Which river is longer, the Volga or the Amazon? The longest rivers in the world. The longest rivers in South America

For many years, geographers have argued about what is the longest river on the blue planet? The Amazon in South America and the Nile in Africa could not share the championship. However, in 2009, research by Peruvian and Brazilian scientists put an end to this issue. The Amazon is recognized as the longest river in the world. After the discovery of a new source in the Peruvian Andes, the phenomenal length of the river bed was recorded - 6992 km. The Nile has a length of 140 km less - 6852 km.

History of the river

The greatest river in the world was discovered and named by the Spanish conquistador Francisco de Orellana. In the summer of 1542, he, at the head of a small detachment, crossed South America from west to east. First, the daredevils made their way through the jungle, then they came to a deep river and, having built boats, sailed upstream. Orellana gave his name to the river, which in some places was so wide that its banks could not be seen.

On June 24, the conquistadors sailed past a small settlement. They decided to conquer the village and announce to the local aborigines that they were now subjects of Spain. Coming ashore, the soldiers encountered female warriors. The Amazons defended their children and homes so fiercely that the Europeans, notorious for their cruelty and unscrupulousness, armed with firearms, fled in disgrace.

Francisco de Orellana was so delighted with the fearlessness and military skill of the Indian women that he decided to rename the open river, calling it the Amazon. After the Spanish priest, historian and geographer Cieza de Leona officially designated the longest and deepest river in the world as the Amazon in 1553, this name was finally assigned to it.

Geography of the Amazon

According to the latest research, supported by space imaging, the Amazon originates at a point with coordinates 15° 31′ south latitude and 71° 43′ west longitude, which lies in the Peruvian Andes. It is from here that the Appacheta stream begins its journey. Merging with the Carruasantu stream, it forms the Loketu River, which, gaining strength from many small mountain tributaries, turns into the stormy and muddy Apurimac stream. Having overcome the mountainous terrain and absorbed the waters of oncoming streams and rivulets, the stream reaches the valley and here it spreads freely, turning into the large Ucayali River. After many kilometers it meets the powerful Marañon River. Merging together, the two rivers form the legendary Amazon.

Of course, the Queen of Rivers, as the natives call her, is navigable. The main ports belong mainly to Brazil. These are Belem, Manaus, Obidus and Santarem. The very large port city of Iquitos belongs to Peru.

The river won in four categories at once

In total, the Amazon has more than 500 tributaries, 17 of which are about 1,500 km long. The most significant are Japura, Jurua, Isa, Madeira, Purus, Rio Negro, Tapajos, Tocantins, Xingu. If we take into account all the tributaries of the river, then its total length exceeds 25 thousand km!

In spring, during high water, the width of the channel reaches almost 80 km in some places, flooding coastal valleys. At this time, you can sail along the river by boat, skirting the tops of trees hidden under the water. Its maximum depth is 135 m, which is comparable to the depth of the Baltic Sea; during a storm, waves on the river rise to a height of 5 meters.

This mighty artery carries through Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia a fifth of all the Earth's fresh water. Its annual share of the replenishment of the world's oceans is 7 thousand cubic meters. This is more than the average annual share of such mighty rivers as the Yenisei, Lena, Volga, Ob and Amur combined! The Amazon basin is comparable in total area to the Australian mainland.

The Amazon flows into the Atlantic Ocean, forming a huge delta with an area of ​​more than 100 thousand square kilometers. The flow of its waters is so great that it changes the color and salinity of the ocean 320 km into the Atlantic.

Thus, the Amazon took 4 gold medals at once: it is the longest river on Earth, the deepest artery of the planet, its delta is the largest in the world, it owns the world’s largest river island, Marajo, which could easily accommodate the whole of Switzerland.

There is not a single bridge in the entire Amazon.

Right under the greatest waterway on the planet at a depth of 4 km flows the Rio Hamza, the twin sister of the Amazon. It practically copies the ground channel, but the water of the underground artery flows very slowly and has a high salt content. Today it is the longest and most mysterious underground river in the world.

In the South American jungle along the banks of the Amazon, there are places in which only one type of tree grows, and nothing else. Locals call such clearings the devil's garden, and scientists are still unable to explain this mystery.

Flora and fauna

The Amazon is an amazing and unique world! Almost the entire water area is occupied by impenetrable evergreen jungle. This is the largest forest in the world, the lungs of our planet. In a vast area of ​​more than 6 million square kilometers, which is larger than the entire Western Europe, there are 1.5 million species of plants and animals, most of which have not yet been studied. There are especially many different palm trees here - 800 species, countless medicinal plants used in folk and traditional medicine.

There are over 2 thousand species of fish in the water, including rare river sharks and dolphins. This is more than in the entire Atlantic Ocean.

The Amazon is rich in giant animals. Here you can find otters with a body more than 2 meters long, turtles with a huge shell, up to 3 meters in diameter, capybaras - the largest rodents in the world, weighing 50 kg. The world's largest snake, the anaconda, has also chosen the Amazon coast. Not surprisingly, the Arapaima fish is found in Amazonian waters. Weighing 200 kg, it is the largest freshwater fish on the planet.

In the river basin, gigantism also extends to the plant world. The largest flower in the world grows here - the Victoria Regia water lily, the leaves of which are 3 meters in diameter and support a weight of 50 kg!

The waters of the world's longest river are inhabited by some of the most dangerous animals on the planet. For example, predatory piranha fish with razor-sharp teeth can easily bite through a steel rod. A school of piranhas can kill an adult horse or cow in a matter of seconds, leaving the poor animal with a gnawed skeleton. The tiny frog “terrible leaf climber” is deadly. The poison in one individual is enough to send one and a half thousand adults to the next world.

The avifauna of the Amazon is also amazing! The species diversity of birds is simply stunning; this cannot be found anywhere else on the planet. The smallest bird on Earth, the hummingbird, lives in these parts. These unique creatures flap their tiny wings at a speed of 100 beats per second and are the only birds in the world that can fly backwards and sideways.

Scientists call the Amazon the Earth's genetic pool.

