The Amazon is a natural wonder of the planet. Amazon river. Characteristics, description, map of the Amazon. The longest and deepest river in the world What river is called the Paleskay Amazonia

The Amazon is called the most water-bearing river in the world, because it is she who carries a fifth of the world's fresh water to the ocean. The water stream is so huge that it flows into Atlantic Ocean, the waters of the Amazon change their color and salt composition. This continues for 320 kilometers. Even by other parameters, the Amazon is the greatest river, and also one of the longest rivers in the world. The Amazon flows in South America, its beginning is in the Andes, in Peru. The river ends its journey in the Atlantic Ocean from Brazil. Various sources say that the length of the Amazon varies between 6259-6800 kilometers. It allows you to get acquainted with real natural wonders and learn interesting facts. Compare with nature.

The Amazon River consists of a large number of rivers and forests that cross half of Brazil and some neighboring states. The basin of this river is truly the largest in the world - 7.2 million square kilometers. This also applies to water content. The Amazon is formed by the confluence of the Ucayali and Marañon rivers. From the source, the length of Marañon reaches 6400 kilometers, but the length of Ucayali is even greater - 7 thousand kilometers. The Amazon ends its journey in the Atlantic Ocean, thus forming the largest inland delta in the world - more than one hundred thousand square kilometers. Funnel-shaped mouths are formed - these are sleeves that cover the huge island of Marajo. Look here for where it is.

According to some reports, the Amazon got its name thanks to the Spanish conquistadors, they fought on the coast of the mighty river with the Indians. The conquistadors were amazed at the fearlessness of the Indian women who fought alongside the men. The Spaniards, looking at the strong and brave warriors, remembered the legends of the Amazons. This is how the mighty river got its name.

History of the discovery of the Amazon

In the forties of the sixteenth century, no one had heard of the Amazons. After all, by this time the era of matriarchy had long ended, male power had been established everywhere. This attitude to the ancient legends of the Spanish conquistadors cost dearly. And at that time they became famous for their pathological greed, unscrupulousness and cruelty, especially in South America. One detachment of such conquistadors, led by Francisco de Orellana, set off in the direction of the South American continent in 1541. He decided to cross the mainland and get to the shores of the Atlantic.

At first, the Spaniards walked through the jungle, but soon got to the shores big river, having built boats, they sailed on it. From time to time, they met villages on their way. The Spanish invaders immediately landed on the shore to check the financial condition of the people and inform them that they were now subjects of the Spanish crown. long and hard way, accompanied by a monotonous landscape, finally led them in 1542 to a large village, which spread along the banks of a wide river. The king's subjects climbed to the high floor and looked around, in the distance they saw the figures of puny long-haired Indians. And the harsh conquistadors set off towards these natives.

Further events took place in the shameful pages of the history of the Spanish kingdom, as well as the entire male gender. The Indians did not want to share their material wealth, and certainly not recognize the power of the Spanish king. Moreover, they did not want outsiders to remain on their territory. The fearless conquistadors, after a furious and short skirmish, shamefully fled. Since women turned out to be the opponents to a greater extent, the defeat became doubly insulting. Women threw themselves into battle without men, their courage not supported by the opposite sex.

Although the Spaniard Francisco tried a couple more times to defeat these natives, however, the resistance of women again took over. Their fury was so strong that the Spanish subjects hastily retreated. Having licked their wounds and counted the losses, the Spaniards involuntarily admired the courage of the women of this impenetrable jungle. When the journey ended, Francisco de Orellana named the river the Amazon, because such brave women lived here. Everyone liked this name. And in 1553, when the Spanish priest, historian and geographer Cieza de Leon published his book, he also used this name. Soon official name this full-flowing river in the world has become - the Amazon.

Animal world of the Amazon

Thanks to similar climatic conditions, a wide variety of different living creatures is found in the Amazon. Some species river dwellers found only in the Amazon River. Among predatory fish sharks are worth a special mention. Most often, we are talking about the blunt shark, which is also called the bull shark. All such a shark is about three hundred kilograms, and its size reaches more than three meters. Although the blunt-nosed shark can attack a person, however, due to its bony constitution, such food is not a priority for him.

