The Amazon River (also named "Rio Amazonas" in Portuguese and Spanish) is the largest river in the world by the amount or volume of water it carries. It flows through the tropical forests of South America, mainly in Brazil. Its headwaters are in the Andes Mountains in Peru, on the western edge of South America and flows eastward into the Atlantic Ocean near the equator.
The Amazon River moves more water than the next eight largest rivers of the world combined and has the largest drainage basin in the world. It accounts for about one fifth of the world's total river flow. During the wet season, parts of the Amazon exceed in width. Because of its size, it is sometimes called "The Sea", but it is not the world's "longest" river system. The world's longest river is the Nile River, with the Amazon being second-longest.
It is one of the longest rivers in the world. There have been different studies that have tried to measure its exact length. As the studies have come up with different numbers, it is therefore difficult to give an exact number. The length also changes in the rainy season. Several studies from Brazil, Spain and Chile say it is the longest river in the world, longer than the Nile. The Nile has a length of . The Amazon may have a length of . The Spanish daily newspaper El País gives its length at . In 2007, scientists from Peru and Brazil calculated a length of .
A study done in 1969 says that the Amazon has a length of . This was measured from a part of the River Apurimac. Until the 1970s, it was thought that the Marañón River was the source of the Amazon. In 2001, an expedition found that Nevado Mismi was in fact the source of the Amazon. Another document of the Geographic society of Lima gives the length of the Amazon at over .
The source of the Amazon is in the Andes Mountains of western South America. It flows east from there to the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the huge river and its many tributaries are in the country of Brazil. There are many places on the Amazon where a person on one side of the river cannot see the other side. The Brazilians call the Amazon the "River Sea." The Amazon is navigable from the ocean to Peru. Ocean ships can travel on the Amazon all the way across Brazil, and most of South America, to the city of Iquitos in Peru.
One characteristic of the Amazon river is the "Brazo Casiquiare", a water connection to the Orinoco river into Venezuela, that connects the two basins.
The estuary of the Amazon is about wide. The width of the mouth of the river is usually measured from Cabo do Norte to Punto Patijoca. Generally, the outlet of the Para River is included. It is wide, and forms the estuary of the Tocantins. The estuary also includes the island of Marajó, which lies in the mouth of the Amazon. This means that the Amazon is wider at its mouth than the entire length of the Thames river in England.
Along the coastline, near Cabo do Norte, there are many islands partially covered with water. There are also sandbanks. The tides of the Atlantic generate a wave that reaches into the Amazon river. This wave goes along the coast for about . The phenomenon of this wave generated by the tides is called a tidal bore. Locally it is known as "pororoca". The pororoca occurs where the water is less than deep. It starts with a loud noise, and advances at a speed of . The bore is the reason the Amazon does not have a delta. The ocean rapidly carries away the large amount of silt brought by the Amazon. This makes it impossible for a delta to grow past the shoreline. It also has a very large tide, that can reach . The place has become popular for river surfing.
The Amazon River has many uses:
There are no bridges across the entire width of the river. This is not because the river would be too wide to bridge; for most of its length, engineers could build a bridge across the river easily. For most of its course, the river flows through the Amazon Rainforest, where there are very few roads and cities. Most of the time, the crossing can be done by a ferry, so there is no need to build a bridge. The Manaus Iranduba Bridge linking the cities of Manaus and Iranduba spans the Rio Negro (a tributary of the Amazon).
The river is the main route of traffic in the region. Most cities are on the banks of the river. The biggest city on the river is Manaus, which is also the capital of the Brazilian State of Amazonas. Many native people live in the Amazon, such as the Urarina who live in Peru.
Big ocean boats can get up the river until Manaus, which is almost 1500 kilometers (900 miles) from its mouth. Smaller ocean ships of 3,000 tons and 7.9 m (26 ft) draft can reach as far as Iquitos in Peru, 3,700 km (2,300 miles) from the sea. Smaller riverboats can reach 780 km (486 mi) higher as far as Actual Point. Beyond that, small boats frequently go up to the Pogo Ode Escherichia's, just above Actual Point.
Pyramid
A pyramid is a structure, usually of stone, built in the shape of a pyramid. From ancient to modern times people in many different parts of the world have built such structures.
The word "pyramid" comes from the Greek word "pyramis" which meant "wheat cake." The ancient Egyptian word for them was something like "Mer". The Great Pyramid of Giza was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.
The first pyramids were built in 2630 B.C. The oldest known pyramid was made for king Djoser of the third Dynasty.
In Egypt, kings and queens, called Pharaohs, were buried in the tombs of huge square-bottomed pyramids built of stone. They were usually built to be used as tombs for Pharaohs. The ancient Egyptian pyramids are very well built. Some of the pyramids still stand today.
The oldest man-made pyramid found is called the Step pyramid. It is in the Giza Necropolis in Saqqara, near Cairo, Egypt. It was built for King Djoser thousands of years ago. Later pyramids were built much larger. The largest one was the Great Pyramid of Giza. It is near Cairo. It was the tallest building in the world until the Eiffel Tower was built in Paris, in 1889. The Great Pyramid was built by the pharaoh Khufu (= Cheops) from the Ancient Egyptian Old Kingdom. Herodotus was told by his Egyptian guides that it took twenty years for a force of 100,000 slaves to build the pyramid (with another ten years to build a stone causeway that connected to a temple in the valley below).
People once thought pyramids were built by slaves. More recent evidence suggests that the workers who built the pyramids were paid and well-cared for. They were loyal to the Pharaoh. Inside the Great Pyramid, famous man-made objects have been found from ancient times. Many valuable items were buried with the dead Pharaohs, in the hope that they would take them to the afterlife. Pyramids usually had traps to stop thieves from escaping easily. Tomb thieves were punished by death if they were caught. However, by 1000 BC, many of the pyramids had been robbed of their precious treasures.
A large statue of a Sphinx stands near the pyramids at Giza. It has the body of a Lion and the head of a Pharaoh.
The ancient Greeks called the Great Pyramid one of the seven wonders of the world. There are over 100 pyramids in Egypt. Most of them are on the western side of the River Nile. Some Egyptologists have different opinions on why the ancient Egyptian Kings built pyramids as their tombs. Pyramids have been excavated for about the last 200 years.
The ancient Egyptians believed that the Egyptian pharaohs went to the stars to join their gods in the afterlife.
The Aztecs and Mayans also built many massive pyramids. None are as old or big as the oldest or biggest Egyptian pyramids. Most of them are step pyramids.
Unlike Egyptian pyramids, which were used as tombs for rulers and wealthy people, Aztec and Mayan pyramids are believed to have been used for public displays of human sacrifice.