Top 10 longest rivers

After the Amazon (1st place), the longest rivers in the world are:

1. The Nile (Africa) has a channel length of 6850 km,
2. Yangtze (Asia, China) – 6418 km,
3. Mississippi (North America) – 6275 km,
4. Yellow River (Asia, China) has a length of almost 5800 km,
5. Yenisei (Russia, Siberia) – 5540 km,
6. Ob-Irtysh (Russia, Siberia) – 5400 km,
7. Congo (Africa) – 4700 km,
8. Mekong (Indochina) – 4500 km,
9. Lena (Russia, Siberia) – 4450 km.

In different sources, the indicated lengths of rivers may differ slightly depending on the starting point of the source or the divergence of opinions of geographers regarding the accounting of the length of tributaries. But there is no doubt that the rivers listed above are the longest and most significant in the world.

The existence of life on our planet cannot be imagined without rivers. They are also the largest sources of fresh water for territories that cover an area of ​​tens of thousands of square kilometers. It was the big rivers that became the cradles of human civilization. Today, a million people live along them. An excellent example would be the Yangtze or the Nile.
Of course, there is a dispute between individual groups of scientists and even entire countries about the longest and largest river in the world. Entire expeditions are sent in search of new sources in order to add several tens of kilometers to the length of the river.

The largest, largest and longest rivers in the world. List.

1. Amazon (6992 m.) - the largest, longest and largest river in the world and South America.
Description of the Amazon River - the longest river in the world and South America.
The Amazon is the absolute record holder both in length and in terms of deep water and basin area. For many years it was believed that the longest river in the world was the Nile, but new research carried out through the comparison of photographs from space and computer data processing has refuted this long-known fact. The Amazon turned out to be 140 km longer than the Nile!

In 2011, according to the results of a global competition, the Amazon was recognized as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. And this is no coincidence. The Amazon is not only the longest, largest and largest river in the world and in South America, but also a unique place on our planet, home to more than a million species of different plants and animals. According to researchers, per 10 km² of tropical forest there are 1.5 thousand species of flowers, 750 species of trees, 125 species of mammals, 400 species of birds and countless invertebrate animals. Many of their species are not even described or identified. The Amazon and its tributaries are home to up to 2,000 species of fish, one of which is the well-known voracious predatory piranha.

The largest tropical rainforest on the planet is located in the basin of the longest river in the world. The climate here is hot and humid, all year round the air temperature fluctuates only between 25-28°C and it rains very often. There is practically no wind in the forest - the lush vegetation does not allow gusts of air to pass through. Even during a storm, only the tops of the trees sway here, and below reigns twilight and peace.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the world's longest underground river was discovered under the longest land river in the world, flowing parallel to the Amazon at a depth of 4000 m. It originates in the Andes and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Its unofficial name is Hamza, in honor of the scientist who discovered it. The flow speed of the Hamza River does not exceed several meters per year, and the width is about 400 meters.

2. Nile (6852)- the second of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the longest river in Africa.
Description of the Nile River is the second largest, largest and longest river in the world and the longest river in Africa.
The Nile is a true “river of life”, as it is the only river in North Africa that crosses the sands of the Sahara without drying up. The constant water flow is carried out due to precipitation falling in the upper reaches of the river.

Almost all settlements in Egypt are located along the Nile bed and almost all economic activities are concentrated. The waters of the world's second longest river are used for irrigation and electricity production (the Nile's energy resources are estimated at 50 GW), fishing and fish farming, water supply and shipping.

The Nile originates on the East African Plateau (Kagera River), flows through Lake Victoria (some sources indicate this lake as the source of the Nile River). The exit from the plateau is characterized by an abundance of rapids and waterfalls. After the confluence of the El Ghazal River, the river is called the White Nile and flows through semi-deserts and deserts to Khartoum, receives the main tributary - the Blue Nile and, under the name Nile proper, flows to the Mediterranean Sea, at the confluence with which it forms a vast delta.

Floods in different parts of the river occur in different seasons: in the equator region - in the summer and winter seasons, in the northern part of the river - in the summer and autumn periods. To regulate the flow of one of the longest rivers in the world, the following dams were built: Gebel Auliya on the White Nile, Aswan and Aswan High. The construction of dams protected the population from annual floods. This, on the one hand, deprived agriculture of the most important natural fertilizer - silt, but, on the other hand, it increased the area of ​​irrigated land and made it possible to harvest three crops per year from the fields.

3. Yangtze (5800 km) - the third of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the longest, largest and largest river in Eurasia.

Description of the Yangtze River - the third of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the longest river in Eurasia.
The Yangtze River originates in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of about 5,600 km and flows through China from west to east, making a large turn to the south after Qinghai Province. The lower course of the Yangtze passes through the southern part of the Great Chinese Plain, where the river is often divided into branches, with the width of the main channel reaching 2 km or more. In the area where it flows into the East China Sea, the Yangtze forms a large delta with an area of ​​about 80 thousand km².

Four of China's five largest freshwater lakes drain into the Yangtze. The third of the longest rivers in the world has about 700 tributaries, the largest of which are the Yalongjiang, Minjiang, Jialingjiang, Tuo, Hanshui (Juhe).
The Yangtze River is of great cultural and economic importance to the country. This is China's main waterway. The total length of the waterways of the Yangtze basin exceeds 17 thousand km. The river is one of the world's busiest waterways. The volume of freight traffic in 2005 reached 795 million tons.
Covering a fifth of China, the Yangtze River basin is home to a third of the country's population and produces about 20% of GDP. The world's largest hydroelectric power station, the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Station, was built on the longest river in Eurasia.
The Yangtze River is home to a variety of animals, including several endangered species such as the Chinese river dolphin, Chinese alligators and Korean sturgeon. In the basin of the third of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world, there are several nature reserves and part of the Three Parallel Rivers National Park, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

4. Mississippi (6275 km) - the fourth largest, largest and longest river in the world and the longest, largest and largest river in North America. Mississippi

