Amazon River

The Amazon River (occasionally River Amazon; Spanish: Río Amazonas, Portuguese: Rio Amazonas) of South America is one of the two longest rivers 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. Its drainage area, called the Amazon Basin, is the largest of any river system. The Amazon could be considered the "strongest" (largest volume of water per second).

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Spanish - Portuguese - South America - One of the two longest - River - Nile - Mississippi - Yangtze - Drainage area - Amazon Basin

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The quantity of fresh water released to the Atlantic Ocean is enormous: up to 300,000 m³ per second in the rainy season. Indeed, the Amazon is responsible for a fifth of the total volume of fresh water 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.

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Atlantic Ocean - Fresh water - Potable

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The main river (which is usually between one and six miles wide) is navigable for large ocean steamers to Manaus, almost 800 miles upriver from the mouth. Smaller ocean vessels of 3,000 tonshttp://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761571466/Amazon.html and 5.5 m (18 ft) drafthttp://www.ultramargroup.com/TextosPeru/Per-013.html can reach as far as Iquitos, 3,700 km (2,300 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.

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Manaus - Draft - Iquitos - Achual Point - Pongo de Manseriche

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The Amazon drains an area of some 6,915,000km² (2,722,000 mile²), 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 7,200 km (4,800 mi) through the interior of Peru and across Brazil, it enters the Atlantic Ocean at the equator.

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6,915,000km - Latitude - Andean - Pacific Ocean - Peru - Brazil - Atlantic Ocean - Equator

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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.

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Cenozoic - Andes

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