Amazon River (Spanish: Río Amazonas, Portuguese: Rio Amazonas) is a river in South America which is the world's second longest river after the Nile River in Africa.
Amazon River+Amazon Rainforest
Amazon River has the greatest total flow of any river, even this total flow, is still greater than the total flow of the Mississippi River, the Nile, and Yangtze are combined into one. Amazon also has the largest flow system of the entire river system. Although the Nile is the longest river in the world, but Amazon can be regarded as a river "strongest", judging by the amount of water flowing per second.
Amazon River water now flowing from the Andes Mountains in the country of Peru, Equador and Colombia to the east to the country of Brazil until finally headed to the Atlantic Ocean.
In the rainy season, the amount of fresh water released into the Atlantic Ocean is very large, reaching 184,000 to 300,000 m³ per second (6.5 to 11 million ft ³). Amazon's flow is one-fifth of the total freshwater entering the sea, all over the world. Salinity in the water in the sea near the river is quite low, even up to several hundred miles from the mouth of the river.
The main river has a width of one to six miles even in the dry season can reach 6.8 miles (11 km) so it can be traversed by large ocean steamers such as Manaus, go up the river until nearly 800 miles from the mouth. Smaller ships, weighing 3,000 tons can reach as far as Iquitos, 3700 miles (2,300 miles) from the sea, while the small river boats can reach 780 km (486 miles) further, and can reach Achual Point. After that, only small boats can ascend to the Pongo de Manseriche, above Achual Point.
In the dry season, large areas of flooded about 110,000 square km, whereas in the rainy season, flooded area reached 350,000 square km. If during the rainy season, the Amazon basin experienced flooding, then the width of the Amazon river to reach 24.8 miles (40 km), while estuary can reach 202 miles (325 km).
This river is at coordinates 5 ° N to 20 ° S latitude. The most distant sources are found in the inter-Andean plateau, a short distance away to the Pacific Ocean, and after a distance of 7200 km (4,800 miles) through the interior of Peru and across Brazil, it enters the Atlantic Ocean at the equator.