Description of the Mississippi River - the fourth largest, largest and longest river in the world and the longest river in North America.
The Mississippi is one of the world's greatest rivers. Together with the Missouri, it is the fourth longest river in the world and the largest, largest and longest river in North America. The Mississippi flows through ten US states from north to south. The source of the river is considered to be Nicolette Creek (according to other sources, Lake Itasca), the Mississippi flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The river basin (the third largest after the Amazon and Congo river basins) extends from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians and from the Great Lakes region to the Gulf of Mexico, occupying an area of ​​3268 thousand km2, which is 40% of the area of ​​the United States, not counting Alaska.
The length of the Mississippi River is 3950 km (according to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia) or 3774 km (Wikipedia). It takes a drop of water 90 days to travel from its source to the mouth of a river.
When talking about the Mississippi as the fourth longest river in the world, it should be kept in mind that we are talking about the length of the Jefferson-Missouri-Mississippi river system. In total, the length of the three rivers is 6275 kilometers. When it comes to the longest river in North America, various sources call either the Mississippi River (3,774 km) or its tributary, the Missouri (3,767 km). In our classification of rivers by length, we proceeded from determining the length of the river from the source of its longest tributary to the mouth. Considered this way, the Mississippi is definitely the longest river in North America.
The Mississippi is a convenient waterway from the Gulf of Mexico to the central parts of the mainland, an important transport artery of the United States, connecting the developed industrial and agricultural areas of the country. The rivers of the Mississippi system are of great economic importance. The total length of the basin's shipping routes is over 25 thousand square meters. km. A number of large power plants have been built on tributaries of the Mississippi.
The river is fed by mixed snow and rain. The right tributaries bring mainly meltwater formed by snowmelt in the Rocky Mountains, while the left tributaries feed the Mississippi with rain and stormwater. The Mississippi regime is characterized by spring-summer floods and stormy rain floods.
The longest, largest and largest river in North America is divided into three sections, the boundaries of which are where its largest tributaries, the Missouri and Ohio, flow into the Mississippi.
In the upper section, the river flows through small lakes, overcoming rocky rifts and rapids in many places, the most significant of which are in the cities. Minneapolis (St. Anthony Falls), Davenport and Keokak. From Minneapolis to the mouth of the Missouri, the river is locked; there are more than 20 dams in this section.

In the middle section, the fourth longest river in the world flows predominantly in one channel. The width of the river valley, limited by steep slopes, is 15-20 km. In the middle section, the Mississippi has an interesting feature: for 150-180 km, the dirty, muddy waters of the Missouri flow next to the relatively clear water of the Mississippi without mixing.
In the lower section, the Mississippi River flows through a vast valley that gradually widens from 25 to 70 km. The river bed is winding, with numerous branches and oxbow lakes, forming in the lower reaches a labyrinth of channels, oxbow lakes, and vast floodplain swamps that are flooded during floods. At the end of the delta, the longest, largest and largest river in North America branches into 6 main relatively short branches 20-40 km long, flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.

5. Yellow River (5464 km) - the fifth of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the second longest river in Eurasia.

Description of the Yellow River - the fifth of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the second longest river in Asia.

The Yellow River is one of the world's greatest rivers, the second longest river in Asia and the fifth longest river in the world. The name of the river means "Yellow River" in Chinese. The yellow color of the river's waters is given by the abundance of sediment, of which there is so much in the river that the sea into which it flows is called the Yellow Sea. The Yellow River ranks first in the world in terms of sediment volume (1.3 billion tons/year).
The Yellow River originates in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of over 4000 m, flows through lakes Orin-Nur and Dzharin-Nur, spurs of the Kunlun and Nanshan mountain ranges. When crossing the Ordos and the Loess Plateau, in its middle course it forms a large bend, then through the gorges of the Shanxi Mountains it enters the Great Chinese Plain, along which it flows about 700 km before flowing into the Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea, forming a delta in the confluence area. According to various sources, the length of the river is from 4670 km to 5464 km, and the area of ​​its basin is from 745 thousand km² to 771 thousand km².

The Yellow River is fed by rain; in the mountainous part of the basin it is also fed by snow. The fifth of the longest, largest and largest rivers in the world has a monsoon regime during summer floods with a rise in water levels of up to 5 m on the plains and up to 20 m in the mountains. In order to protect against floods, a system of dams with a total length of more than 5,000 km was built along the river. Dam breaks led to catastrophic floods, accompanied by large-scale destruction and changes in the river bed (the maximum change in the river bed was about 800 km). Due to the incredible catastrophic floods, the Yellow River received the nickname “The Mountain of China.” It is known that over the past two thousand years, the Yellow River has overflowed its banks more than a thousand times, broken through dams, and at least 20 times significantly changed the trajectory of its bed. In 1931, during the Yellow River flood, according to various estimates, from 1,000,000 to 4,000,000 residents of the North China Plain died.

But despite this, the Yellow River basin provides about 140 million people with drinking water and water for irrigation. A number of hydroelectric power stations were built on the river. Through the Grand Canal, the fifth largest, largest and longest river in the world is connected to the Huaihe and Yangtze Rivers.

The Yellow River flows through a total of seven modern provinces and two autonomous regions, namely the following (from west to east): Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia Hui, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong. The mouth of the Yellow River is located in Kenli County (Shandong).
The river is usually divided into three parts - upper, middle and lower reaches. The upper course of the river passes through the northeast of the Tibetan Plateau and the Loess Plateau of northwestern China; the middle course includes the valley between Ordos and Shaanxi and the gorges further downstream; the lower course of the river runs along the Great Chinese Plain.

6. Ob River (with Irtysh)

The Ob River is one of the largest rivers not only in Russia, but throughout the world. It flows from south to north across Western Siberia almost parallel to the greatest Russian river, the Yenisei. A mighty stream flows in the north into the Kara Sea. At the confluence there is a huge bay. It is called the Gulf of Ob, and its length exceeds 800 km. This is a kind of river mouth, called an estuary in scientific circles. It is characterized by the absence of river sediments. Their creation is hampered by sea currents. In Russia, in addition to the Ob Bay, the Yenisei Bay can also be called an estuary.

Like all the large rivers of Siberia, they flow into the Laptev Sea, a marginal sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean. To some extent, Lena can be called a pioneer: after the melting of the glacier and the formation of flora and fauna, it was this river that was one of the first to blaze a path to the sea, exploring the endless taiga expanses of Siberia.

