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The Amazon River (UK: / ˈ æ m ə z ən /, US: / ˈ æ m ə z ɒ n /; Spanish: Río Amazonas, Portuguese: Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the longest or second-longest river system in the world, a title which is disputed with the Nile.
The highest point in the watershed of the Amazon is the second biggest peak of Yerupajá at 6,635 metres (21,768 ft). The Amazon River Basin occupies the entire central and eastern area of South America, lying to the east of the Andes mountain range and extending from the Guyana Plateau in the north to the Brazilian Plateau in the south.
The Amazon River is the largest river in the world in terms of its flow rate. In addition, it is the second longest river, measuring 6,575 km (4,086 mi) [3] from its source to the mouth of the Atlantic Ocean [4] after the Nile River which is considered to be the longest river in the world (see Source of the Nile River), although there is some dispute.
The Amazon River accounts for 15–16% of the total water discharged by rivers into the oceans of the world. [2] Rivers may be blackwater, whitewater or clearwater. Thus the Rio Negro ("Black River") has clear, jet-black water caused by decomposition of organic matter in swamps along its margins, combined with low levels of silt. The Rio Branco ...
Aside from the Amazon, the major rivers feeding the Amazonia marine region include the clearwater Tocantins River and the Mearim River. The continental shelf is relatively smooth and shallow, with a drop on the shelf about half-way to the north. The deepest point is −2,047 metres (−6,716 ft), and the average is −49 metres (−161 ft).
The Amazon rainforest, [a] also called Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7,000,000 km 2 (2,700,000 sq mi), [ 2 ] of which 6,000,000 km 2 (2,300,000 sq mi) are covered by the rainforest . [ 3 ]
The Marañón River was considered the source of the Amazon River starting with the 1707 map published by Padre Samuel Fritz, [4]: 58 who indicated the great river "has its source on the southern shore of a lake that is called Lauriocha, near Huánuco." Fritz believed that the Marañón contributed the most water of all the Amazon's tributaries ...
The Rio Negro (Portuguese: Rio Negro [ˈʁi.u neɡɾu]; Spanish: Río Negro [ˈri.o ˈneɣɾo] "Black River"), or Guainía as it is known in its upper part, is the largest left tributary of the Amazon River (accounting for about 14% of the water in the Amazon basin), the largest blackwater river in the world, [8] and one of the world's ten largest rivers by average discharge.