The Amazon is also popular due to the bloodthirsty piranhas. These fish have one distinguishing feature are teeth. What gives the fish a death grip, but such that they are able to bite even a stick. What to say about meat. It only takes a few minutes for piranhas to gnaw on a whole horse or pig, so that only a skeleton remains of them. Amazonian dolphins, which are of medium size, effectively fight piranhas. Therefore, piranhas cannot be called the owners of the Amazon. After all, there are caimans (alligators) that love to feast on these small predators.

In total, about 2,500 species of various fish live in the river. It is worth immediately noting the electric eel. Such a snake-like creature reaches a length of two meters, and the voltage can reach 300 volts. There are a lot of ornamental fish in the river. Most of them can be seen in home aquariums around the world. For example, on all continents they are familiar with guppies and swordtails.

The queen of rivers can really be proud of wealth underwater world, because such a terrible creature as a river anaconda lives here. The length of the world's largest water boa reaches eight to nine meters. Anaconda has no opponents, because it can destroy both the jaguar and the caiman. Death grip, lightning-fast snake throw strikes any opponent. locals compose a lot of legends and stories about anacondas, of course, many of them are just beautiful fairy tales.

Some Europeans call the anaconda a safe animal, according to them, brave travelers defeated anacondas simply by stunning them. However, there is no confirmation of this yet.

Source and Delta of the Amazon

Today, the great Amazon River is considered the longest, only some time ago this title belonged to the Nile River, whose length reached almost 6700 kilometers. At that time, it seemed that no other river could surpass the Nile in this parameter. The Amazon River was in second place, with its length of 6400 kilometers. The Amazon began from a group of lakes that were in Peruvian waters. The Jesuit Samuel Fritz announced a similar location for the source of the Amazon River as early as the 18th century. Then he was supported by Antonia Raymond, an Italian naturalist. According to his statement, the mighty river begins its journey in the Cordelier Raura.

Hence follows mountain river Marañon, the rapid streams of which reach Pontjo de Manserish. It is here that the waters become a slow and majestic river that slowly follows east. For 1800 kilometers, the river flows alone. Only then does it intersect with the Ucayali River. These two streams reunite and become the great Amazon River, which ends its journey in the Atlantic Ocean.

Originally, the source of the Amazon River was main tributary Maranion. Logically, you can decide that the issue is resolved and closed. But everything turned out to be wrong. Colonel Gerardo Dianderas told the Peruvian Geographical Society in 1934 that the Ucayali River should be given priority over the Marañón. Ucayali begins on the mountain slope of Huagra. The venerable researchers were not surprised by his ardent speeches, although the colonel quite reasonably asserted. The dimensions of the Ucayali River are much smaller than the Marañon, which is a large navigable river. Due to a series of tests, the great river has been moved eastward on the map, so it has become much longer.

A huge area near the Amazon Delta is one hundred thousand square kilometers, with a width of two hundred kilometers. There are many channels and straits, where there are a large number of islands. The Amazon Delta does not fall into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, this moment can be explained by powerful ocean tides that come into conflict with mighty river flows.

There are many surprises on the great Amazon River that lead people into confusion and bewilderment. unique flora and the fauna of the Amazon attracts a large number of students here.

Amazon (port. Amazonas) - a river in South America, the largest in the world in terms of basin size, full flow and length 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 most long rivers 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 these 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, southwestern and western areas- Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. flowing for the most part 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 fresh water to the ocean. the globe. 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 fall on different times year: on the right tributaries - from October to April ( summer season in 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 fight space forces The moons prevail over the forces 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.
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 scary predators rise up the Amazon for 3500 km.
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.