The name “Lena”, familiar to Russian speakers, has nothing in common with a woman’s name - it is only a derivative of the Evenki word of the Tungus-Manchu language group “Elu-Ene”, which translates as “Big River”. The Evenki hydronym was used by the discoverer of the river, the Russian explorer Pyanda (Penda), who explored the river in 1619-1623, following downstream from the modern region of Kirensk to Yakutsk. Like all the great rivers of Siberia, the Lena flows north, emptying into the Laptev Sea, a marginal sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean.

The question of what exactly is considered the source of the Lena is still open." The latest versions point to a mountain stream at an altitude of 1650 m. Following further along the channel, the waters of the Lena, depending on the conditions, change their character, showing all types of temperament: choleric - in at the beginning of its journey, phlegmatic in the middle, sanguine in the lower and melancholic in the delta.
According to the nature of the river flow, three sections are distinguished: from the source to the village of Kachug, from Kachug to Zhigansk the middle flow, and from Zhigansk to the mouth - the lower section.
Before the Manzurka River flows into it near the village of Kachug, Lena descends along the Baikal ridge and lies in the mountainous Cis-Baikal region, here its character can be compared to choleric. With its small size in this part (width 5-7 m), its flow speed does not fall below 9 km/h.
Next, Lena follows to Ust-Kut and lower to the confluence of the Chaya and Vitim rivers, here her character becomes closer to phlegmatic. This is especially noticeable after the Olekma flows into it and a significant expansion of the channel from the village. News to Yakutsk, where it reaches 5 km. The slopes of the river in the middle reaches are most often covered with coniferous trees with occasional meadows appearing.
Then the river, in its undisturbed movement, expands even more, reaching 7-9 km in the riverbed even before the Aldan flows into it. And with Aldan and Vilyuy, which enters later, the width of the Lena reaches 10 km (up to 20 on island sections), and the depth exceeds 16-20 m. In the Zhigansk region, the Lena narrows and therefore its character becomes sanguine: the flow becomes lively and powerful, reaching its maximum strength.

11. Congo River

Congo (Zaire, Lualaba) is a river in Central Africa, mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (partially flows along its borders with the Republic of Congo and Angola), the deepest and second longest river in Africa, the second most water-rich river in the world after the Amazon. In the upper reaches (above the city of Kisangani) it is called Lualaba. The only major river that crosses the equator twice. The basin area is 4,014,500 km². Length - 4374 km. The river slope is 0.36 m/km.
It originates from the settlement of Mumena.
The length of the Congo from the source of Lualaba is 4374 km (from the source of Chambeshi - over 4700 km). The basin area is 4,014,500 km². The source of the Lualaba originates in the southeast of the DRC, on a plateau near the border with Zambia. According to other sources, the source of the Congo is the Chambeshi River, which forms between lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika at an altitude of 1590 meters above sea level. It flows into Lake Bangweulu, flows out of it as Luapula, flows into Lake Mweru, flows out of it as the Luvua River and joins Lualaba. The upper reaches of the Congo (Lualaba), located within plateaus and plateaus, are characterized by alternating rapids and leveled pools with a calm current. The steepest drop (475 m at a distance of about 70 km) of Lualaba is in the Nzilo Gorge, with which it cuts through the southern spurs of the Mitumba Mountains. Starting from the city of Bukama, the river flows slowly, strongly meandering, along the flat bottom of the Upemba graben. Below the city of Kongolo, Lualaba breaks through the crystalline rocks of the Port d'Enfer (Hell's Gate) gorge, forming rapids and waterfalls; further downstream, several more groups of waterfalls and rapids follow one after another. Between the cities of Kindu and Ubundu the river flows calmly again in a wide valley. Just below the equator, it descends from the edges of the plateau into the Congo Basin, forming the Stanley Falls.
After Stanley Falls near the city of Kisangani, the river changes its name to Congo. In the middle course, contained within the Congo Basin, the river is calm with a slight fall (on average about 0.07 m/km). Its channel, predominantly with low and flat, often swampy banks, is a chain of lake-like extensions (up to 15 km in places), separated by relatively narrowed (up to 1.5-2 km) sections. In the central part of the Congo Basin, the floodplains of the river and its right tributaries Ubangi and Sanga merge together, forming one of the largest periodically flooded areas in the world. As you approach the western edge of the depression, the appearance of the river changes: it is compressed here between high (100 m or more) and steep bedrock banks, narrowing in places to less than 1 km; depths increase (often up to 20 - 30 m), the current accelerates. This narrowed section, the so-called Channel, passes into the lake-like expansion of Stanley Pool (about 30 km long, up to 25 km wide), which ends the middle course of the Congo.
In the lower reaches of the Congo, it breaks through to the ocean through the South Guinea Plateau in a deep (up to 500 m) gorge. The width of the channel here decreases to 400-500 meters, in some places to 220-250 meters. Over the course of 350 km between the cities of Kinshasa and Matadi, the river descends 270 m, forming about 70 rapids and waterfalls, collectively called Livingston Falls. The depths in this area are 230 m or more, making the Congo the deepest river in the world. At Matadi, the Congo enters the coastal lowland, the channel widens to 1-2 km, the depths in the fairway reach 25-30 m. Near the city of Boma, the Congo estuary begins, the width of which in the middle part reaches 19 km, then decreases to 3.5 km and increases again towards the mouth, where it is 9.8 km. The top and middle part of the estuary are occupied by an actively forming young delta. The continuation of the estuary is the Congo underwater canyon with a total length of at least 800 km.

12. Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie (English and French Mackenzie, slave Deh Cho - “big river”) is the largest river in Canada and the entire American north with a length of 1738 km. Named after Alexander Mackenzie, who discovered it.
It is a navigable river; the length of the navigable routes of the entire Mackenzie river system is 2200 km - from Waterways on the Athabasca River to the port of Taktoyaktuk on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. The largest settlements are Aklavik, Inuvik, Fort Norman, Fort Providence and the oil field center of Norman Wells.
It was discovered and first climbed by A. Mackenzie from June 29 to July 14, 1789. It was originally called the Disappointment River.
Tributaries
R. Drank
R. Liard
R. Big Bear
R. Arctic Red River
R. Karkaju
R. Ruth
R. Mountain
R. Hare Indian

The source of the Mackenzie River is considered to be the Great Slave Lake; the river basin also includes the large Canadian lakes Woollaston, Clare, Athabasca and Great Bear. The last lake is connected to the river through the Bolshaya Medvezhya tributary. The average water flow at the mouth of the river is ≈10,700 m³/s, which puts the river in second place among the rivers of North America after the Mississippi. The relatively small flow of the Mackenzie is due to the blocking effect of the Rocky Mountains to the west, which reduce the influence of the Pacific Ocean in the lower part of its catchment.
The Mackenzie, like more than half of Canada's rivers, belongs to the Arctic Ocean basin. Arctic rivers are fed mainly by snow and rain. In the central and northern regions of the country, rivers and lakes are covered with ice for 5 to 9 months. The Mackenzie freezes in September - October, opens in May, and in the lower reaches - in early June; snow and rain food; spring-summer flood.
The river valley is formed by strata of alluvial and fluvio-glacial sediments, is heavily swamped, and covered with spruce forest.

13. Niger River
The Niger (French Niger, English Niger [ˈnaɪdʒər], Yoruba Niger, Ọya) is the most important river in West Africa. The length is 4180 km, the basin area is 2,117,700 km², the third according to these parameters in Africa after the Nile and the Congo.
The source of the river is on the slopes of the Leon-Liberian Upland in southeastern Guinea. The height of the source is 745 m above sea level. The river flows through the territory of Mali, Niger, along the border with Benin, and then through the territory of Nigeria. It flows into the Gulf of Guinea of ​​the Atlantic Ocean, forming a delta in the area of ​​its confluence. The largest tributary of the Niger is the Benue River.
The exact origin of the name of the river is unknown and there has been a debate about this among researchers for a long time.
A popular belief is that the name of the river comes from the Tuareg nehier-ren - “river, flowing water.” According to one hypothesis, the name of the river comes in turn from the words “Egerev n’Egerev”, which in Tamashek (one of the Tuareg languages) means “great river” or “river of rivers”. This was the name given to the Niger and some other peoples who lived on its banks.
There is also a hypothesis according to which the derivative of the name of the river is the Latin word niger, that is, “black”. This hypothesis assumes that historically the words “Niger” and “negro” are of the same root, since the latter also comes from the word “black”.
The aborigines living close to the banks call the river differently in certain sections of the course: Joliba (in the Mandingo language - “big river”), Mayo, Eghirreu, Iso, Quorra (Quarra, Kowara), Baki-n-ruu, etc. etc., but the vast majority of these names translated mean “river”.
The source is located on the slopes of the Leon-Liberian Upland in southeastern Guinea. In its upper reaches the river is called Djoliba. The river flows northeast, crossing the border with Mali. In its upper and lower reaches, the Niger has rapids and flows mainly in a narrow valley. In its middle reaches, the Niger has the character of a flat river. From the Guinean city of Kourousa to the Malian capital of Bamako, and also below the city of Segou, the Niger flows through a wide valley and is navigable. Below the Malian city of Ke Masina, the Niger divides into several branches, forming an internal delta. In the inland delta region, the Niger Valley is heavily swamped. Previously, at this point, the Niger flowed into an endorheic lake. In the Timbuktu region, numerous branches are connected into one channel. The river then flows east along the southern border of the Sahara for 300 km. Near the town of Burem, the Niger turns southeast and flows in a wide valley all the way to its mouth, and is navigable. The river flows through the territory of Niger, where there are numerous dry riverbeds (wadis) that once flowed into Niger, along the Benin border, then flows through Nigeria and flows into the Gulf of Guinea, forming a vast delta with an area of ​​24 thousand km². The longest branch of the delta is Nun, but the deeper Forcados branch is used for navigation.
The main tributaries of the Niger: Milo, Bani (right); Sokoto, Kaduna and Benue (left).
The Niger is a relatively “clean” river; compared to the Nile, the turbidity of its water is about ten times less. This is due to the fact that the upper reaches of the Niger pass through rocky terrain and do not carry much silt. Like the Nile, the Niger floods every year. It begins in September, peaks in November, and ends by May.
An unusual feature of the river is the so-called internal Niger delta, formed in a place where the longitudinal channel slope is greatly reduced. The area is an area of ​​multi-branch riverbeds, marshes and lakes the size of Belgium. It has a length of 425 km with an average width of 87 km. Seasonal floods make the inland delta extremely favorable for fishing and agriculture.
Niger loses approximately two-thirds of its flow in the inland delta section between Ségou and Timbuktu due to evaporation and seepage. Even the waters of the Bani River flowing into the delta near the city of Mopti are not enough to compensate for these losses. The average loss is estimated at 31 km³/year (the amount varies greatly from year to year).
After the inland delta, many tributaries flow into the Niger, but evaporation losses remain very high. The volume of water entering Nigeria in the Yola region was estimated at 25 km³/year before the 1980s and 13.5 km³/year during the eighties. The most important tributary of the Niger is the Benue, which joins it at Lokoja. The volume of tributaries in Nigeria is six times greater than the volume of the Niger itself when it enters the country. Towards the delta, Niger's flow increases to 177 km³/year (data before the 1980s, during the eighties - 147.3 km³/year.

This one of the largest rivers in Europe is also the ancestral home of the birth of civilization. The Danube is the sacred river of the Slavs. It is often mentioned in songs, fairy tales, legends and traditions of all Slavic peoples. In addition, the history of the Celts, Thracians, Illyrians and Greeks is connected with the history of the Danube. In ancient times, the Greeks called the Danube the same as the Thracians who lived along the banks of this river - Ister. And only later, already in Roman times, the river received its modern name, which was pronounced and written as Danubium. In the 7th century BC, the Greeks founded a colony south of the river delta and called it Istria.
The ancients first looked for the sources of the river near the Riphean Mountains. Then far to the north, and later in the land of the Celts in the Hercynian Forest. But already in 15 BC, during the reign of Tiberius, the true sources of the Danube were established: it begins on the massif now called the Black Forest with two sources at an altitude of 1 kilometer.
Since the reign of Augustus, the Danube became the border of the Roman state with the northern barbarians.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE DANUBE
Danube (Romanian Dunărea, Hungarian Duna, German Donau, Serbian Dunav, Slovak Dunaj, Bulgarian Dunav, Croatian Dunav, Ukrainian Danube, Latin Danubius, Danuvius, other Greek Ίστρος) - the second largest longest river in Europe (after the Volga), an “international” river, the longest river in the European Union.
Length - 2960 km.

