Amazonas

The Amazon (also Amazonenstrom, Portuguese Rio Amazonas) is the largest river in South America. There are conflicting calculations regarding the ranking as the longest or second longest river on earth. After measurements In 1969, the Amazon, with a total length of 6448 kilometers, was the second longest river in the world after the Nile.

Calculations from an expedition and data from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) in 2007, covering a length of 6,800 kilometers have been confirmed by a variety of reliable modern sources, all of which indicate a length of about 6,400 km. again invalidated.

The Amazon is indisputably the most water-rich river on earth. It carries more water than the next six smaller rivers put together.

1.2 billion tons of sediment are transported around 800 kilometers from the mouth of the Amazon every year. About 75 of them reach percent the Atlantic, the remaining 25 percent is deposited on the lower 800 kilometers of the river.

The Amazon has a brown coloration, which comes from the sediment load, which comes particularly from the source rivers located in the Andes is entered. 90 percent of the sediments carried by the Amazon are brought in by the Madeira, the Ucayali and the Marañón. However, some inflows come from crystalline areas with low sediment load, e.g. B. the Rio Tapajós, the Rio Negro and the Rio Xingu.

At the confluence of differently colored rivers, the different colors of the water masses can sometimes be seen for miles.

Basic data:
Geographical location:	South America
Length:	6,448 km (with Ucayali and Apurímac)
Source:	Nevado Mismi, Arequipa, Peru
source rivers:	Marañón, Huallaga, Ucayali
source height:	5170 m
estuary:	Atlantic, Brazil
Discharge amount:	180,000 m³/s
Catchment area:	7,050,000 km²

Source and course of the river:

The Amazon rises in the Nevado Mismi mountain range in the Arequipa region of the Peruvian Andes high mountains. Its three source rivers Marañón, Huallaga and Ucayali rise in the Andes. The Marañón with its 1,600 kilometers is the northernmost and water-richest source river, the Rio Ucayali with its tributaries is the longest of the main source rivers of the Amazon.

The source river, which is called Lloquera for 19 km, then bears the names Callamayo and Hornillos for another 46 km, then merges with the Río Apurímac. After a total of 730.7 kilometers, it continues 180 km in the Río Ene, then 158 km as the Rio Tambo and finally more 1,600.1 kilometers in the lower reaches of the Río Ucayali. After almost 2670 km in northeastern Peru, it joins the Marañón to form the upper reaches of the Amazon.

From the Peruvian-Brazilian border, the Amazon is called Rio Solimões. The distance from the border to the confluence of the Rio Negro is the middle reaches of the Amazon. After the union of the two rivers Rio Solimões and Rio Negro near Manaus, the river gets the name Amazonas again. It flows through the Amazon lowlands (Amazonia) to its mouth in the Atlantic. The Amazon lowlands have a low gradient of 3.8 cm per km. Therefore, the tributaries are often connected to each other by natural canals. On its 3,106 km in Brazilian territory, the Amazon alone includes 220 tributaries. Except for Óbidos, the Amazon is below Manaus everywhere wider than 5 km. Its mouth is 250 km wide.The estuary, which is up to 250 km wide, crosses the landscape from west to east. It is referred to as the Amazon Basin.

Traffic:

To this day, the Amazonas is the main traffic artery of the Amazon region for both goods and passenger traffic. Although most cities can be reached by scheduled flights, the majority of the inhabitants of the Amazon region use the typical regional ships with prices affordable for them. In the lower part of the ships, goods are transported all year round. Goods traffic on the road is not possible during the rainy season.

From the Atlantic coast to Manaus, the Amazon is navigable with ocean vessels up to 10,000 tons, as far as the Peruvian city of Iquitos with sea vessels up to 3000 t. The cruise ships navigating the Amazon and also its tributaries Rio Tapajos and Rio Negro dock in Manaus and some other places land.

Animal & Plant World:

The Amazon offers a habitat for around 3500 different species of fish. The most important food fish species are tambaquí (Colossoma macropomum), Jaraqui, Filhote, Tucunaré (Cichla spp.) and Pirarucú (Arapaima gigas). There are also a large number of regional occurring fish species such as various types of piranhas, the primeval looking tamuatã and others.

The Amazon is also home to critically endangered species such as the Amazon manatee (Trichechus inunguis) and the Amazon pink dolphin (Inia geoffrensis; bras. Boto cor-de-rosa).

Floating green islands form their own biotopes in the Amazon. These islands of grass are made up of trees that have been washed away and are entangled with each other or developed from aquatic plants that have been torn loose during high water and can grow to be over a hundred meters long.

Environmental influences:

In the last ten years, the Amazon has been poisoned by the discharge of over 2000 tons of mercury. The mercury is used by the gold diggers to extract gold. In addition to the mercury itself, the mercury vapors created when separating gold and mercury, extremely toxic to humans and animals. The consequences of mercury poisoning are often severe Hereditary damage such as deformities up to fatal poisoning.

In recent years, the Amazon region has experienced major droughts. In 2005 and 2006, the Amazon river level dropped during the dry season 4-5 meters lower than usual. Millions of fish died and in many places villages were no longer accessible because the rivers were no longer navigable were.

Residents:

The Caboclos are the direct residents of the Amazon. They live mainly in the smaller towns on the lower reaches of the Amazon east of Manaus. The Caboclos live in simple huts that they built on stilts because of the risk of flooding. They live mainly from fishing, from the production of rubber, some cattle breeding and the sale of Brazil nuts and fruits at nearby markets.

The term Caboclos is used today in northern Brazil for mixed races of Indios and Europeans of white skin color.

Features:

The Pororoca is a one to four meter high tidal wave that comes from the Atlantic with the incoming tide certain tributaries of the Amazon River several kilometers upstream. This unique natural phenomenon occurs a few times a year at the new and full moon in February and March. The meeting of low water level of the Amazon at this time of year with the spring tide at full or new moon is a prerequisite for this natural phenomenon.

The Pororoca is feared by the residents of the Amazon because of its destructive power. For surfers from all over the world it is a challenge to their skills. Brazilian Picuruta Salazar lasted 37 minutes and about twelve kilometers on the wave.

history:

Between 1499 and 1500, the mouth of the Amazon was first discovered by Europeans. The Italian Amerigo Vespucci and the Spaniard Vicente Yáñez Pinzón arrived with their ships almost simultaneously.

From 1541 to 1542, the Spaniard Francisco de Orellana was the first European to enter the Amazon from the source of the Rio Napo Amazon tributary to the mouth. In the same year, together with Gonzalo Pizarro, he also discovered the source of the Marañón, the shorter source river. This was certainly also the reason that the Amazon was called Rio Orellana for a time.

Upstream from the mouth to the source of the Napos, Pedro Teixeira navigated the Amazon for the first time from October 1637 to August 1638. The American Loren McIntrye did not discover the source of the second source river Ucayali until 1971. It was not until 2001 that National Geographic published Society confirms the source of the Apurímac as the origin of the Amazon. This resulted in a correction of the length of the Amazon.

The Amazon was first mapped in 1707 by the German Jesuit missionary Samuel Fritz.

Among the many South American explorers who explored the Amazon were the Germans: Alexander von Humboldt, Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff, Eduard Friedrich Poeppig, Wilhelm Sievers, Johann Baptist von Spix and Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius.

Amazonas

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