Flora and fauna of the Amazon

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. Temperature regime 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 large tributaries of the Amazon 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 enumeration 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, piraraku, anuana, piraiba, poraque ( electric eel), exist in such diversity 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, flows underground river fed by ground water. 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 Amazon River the longest river on our planet? Brazilian National Center 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).

By materials. latino-america.ru

The Indians call the Amazon "Parana-Thing", which means "Queen of the Rivers". Indeed, this river is in all respects the greatest in the world.

It carries a quarter of all the waters carried into the ocean by the rivers of our planet. And the area of ​​​​its basin - more than seven million square kilometers - allows you to place in it the entire mainland of Australia or a country like the United States.

At the mouth of the Amazon, the width of the Amazon reaches two hundred kilometers, and the depth is one hundred meters! Even near the Peruvian city of Iquitos, three and a half thousand kilometers from the mouth, the depth of the river is more than twenty meters, so ships get here.

The full flow of the Amazon can be explained simply: it flows almost exactly along the equator, and the usual summer rainy season for these places alternately occurs either in the northern hemisphere (in March-September), on its left tributaries, or in the southern (from October to April) - on the right tributaries.

Thus, the great river actually lives in a constant flood.

Until recently, it was not known exactly where the origins of the Amazon lie. Its length, together with the main of the two sources, the Ucayali River, was approximately determined at 6565 kilometers, which put the Queen of Rivers in second place in the world after the Nile, which is more than a hundred kilometers longer.

But an international expedition organized in 1995, having reached the upper reaches of the Ucayali, discovered that this source, in turn, is formed from the confluence of two rivers: Apurimac and Urubamba.

Coming to the source of the Alurimak River, the researchers determined that the total length of the entire grandiose water system Apurimac-Ucayali-Amazon - 7025 kilometers and, therefore, it is she who is the first in the world in length. The Nile with its sources the White Nile, Albert Nile, Victoria Nile, Lake Victoria Kageroy is almost three hundred kilometers shorter.

Seventeen of them are from 1800 to 3500 kilometers long. (This, for comparison, is the length of the Don and the Volga!) The huge mass of river water carried by the Amazon desalinates the sea 400 kilometers from the mouth.

The largest river island in the world, located in the Amazon Delta, the island of Marajo, has an area of ​​​​48 thousand square kilometers, that is, more than Switzerland or the Netherlands, and the entire delta is larger than Bulgaria in area.

The river gets its name Amazon after the confluence of the Ucayali with the Marañon River.

Both sources begin in the Andes and break into the plain through narrow rocky gorges - pongo. At the bottom of these gorges there is no place even for a narrow path - it is a continuous bubbling ferocious stream with stones sticking out here and there, sometimes narrowing to twenty meters.

Particularly wayward character in Maranion. On the way from the mountains, he passes through 27 pongos. The lower, most formidable of them is Pongo de Manserice ("Gate of the Parrots"). Breaking through the last canyon, the river enters the vast plain of the Amazon and becomes navigable.

The Amazonian lowland, or Amazonia, is the greatest lowland on Earth. This is a vast realm of swamps and jungles, where the only roads are rivers.

However, these roads are more than enough - after all, the rivers of the Amazon are navigable for eight thousand kilometers.

During floods, when the level of the Amazon rises by twenty meters, low banks are flooded for 80-100 kilometers in the area.

Huge territories then represent an endless sea with trees sticking out of the water.

In normal times, the Amazon does not look like a giant river, because it breaks into many branches separated by islands.

There are also floating islands on the river, slowly moving downstream. They are formed by intertwined plant roots and fallen tree trunks, on which new vegetation has risen.

The slope of the Amazonian lowland is so small that the influence of ocean tides is noticeable here even 1000 kilometers from the mouth of the river.

A special feature of the Amazonian tides is the famous “pororoka”.

From the collision of a mighty river with a tidal wave going towards the Amazon, a high shaft is formed, topped with a foamy ridge. It rolls up the river with a loud rumble, sweeping away everything in its path.