The river originates in Germany, in the Black Forest mountains. Further, the Danube flows or is the border of ten countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine; passing through the capitals of Central and Eastern Europe such as Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade. In addition to these ten countries, the Danube drainage basin covers the territories of nine more European countries. The Danube flows into the Black Sea, forming a delta in Romania and Ukraine; the Romanian part of which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Russian name of the river goes back to Praslav. *Dunajь, which was borrowed through Gothic. *Dōnawi from Celtic. Dānuvius. Polish scientist Jan Rozwadovsky suggested that the Slavs originally used the word *Dunajь to refer to the Dnieper (as can be heard in Ukrainian and Belarusian folklore). K. Moshinsky supported this assumption, believing that when some of the Slavs migrated to the vicinity of the Danube, the name of which was originally borrowed as *Dunavъ/*Dunavь, the name was transferred from the previously known river. Moshinsky was objected to by T. Ler-Splavinsky, who pointed out that the word “Danube” and its derivatives are used to name a dozen rivers and streams in the territory of Slavic languages, in addition, this word functions as an appellative in Polish and Ukrainian dialects. In this regard, Ler-Splavinsky restores for the Proto-Slavic language the common noun *dunajь “big water”, derived from Proto-I.e. *dhouna. Lehr-Splavinsky’s conclusions were ignored in the work of V. N. Toporov and O. N. Trubachev “Linguistic analysis of hydronyms of the Upper Dnieper region”, which derived the hydronym “Dunaec”, found on Slavic lands from the name of the Danube, for which this work was criticized by Z. Golomb .

A river in Germany with steep cliffs, fragrant vineyards, ancient castles perched on almost every peak. It is shrouded in numerous myths and legends, including the one about the beautiful siren Lorelei.
The main river in Germany is one of the most important shipping routes of Western European countries. Born in the Swiss Alps and occupying a basin with an area of ​​224.4 thousand km2, the deep river subsequently flows into the North Sea.
Geographically speaking, the Rhine is one of the most famous, longest and busiest rivers in Europe.
It originates, as already mentioned, in the Alps. The river covers most of Switzerland, all of Liechtenstein, as well as large areas in Germany and the Netherlands, areas in eastern France, western Austria.
There are many cities located along the picturesque banks of the mighty river.
The Rhine, a river in Germany whose name comes from the Celtic word renos ("raging stream"), appears as a noisy and seething torrent raging in deep gorges. Its powerful flow slows down a bit as the river passes through Lake Constance. The stream then heads west to Basel.
There the river turns north and enters the Rhine Graben, a fault zone of the East African Plateau located between the Vosges Mountains to the west and the Black Forest to the east. The picturesque Rhine Valley (North German Lowland) stretches along the settlements of Bingen and Bonn. The largest cities located on the banks of the Rhine (a river in Germany) are Cologne and Dusseldorf.
Rotterdam, the leading port of continental Europe, is located near the mouth of the river. At the border with the Netherlands, the stream divides into two parallel delta branches, the Lek and the Val, crossing a wide and slightly marshy plain.

city ​​of Cologne and Cologne Cathedral

River cruises

The picturesque Rhine (a river in Germany), along the banks of which numerous medieval castles and towers are comfortably located, is a real attraction in several countries at once. The Rhine shines with indescribable beauty in the evenings, especially on New Year's Eve. At this time, a huge number of tourists and travelers come here who want to enjoy with their own eyes the wonderful spectacle of a romantic show with stunning fireworks.
A variety of boarding houses where you can rent a cozy room, as well as many bars and restaurants offer their services for the temporary stay of tourists.
Shipping
The shipping company was launched along the Rhine at the beginning of the 19th century, namely in 1817. From Basel to Kehl, shipping and shipping are not used on a large scale; ships with a carrying capacity of no more than 400 centners can pass through this space. From Kehl to Plittersdorf, ships can reach 2-3 thousand quintals, and, starting their journey from these places, shipping acquires considerable commercial importance.
Vessels weighing up to 12 thousand quintals can pass to Mannheim. Tributaries of the Rhine River The Rhine is the largest river in Germany - about 1233 km long, of which 865 km is in Germany. It is considered one of the most important waterways in Europe. A large number of large as well as small rivers flow into the Rhine (a river in Germany).
The main tributary from Alsace, Illinois, joins it at Strasburg. The shorter rivers Dreisam and Kinzig, which flow into the Rhine, flow from the Black Forest. The Neckar, which flows through a gorge as far as Heidelberg, enters the Rhine at Mannheim.
The Middle Rhine is the most exciting and romantic part of the river. High banks cover vineyards up to the village of Koblenz, where another tributary, the Moselle, joins the Rhine.

On the right bank, where the beautiful Ehrenbreitstein fortress rises, the Lahn River flows into the mighty water artery. Below the city of Bonn, the Rhine Valley opens out into a wide plain, with the ancient city of Cologne conveniently located on the left bank of the river. The longest river in Europe The longest river (Rhine) on the map of Europe passes through or borders such countries as Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France and the Netherlands. Its length is more than a thousand kilometers.
The Rhine flows through six countries and is culturally and historically one of the largest and deepest rivers on the continent. It is also the most important industrial and transport artery in the world. The main river in Germany also plays an important role in trade communications. Despite the fact that almost its entire length there are railway tracks located parallel to it. The Rhine is a river that flows through the most densely populated European countries with rich natural resources and industrial development.

Until recently, it was written in all school textbooks that the longest river in the world is the Nile. Its length is 6670 kilometers. However, already now many scientists give the palm to another river - the Amazon.

This happened for several reasons. Namely, the Nile became shorter after the Aswan Dam was built on it in 1960. Well, besides this, the Amazon River has several tributaries, these are the Ucayali and Marañon. And more recently, it began to be traced from the source of Ucayali. And from this point the length of the South American river exceeded 7 thousand kilometers. For comparison, this is the distance from Berlin to New York.

