile, freshwater dolphin, boa, anaconda.

Among the forest birds are toucan, parrot, macaw, caliber, and also gaviao. Among insects there are more than 1800 species of butterflies and over 200 species of mosquitoes. Fish such as piranha, tucunare, piraracu, anuana, piraiba, poraque (electric eel) exist in such a variety that biologists cannot identify the catch in the markets of Belem.

Underground river Hamza

According to the Department of Geophysics of the Brazilian National Observatory, in the same direction as the Amazon, but at a depth of 4 thousand meters, an underground river flows, fed by groundwater. Its runoff is estimated at 3,000 m³/s.

The river, originating in the foothills of the Andes, stretches 6 thousand kilometers from west to east to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean almost under the Amazon basin. Given scientific discovery became public in August 2011 following a presentation made at a meeting of the Brazilian Geophysical Society in Rio de Janeiro. The river is unofficially named Hamza (port. Rio Hamza) in honor of the discoverer Valia Hamza (port. V. Hamza), born in India, who has been exploring the river for more than 45 years.

The study found that, with the exception of the direction of flow, the Amazon (land) and Hamza (underground) rivers have significantly different characteristics, the most obvious of which are their width and flow rate. While the width of the Amazon River varies from one to one hundred kilometers, the underground river Hamza reaches a width of 200-400 kilometers. However, the flow rate in the Amazon is five meters per second, while the speed in the underground river does not exceed 1 millimeter per second.

So, the Hamza River flows extremely slowly at a depth of about 4 thousand meters underground through porous soils parallel to the Amazon. According to preliminary calculations, the width of Hamza reaches 400 km, and the water flow is approximately 3900 m³ / s. The speed of the Hamza is only a few meters per year. This is even slower than the glaciers move, so it can be called a river rather conditionally. Hamza flows into the Atlantic Ocean at great depths and the water of the Hamza River has high level salinity.

So, is this great river The Amazon is the longest river on our planet? The Brazilian National Center for Space Research (INPE) claims that the Amazon is the longest river in the world. The center's experts studied the waterway flowing in the north of the South American continent using satellite data. They solved one of the greatest geographic mysteries by 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 of 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. Until that moment, the Amazon was officially recognized as the most full-flowing river, but in length it was always considered the second after the Nile (Egypt).

Rivers of the Amazon Basin and are noteworthy in their own right. Suffice it to say that there are 20 tributaries with a length of more than 1500 km. The largest left tributary of the Amazon is the Rio Negro (sometimes called the Rio Negro). Translated from Spanish, Rio Negro means black river and the name is well deserved. Rio Negro does not flow from the Andes, so there is no silt in its waters white color, the waters of the river have a rusty black color. The tones of decaying plants give this color to the river.

See a map of the Amazon basin.

Amazing fish live in Rio Negro. The leaf fish lives here, it is impossible to see it in the water full of rotting leaves.

But red neon, on the contrary, do not pay any attention to disguise and become the prey of predators that are not noticed.

The matamata turtle also differs from other turtles in its original appearance. I think it just needs to be seen, not described.

The local pipa toad is also distinguished by its originality. She lays her eggs right on her back. Video of the process of "hatching" little frogs.

Of particular interest is the place where the Rio Negro flows into the Amazon. It's like mixing black coffee and milk with cream. The locals call this miracle of nature the wedding of the waters. These two streams flow for a long time without mixing and only after 20 km. Rio Negro finally dissolves into the Amazon. The wedding of the rivers is clearly visible from space. The Amazon also has a third type of tributary. In addition to white rivers full of silt descending from the mountains and black rivers like the Rio Negro, clean transparent rivers, such as the Xingu River, also flow into the Amazon.

And this is how the wedding of the rivers looks from space:

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The most important and major rivers the Amazon basin is: the right tributaries - Zhurua, Purus, Madeira, Tapajos, Xingu, Tocantins; and the left tributaries of the Isa, Japura, Rio Negro.

PS: amazing animals are found not only in the Rio Negro, the underwater world of the Amazon is no less interesting.