Woe to a ship that does not have time to take shelter in a side channel or in a bay in advance - a roaring six-meter water wall will turn it over and sink it.

From time immemorial, the Indians have experienced a superstitious fear of this mysterious and formidable phenomenon, which seemed to them some kind of terrible monster, devastating the coast and terrifying with its bubbling roar.

Hence the name of the formidable shaft - pororoka ("thundering water").

The first end-to-end voyage across the Amazon from the Andes to the ocean was made in 1842 by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Orellana. For eight months, his detachment sailed along the river for almost six thousand kilometers.

Now it is even difficult to imagine what it cost the Spaniards this almost incredible journey across the entire continent without maps, without knowledge of the characteristics of the river and the languages ​​​​of local tribes, without food supplies, on a fragile home-made boat.

Crocodiles and anacondas, piranhas and river sharks - all these “charms” of the Amazon the Orellana squad had to experience, as they say, in their own skin.

More than once on the way, the Spaniards had a chance to face warlike Indians. In one place, at the mouth of the Trombetas River, the fighting was especially fierce.

And most of all, the conquistadors were struck by the fact that tall half-naked women armed with bows fought in the forefront of the Indian warriors.

They stood out for their fearlessness even against the background of their fellow tribesmen. The brave female warriors reminded the Spaniards of the ancient myth of the Amazons - female warriors who did not know defeat.

Therefore, Orellana named the river Amazon.

Since then, many scientists and researchers have visited the great river.

The Frenchman Condamine, the German Humboldt, the Englishman Bates and the Russian traveler Langsdorf in late XVIII — early XIX century managed to penetrate into the wilds of the Amazon and opened to science the amazing living world of the Queen of the Rivers and the surrounding rainforests.

The waters of the local rivers are inhabited by 2,000 species of fish - a third of the diversity of the freshwater fish kingdom of the Earth. (There are only 300 species in all the rivers of Europe.)

Among the unique inhabitants of the Amazon is a giant five-meter pyraruku (or arapaima), reaching 200 kilograms of weight.

A two-meter electric eel that knocks a person down with a discharge of 300 volts of current, huge river rays with a deadly spike on their tail, a dangerous river shark and a small toothy piranha that terrifies the locals.

The aggressiveness of this predatory creature is indescribable. A hunter who has shot a wild boar or a tapir from a boat often does not have time to swim with a trophy in tow to the shore: from a hefty carcass, a flock of bloodthirsty fish leaves one skeleton.

It happens that for the successful passage of the herd across the river, the shepherds have to sacrifice one cow, which, having previously been injured, is brought into the water below the crossing.

While the piranhas deal with the victim, the rest of the animals have time to cross the ford. Even a vicious predator caught on a bait desperately wriggles in the hands of a fisherman, striving to bite off his finger with razor-sharp teeth.

Found in the Amazon and huge manatees - relatives sea ​​cow, and river dolphins, and five-meter crocodiles are black caimans, the victims of which are often not only two-meter tapirs or miniature peccary pigs who came to the watering hole, but also careless hunters.

True, the Indians still say that "one is better big crocodile than three little piranhas"...

But perhaps the most famous inhabitant of the Amazonian waters is the monstrous anaconda water boa. There are anacondas up to 12 meters long and two meters in girth!

However, hunters talk about fifteen - and even eighteen-meter snakes. It is difficult even to imagine such a "living pipe" that could reach the ground, hanging from the roof of a six-story building.

Places where anacondas are found, and experienced Indian hunters bypass. Not a single animal in the selva (as the Amazonian forests are called in Brazil) can resist the two-hundred-kilogram giantess. Sometimes even jaguars swimming across the river become victims of the anaconda.

And on the smooth surface of calm oxbows and bays in the countless arms of the Amazon, one and a half meter leaves of the largest water lily in the world, Victoria Regia, sway. Round, with upturned edges, they resemble some strange green frying pans. On such a sheet, like Thumbelina, a child of twelve or fourteen years old can sit quietly.