Fresh sea

However, the Amazon is not only the longest river in the world. She holds several more records. For example, it is the largest in terms of basin size and the deepest (special thanks to the heavy rainfall for this). Of course, the Amazon is the most water-bearing river in the world. The river throws approximately 200 thousand cubic meters of water into the Atlantic Ocean. By the way, in 30 seconds a reservoir can provide absolutely every inhabitant of the planet with one liter of fresh water. It turns out that a fifth of all fresh water that enters the World Ocean comes from the Amazon. And the force with which fresh water flows into the Atlantic displaces salt water at a distance of about 200 kilometers. Only for this, the famous Italian navigator Vicente Yañez Pinzón gave the Amazon another name - Mor Dulcea, which translates as “Fresh Sea”.

By the way, when you first meet a river, you actually want to call the Amazon a sea. In some places its width is so enormous that it is impossible to see the opposite bank. And the flood makes the longest river even wider. At such moments the width reaches fifty kilometers. Well, the depth is not so impressive; in the largest places it ranges from 50 to 80 meters. In narrow ones it is 130 meters. The Amazon is located parallel to the equator. This leads to the fact that it is strongly influenced by the summer season, in both hemispheres. Therefore, the right and left tributaries are replenished with water. And the water level can fall and rise. Experts compare the life of the Amazon to the pulsation of a giant heart. Throughout the year, the water level can fluctuate from 9 to 12 meters. In general, the Amazon is filled with more than five thousand tributaries. The right Madeira and the left Río Negro deserve special attention. If you add up the length of all the branches of the champion river, then its length will be more than 25 thousand kilometers.

Royal flora and fauna

The Indians have always admired the beauty of the mighty Amazon and called it nothing less than the “queen of rivers.” The waters of this longest river on the planet pass at the foot of the Peruvian Andes, come into contact with the dense tropical forests of Ecuador and Bolivia, and also flow near the “floating islands” of Colombia, plantations of cassava bushes and guarana in Brazil. On the banks of the Amazon, in the plant kingdom, among a dense tangle of palm leaves and vines, live anacondas and jaguars looking for their victims. And vice versa, tapirs hide from predators, capybaras graze, monkeys play and frogs croak. Well, in the muddy waters of the river (due to the silt that is carried by the rapid flow of water) more than two thousand species of fish live. Overall, the Amazon has approximately 30 times more fish species than all European rivers. Among them are the famous piranhas, stingrays and river sharks (all these are “underwater wolves”). There are two types of river dolphins here, you can meet a giant otter, as well as an alligator and turtles. By the way, during the rainy season, pink river dolphins from the main river move into the flooded forest, where they can be found swimming or hunting near the trees. It is noteworthy that on one hectare of the river’s tropical forest you can find more than 200 varieties of trees. And that's not all, according to research, there can be up to 72 different species of ants on one tree. By the way, the longest river on Earth fully lives up to its name.

This has been happening since the time of the Spanish conquistadors (this is the 15th-16th centuries). Then the conquerors were extremely surprised by the strength of Indian women. They fought alongside men and were inferior to them in little way. Therefore, the mighty river was named after their tribe “de los Amazonas”. The river does not allow you to approach it because of its steep banks. They are not just clayey and steep, but swampy and sometimes flooded. The warlike and violent nature of the Amazon is also indicated by the driftwood floating with the current, the disgusting mud and constant whirlpools.

Taming of the Shrew

Man has been trying to conquer the great Amazon for a long time. Some do it out of sport, and some do it for selfish reasons. In the latter case, we are talking about cutting down the jungle, which is present in abundance on the banks of the river. Man is mercilessly destroying nature, thereby depriving the planet of vital energy. Others behave much more harmlessly. The simplest example of conquest of a river is the story of Martin Strela. This young man showed his strengths and earned hero status in a documentary called Big River Man. The film was released in 2009. A fearless swimmer from Slovenia covered 5,268 kilometers of water in just 66 days. Thanks to this, the athlete was included in the Guinness Book of Records, thereby showing the strength of the human spirit and mutual understanding of nature and man.

By the way, there is not a single bridge across the Amazon River, about 7 thousand kilometers long. The only one appeared only in 2010. The crossing was made through one of the tributaries of the longest river - the Río Negro. The bridge connects the major Amazon port of Manaus and the city of Iranduba. The length of this structure is quite impressive - 3 kilometers and 595 meters.

Breathe down your back

The length of the Nile is immediately behind the Amazon. Well, next on the list of the longest rivers are the Mississippi (with Missouri). This river in North America stretches for 6 thousand 420 kilometers. Next comes the Yangtze, its length is 5800 kilometers. Well, Ob closes the top five record holders. The Siberian River, including the Irtysh, stretches for 5,410 kilometers. By the way, this is the longest river in Russia.
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27.03.2013

There are many amazing things in the world long rivers, but which one is longest river in the world? And this is a complex issue that causes a lot of disagreement and controversy. Scientists have been debating this issue for a long time, arguing about the exact length of rivers, because for this it is necessary to know exactly where the river begins and where it ends, and there are still disputes about whether it is necessary to take into account the tributaries of rivers. And the most famous dispute between scientists is which river is longer, the Nile or the Amazon; they swapped places several times. But today scientists seem to agree, although not completely... This is10 longest rivers in the world.

10. Congo River - 4,700 km

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The water system is the Atlantic Ocean. The deepest and second longest (after the Nile) river in Africa. The only river that crosses the equator twice. A major shipping artery and source of fishing. Famous for the seven-step Stanley Falls and the cascade of Livingston Falls. The novels of J. Conrad “Heart of Darkness” and M. Crichton “Congo” are dedicated to the river.

9. Amur River - 5,052 km

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In ninth place in the top 10 longest rivers in the world, Amur, which flows through the territories of Russia, China and Mongolia. The water system is the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The Chinese call it the River of the Black Dragon, which, according to legend, lives in its waters. It is distinguished by an unusually rich ichthyofauna. Up to 139 subspecies of fish are found here. The richest salmon river in Eurasia.

8. Lena River - 5,100 km

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It flows into the Laptev Sea. The name of the river is associated not with a popular female name, but with the Evenki word “Elu-Ene” - “big river”. It differs from other Russian rivers in its ice regime and powerful ice jams, which causes global floods. The banks of the Lena are sparsely populated.

