Fact Box: Amazon River Basin
- The Amazon River Basin is the world’s largest drainage system.
- Coverage (countries): The basin occupies much of Brazil and Peru, and also parts of Guyana, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Suriname, French Guiana, and Venezuela.
- The Amazon has over 1,100 tributaries, 17 of which are over 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) long.
- Course: The Amazon River originates in the Peruvian Andes at an elevation of 5,598 meters. It begins as a small tributary called the Carhuasanta, located just 192 km from the Pacific Ocean.
- As it flows east, the river becomes the Hornillos, which merges into the Apurimac. This major tributary eventually connects with the Ene, Tambo, and Ucayali rivers.
- The Amazon descends steadily toward the Atlantic Ocean, dropping at a rate of 1.5 cm per kilometer over its 6,400 km course. In some sections, it expands to a width of 10 km and allows large ships to navigate up to Iquitos, Peru.
- The Amazon Basin supports the world’s largest rainforest, which accounts for more than half the total volume of rainforests in the world.
- Behind the Amazon, the next-longest river is the Yangtze River, which is only about 85 miles shorter than the Amazon.
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