Wet a tropical forest The Amazon is the richest in number of species of all the forests growing on our planet. On ten square kilometers here you can count up to 1500 different types flowers, 750 species of trees, more than a hundred different mammals, 400 species of birds and many snakes, amphibians and insects.

Many of them are still unknown and not described.

Most big trees selva reaches 90 meters in height and 12 meters in girth. Even their names sound like music: bertolecia, mamorana, cinnamon, cedarella, babasu, rattan, hevea...

Many of them are of great value.

Tall Bertholets are famous for their delicious nuts. In one shell, weighing several kilograms, there are up to two dozen of these nuts.

They are collected only in calm weather, as the “packaging” torn off by the wind can lay down a careless picker on the spot.

The sweet and nutritious juice of the milk tree resembles milk in taste, and cocoa is obtained from the fruits of the chocolate tree.

Everyone has heard, of course, about the fruits of the melon tree - papaya, and about hevea, the main rubber plant modern world, and of the cinchona tree, whose bark provides humanity with the only remedy to relieve attacks of malaria, that scourge of the rainforests.

There are many trees in the selva with beautiful colored wood, like the pau-brazil mahogany, which gave the name to the largest country in South America. And the wood of the balsa tree is the lightest in the world. It is lighter than cork.

Indians build giant jangada rafts from balsa, floating timber down the Amazon, Rio Negro, Madeira and other large rivers. Such rafts sometimes reach hundreds of meters in length and twenty in width, so that an entire village is sometimes placed on them.

But most of all in the Amazon of palm trees - over a hundred species! Almost all of them: coconut, babasu, tukuma, mukata, bakaba, zhupati and karana benefit a person. Some - with their nuts, others - with wood, others - with fiber, fourth - with fragrant juice.

And only the rattan palm is mercilessly cursed by the inhabitants of the selva.

This is the longest tree on earth (sometimes it reaches three hundred meters!) - in essence, a liana. Its thin trunk is all dotted with sharp spikes.

Clinging to other trees with them, the rattan palm reaches up towards the sun. Intertwining tree branches and trunks, it forms absolutely impenetrable thorny thickets.

No wonder the Indians call it the "devil's rope."

Animals - inhabitants of the selva - are no less diverse than plants. This is the largest animal of the Amazon - the shy and cautious tapir, and the giant capybara - the world champion among rodents. (Imagine a good-natured “mouse” weighing two pounds!)

There are many monkeys here, and they are completely different from their counterparts from Africa or Asia. Among them is the creepy wakiri, or "death's head", whose white muzzle resembles the skull of a dead man.

This one and a half meter cat is not afraid to attack even two-meter anacondas!

And in December, ocelots arrange mating concerts at night, like our March cats.

The most inconspicuous and inactive beast of the selva is, of course,. He spends his whole life hanging with his back down on the branches of trees and slowly absorbing the foliage around him. In order not to move, he manages to turn his head not even 180, but 270 degrees!

This phlegmatic breathes only once every eight seconds. On land, if it happens to descend to the ground, the sloth moves at a speed of 20 centimeters per minute, as in slow motion filming.

The "agile simpleton", as the Brazilians jokingly call him, is a tasty prey for the jaguar, and for the ocelot, and for the boa constrictor, and even for the harpy eagle. The sloth is saved by the fact that in its wool ... algae start up, coloring its skin in a protective greenish color.

Because of this, the immobile sloth is almost invisible on the branch, and the predator often does not notice it.

Under the canopy of branches in the darkness of the night silently sweep vampire bats. Their small thin teeth are so sharp that a person bitten in a dream does not feel pain and only, waking up in the morning, finds that the pillow is covered in blood, and there is a tiny wound on the neck.

Of the hundreds of species of selva birds, the most famous in our country, of course, are tiny, the size of a bee,.

And huge, up to a meter in length, macaw parrots. Their bright plumage, as well as the sparkling wings of numerous butterflies, enliven the monotonous greenery of the forest.