7. Ob River with Irtysh - 5,410 km

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Flows into the Kara Sea. The area of ​​the water basin is 2,990 thousand sq. km. The third most water-bearing river in Russia after the Yenisei and Lena. In the southern part of the Ob, the Novosibirsk Reservoir was built - a reservoir of water reserves and a popular recreation spot.

6. Yellow River - 5,464 km

"Yellow River". The name is justified by the color of the water, which is caused by the abundance of river sediments. Flows into the Yellow Sea. The average water flow in the river is 2000 cubic meters per second. In 11 AD. The Yellow River made a breakthrough into a new direction, which caused a huge environmental and humanitarian disaster and led to the fall of the Xin Dynasty. In 1938, Kuomintang troops organized the largest flood of the Yellow River in order to stop the advance of the Japanese army. It is the second largest river in China.

5. Yenisei River - 5,539 km

In fifth position in the top 10 longest rivers in the world, Yenisei. The name comes from the Evenk “Ionessi” - “big water”. Siberians affectionately call her Yenisei-father. Flows into the Kara Sea. The confluence of the Big and Small Yenisei in Kyzyl is the geographical center of Asia. The ill-conceived construction of hydroelectric power stations on the river and a mining and chemical plant in Krasnoyarsk led to climate change and other serious environmental consequences in this area.

4. Mississippi - 6,275 km

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It originates in Lake Ithaca in Minnesota and flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Divided into Upper and Lower Mississippi. The largest tributary is the Ohio River. The longest tributary is the Missouri River. It is famous for the grandiose bridges built across it. She was a source of inspiration for many writers and musicians, such as M. Twain, W. Faulkner, J. Cash.

3. Yangtze River - 6,300 km

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Longest me and the high-water river of Eurasia. The cradle of Chinese civilization and the main waterway of this country. The river is home to two endangered species - the Chinese allegator and the Chinese paddlefish. On July 16, 1966, the Great Mao swam 15 km down the river in 65 minutes, which made an indelible impression on local residents and served as a signal for the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

2. River Nile - 6852 km

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A sacred river worshiped by the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and many African peoples. A temple was built in her honor in Nilopolis and the festival of Niloa was held. It originates on the East African plateau and flows into the Mediterranean Sea. Plays a huge role in the development of agriculture in the surrounding lands. Nile cruises are a very popular tourist route.

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1. Amazon - 6,992 km

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The longest river in the world formed by the confluence of the Marañon and Ucayali rivers. It flows through the territories of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. Flows into the Atlantic Ocean. At a depth of 4 thousand kilometers, the unidirectional underground river Hamza flows underneath it. In 2011 it was recognized as one of the natural wonders of the world. Nourishes the ecosystem of the Amazon jungle. It is also considered the most dangerous river in the world. But still it is the greatest river.

Amur

Almost on the state border between Russia and China, the Amur flows, its length is 4500 km, while its area reaches 1.85 km2. The river flows into the waters of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, and its coast has become a haven for rare species of birds and animals.

Congo

Congo is located in central Africa and is considered the second largest (after the Nile) on the continent. Its total length is 4,700 km, and the area of ​​the water basin is 4 million km 2. Congo is also known as Zaire. The river provides water to the people of Angola, Congo, Zambia, Tanzania, Cameroon, Rwanda and Burundi. Zaire flows into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Parana

This river is considered the second longest on the South American continent, second only to the Amazon. The length of the Parana is 4880 km, and the area of ​​the basin is 2.58 km 2. Flowing through Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina, it flows into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The Paraná is rightfully considered the main waterway of South America. Shipping is well developed here.

Ob

One of the largest rivers in Siberia with a length of 5410 km and a basin area of ​​3 million km 2. The source of the Ob is located in the Altai Territory and flows into the waters of the Arctic Ocean. It is considered the longest in Russia. Power plants and reservoirs were built on its rapids.

Yellow River

The second name of this famous river is Yellow. It flows through most of China and is considered the country's second largest river. The total length of the Yellow River is about 5464 km, and the area of ​​its basin is 750 thousand km 2. Thanks to the Shaanxi Plateau, the water in the Yellow River has a yellowish tint. Hence the second name of the river. Over the course of many centuries, the Yellow River, considered the cradle of local civilization, changed its course many times. Over time, many large cities arose on the banks of the Yellow River, which take water from here for drinking and household needs.

Yenisei

It is the Yenisei that holds the title of the longest river flowing through Siberia. It originates at the border with Mongolia, and it flows into the waters of the Red Sea. The total length of the Siberian record holder is as much as 5539 km, and the basin area is 2.8 million km 2. Numerous power plants were opened on the banks of the Yenisei, producing electricity for numerous industrial enterprises in the region. Industrial development has had a negative impact on the local environment.

Mississippi

The record holder of the continent of North America, with a total length of 6275 km and a basin area of ​​3.27 million km 2. The Mississippi begins in northern Minnesota near Lake Missouri, and its waters flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Translated from the language of the indigenous aborigines, the word “Mississippi” means “big river”. This waterway is of great importance for the industry and economic development of the country. Shipping is developed here.

Yangtze

The largest river in China. The total length is 6300 km, the basin area is 1.8 million km 2. The beginning of the Yangtze is located in the Himalayan glaciers region. Flowing through the country and dividing it in half, it flows into the waters of the South China Sea. The Yangtze is important for the country and is home to major cities.

Amazon

The formation of the Amazon was facilitated by the confluence of two large rivers. Its length is 6400 km, the basin area is 7 million km 2. The Amazon flows through Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana and Ecuador. In addition, many of the continent's major rivers flow into it. It, in turn, flows into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. A huge number of animals live on the banks of the Amazon.

Nile

The length of the record holder is 6650 km, the basin area is 3 million km 2. The Nile is located in the northeast of the African continent, carrying its waters to the Mediterranean Sea. You can see it in Ethiopia, Kenya, Egypt, Sudan, as well as Uganda and Eritrea. The longest river in the world plays a vital role in the life of the local population. It is home to major ports and power plants. It is considered the cradle of ancient civilization.