12 facts about the Amazon river
- The Amazon River is located in South America. It runs through Guyana, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Peru.
- The Amazon collects water from just over 40 percent of South America's Landmass, through the thousands of tributaries that join the main branch of the Amazon river. Of these tributaries, 17 are over 1000 miles (1600 kilometres long).
- During the wet season, the Amazon River can reach over 190 kilometres (120 miles) in width.
- The vast Amazon basin covers more than two and a half million square miles, more than any other rainforests.
- There are no bridges that cross the Amazon, mostly because there is no need, the majority of the Amazon River runs through rainforests rather than roads or cities.
- The Amazon produces almost 20 percent of all the water that the world's rivers pour into the oceans on its own.
- The largest city along the Amazon River is Manaus. Located in Brazil it is home to over 1.7 million people.
- The name Amazon arises from a battle which Francisco de Orellana had with a tribe of Tapuyas where the women of the tribe fought alongside the men, as was the custom among that entire tribe. Orellana derived the name Amazonas from the ancient Amazons of Asia and Africa described by Herodotus and Diodorus.
- The Amazon River is home to the piranha, a meat eating type of fish! Being carnivores, piranhas are known to attack in groups, preying on livestock that strays into the water and possibly appearing in one or two of your own nightmares!
- The river Amazon has changed its drainage many times, from westward in the early Cenozoic to its present eastward locomotion following the uplift of the Andes.
- There are over 3000 known species of fish that live in the Amazon River, with more constantly being discovered.
- 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).