And above the crowns of the trees, the most terrible feathered predator of the Amazon - the crested tropical eagle harpy-monkey-eater soars. Powerful muscles and five-centimeter claws make the harpy a real thunderstorm for small monkeys and sloths.

There are many snakes in the forests of the Amazon basin, including poisonous ones. It is no coincidence that Brazil ranks first in the world in terms of the number of people who die each year from snake bites. But the Indians have long tamed small boas and kept them in huts to protect them from rodents and snakes.

A huge tarantula spider strikes and terrifies.

It feeds on careless hummingbirds caught in its wide, like a fishing net, web. And Indian children, for the sake of mischief, sometimes put a rope loop on this spider and lead it around the village like a dog.

The Amazon River flows through the territory of South America, originating in the Peruvian Andes and pouring its waters into the Brazilian territory into the Atlantic Ocean. Judging by various sources, its length ranges from 6259-6800 km. Together with its tributaries, this river supplies the world's population with 20% of the available fresh water. Of the twenty longest rivers, half belong to the Amazon basin.

The source coordinates are 4°26′25″ S. sh. 73°26′50″ W D., and the mouth - 0 ° 35′35 ″ S. sh. 49°57′22″ W d.

What is the object known for?

The first European to cross the Amazon was the conquistador de Orellana. This happened in 1542, when his squad seemed to have met the legendary tribe of the Amazons who attacked them.

Now it is generally accepted that they were Indian women who fought along with men, although it is possible that the Europeans mistook for beautiful ladies warriors wearing long hair. Be that as it may, but the conquistador, who first wanted to name this river by his own name, changed his mind as a result of the battle, so it received its current name - "Amazon".

The river is deservedly proud of its extraordinary flora and fauna. Only here many truly unique plants grow, and far from all of them have been studied, since, according to scientists, only a third of the flora of the Amazon has been examined.

The local fauna also attracts close attention. It is enough to name only the water boa, which is better known to many under the name of anaconda or merciless piranhas.

Important: a twenty-meter anaconda is easily able to swallow a jaguar, not to mention such a “little thing” as a person.

From time immemorial, three-meter-long araypama fish have been found in the Amazon, the weight of which reaches one and a half centners. Earlier there were also larger individuals, but poachers tried to exterminate these rarities, so now they are much less common. The Amazon is also home to the largest river dolphin- pink. Aborigines call him a bowto. For a marine inhabitant, the length of 2.5 meters is not surprising, but among the river counterparts, the pink dolphin is a real giant.

The main water area of ​​the Amazon is located in Brazil. This country has the largest river port - Manaus, which is also the capital of the state. Many come here to feel like pioneers:

• here you can see the natives live;
• visit the jungle
• enjoy the spectacle of how the Rio Negro flows into the Amazon.

Travelers during excursions experience a culture shock: they are struck by the proximity of a huge metropolis, in which there is a bright and active night life with poor and sloppy docks. The "rubber boom" of the last century left the city with a magnificent opera theater built in the neoclassical style. It has previously hosted international celebrities.

An extraordinary wonder of the Amazon basin is the largest island of Marajo. Its area is 40 thousand kilometers, and only a quarter of a million people live on it.

Important: this amazing island, according to historians, can be considered the center of the most ancient civilization.

It was on the island that a huge state was previously freely located, the territory of which is comparable to Holland. Now Marajo makes a profit only from serving tourists who come here to witness the wonders of the majestic Amazon with their own eyes.

1. The Amazon is known for bloodthirsty piranhas. The weight of the fish does not exceed one kilogram, but they are very dangerous and bloodthirsty. Main Feature is their toothy jaw and hunting in large packs.

2. The Amazon forests are the oldest in the world. Until now, scientists are stormy discussions about how many years Amazonian forests. Researchers claim that their age is over 100 million years.

3. A bridge was built across the Amazon tributary, the Rio Negro, in 2010, which connected the port of Manaus and the city of Iranduba. The bridge is over 3.5 km long. This bridge is the only one on the river. At the same time, there were no bridges across the river at all.

4. Brazilian scientists in 2011 stunned the world with the discovery that another underground river flows under the Amazon basin. Its channel is located at a depth of about 4 kilometers, it almost exactly copies the ground older sister, but has high salinity and low speed currents. The unofficial name of the river is Hamza.

5. A small child can be easily seated on a giant Amazonian Victoria leaf. The sheet diameter is over 2 meters, so the child will not drown. The sheet can withstand a weight of 30-50 kg. Amazonian Victoria blooms only at night once a year, blooming snow-white flowers, at dawn they hide under water.

Main Attractions

Along the Amazon River there are many settlements and cities that are completely cut off from the civilized world. Often the only way to get to them is by boat or motorbike through the jungle. For example, the city of Iquitos has 500,000 inhabitants, it is located in the middle of the jungle. The locals do not know any other means of transport than boats and tricycles.

Many houses near the river are built on high wooden piles so that during the period when the Amazon floods, the house is not flooded. For many residents, a boat is the only means of transportation.

The Amazon is the longest river in the world after the Nile. The river has over 200 tributaries, 100 of which are navigable. 17 flows into the Amazon major rivers with a length of 1500-3500 km, in total all these rivers form a water area equal to 7,337,000 km2. In terms of the size of the basin, as well as the length of the river system and the full flow of the Amazon, the Amazon is the largest in the world. Together with its tributaries, the river forms a system of inland waterways with a total length of over 25,000 km.

Geography

The Amazon is a river that flows through South America. The main part of the Amazon basin belongs to Brazil, the western and southwestern regions - to Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.

The coordinates of the source of the Amazon are as follows - 73 degrees west, 5 degrees south latitude.

The coordinates of the mouth of the Amazon are as follows - 0 degrees latitude, as well as 50 degrees west longitude.

The Amazon originates in Peru from Lake Lavrikoha - northeast of the city of Lima, 230 km on the Bombon Upland, which stretches between the Eastern and Western Cordillera. At first, it flows in meanders through a narrow mountain valley 220 km long, forming a series of rapids and waterfalls. Only after 700 km of its length at Hen de Bracamoras does the river become navigable. Then it turns in an arc of 250 km to the east and northeast and cuts through the Cordillera with its 13 streams.

Near Rentema, the Amazon flows to a height of 378 m, where its width reaches 1,600 m, then, having run through the space of 950 km through the Andes, it enters the wooded plain of South America, where it no longer poses obstacles to navigation. Further, it continues through the lowlands of Brazil and Peru for 3,650 km, flowing into the Atlantic Ocean under the equator. The total length of the river is approximately 5,000 km.

Amazon is one of the most famous rivers peace. Everyone knows where the Amazon is - it practically crosses South America. The river got its name in 1542. It was then that the travelers were forced to engage in battle with the Indian warriors, led by women. The Spaniards were reminded of the female warriors - the Amazons. Exactly because of this reason water artery The River of the Amazons was named the Rio de las Amazonas. It is likely that in fact the warriors were not women, they simply braided their hair, which confused the Spanish travelers.

Another version claims that the name comes from the Indian expression " big water"- Amazonas. This version is similar to the truth, only the Indians do not use this expression in the names of other rivers. Some researchers believe that "amasunu" is the name of a destructive tidal wave that occurs at the mouth of the river. Confirmation of this version is that the Indians so the river is called only in the lower reaches, in the middle it had the name Saolimoins.

The modern name of the river is Amazonas (in Russian - Amazon). Where is this beautiful river, what are its main characteristics and what happens on its banks - all this is worth it to get to know the river better.

Source

To find out where the Amazon River is, you should start by studying its source. Long time it was not known exactly where the waters of the river come from, but at present the answer to this question has been found. Apacheta Creek, flowing from the glacier of Mount Misimi, is where the river is born. It is difficult to say where the Amazon is located - in which country - it flows through the territory of several states. However, it begins in Peru, in the Andes, at an altitude of more than 5 thousand meters.

A little lower, Apacheta meets the Caruasantu stream, turning into a small river, the Loqueta. On its way, the rivulet is replenished with the waters of a huge number of different streams, gradually growing into the Hornillos River. Having taken in the waters of several more rivers, the one called Apurimac is born.

After going a long way, on the highlands, the stream connects with Mantaro, turning into Jene. After joining with Perene and Urubamba, the upper course of the river becomes calmer and gets the name Ucayali. Downstream, the larger and more powerful Marañon flows into the river, originating in Lake Llauricocha.

Having merged together, the rivers give birth to the one in question - the Amazon.

mouth

Answering the question of where the mouth of the Amazon is located is very simple - in Brazil. Despite the fact that the mouth of this all is located in one country. The area of ​​the Amazon delta is more than 100 thousand kilometers. Two of the largest branches of the river form the most big Island, which is surrounded by fresh water - Marajo. The mouth of the Amazon is one fifth of the fresh water of the entire planet.

When observing the river from space, the flow of water that the Amazon gives to the ocean can be discerned almost 400 kilometers from the coast.

River mode

The main reservoir of fresh water on the planet is the Amazon. Where is its source, where does the river take such a huge amount of water? The river receives its food from a large number of tributaries. Besides, humid climate gives a large influx of water and due to precipitation. upstream The river is fed by snowmelt in the Andes.

The regime of the river is complex and interesting. Wherever the Amazon is located, you can observe a full-flowing river all year round. The tributaries from opposite sides of the river have different flood times. This is explained by the fact that the tributaries from the right bank are in the Southern Hemisphere, and from the left - in the Northern Hemisphere. For this reason, floods near the right-bank tributaries occur in October - March, near the left-bank - in April - October. The result of these floods is the smoothing of the runoff.

The lower reaches of the Amazon River, where its source is located, is largely dependent on the tides of the ocean. The tidal wave rises almost one and a half kilometers upstream. During the rise of water, huge areas along the banks of the river are flooded - this is the largest flood. The width of the floodplain can reach 100 kilometers.

Where does it flow

It has long been known where the Amazon River is located - it flows, for the most part, in Brazil, but some parts of the basin capture parts of Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.

In the middle course, at an altitude of 3.5 thousand meters above sea level, the river runs along the picturesque banks of wet forests. In this area, waterfalls are not uncommon, the current is stormy, because the river has to make its way through an array of mountains. Descending from the mountain slopes, the Amazon spreads over tropical jungle, on a wide

The river flows along the equator, practically without changing direction from west to east. It is curious that at a depth of 4 thousand meters, an underground river flows under, fed by groundwater - Khamza.

Navigability

The main channel retains navigability to the very foot of the Andes, which is more than 4 thousand kilometers from the source. Ocean-going ships can reach the city of Manaus, located just 1,690 kilometers from the mouth. Average length of all waterways is 25 thousand kilometers.

Closer to the source, the width of the Amazon reaches 15 kilometers - you can’t even see the opposite shore here.

Animal world

The Amazon, home to a vast array of plants, is home to a vast array of fish and animals. Due to strong water spills, aquatic inhabitants occupy far from the most last place in the huge list of animals of the Amazon. During major floods, a unique spectacle can be observed - entire islands are floating along the river with many species of plants and animals that did not have time to escape.

One of the most famous fish in the Amazon is the piranha. This fish can feel blood from a great distance. Having learned that there is prey, the flock rushes towards the goal with great speed. These predators in the process of chasing reach the point that they rush at each other. Even the largest animal that has fallen into the water has no chance of saving its life - piranhas cope with the task in minutes.

The Amazon is home to a large number unique fish and animals that cannot be found anywhere else on the planet. Scientists around the world are studying the banks of the river, but it is still impossible to say what about the river, its animal and flora everything is known - the dense forests of the Amazon coast are very difficult to study.