Amazon River – interesting facts

September 20, 2010 | In: Geography Facts

The Amazon River in South America is the second-longest river in the world after the Nile. This geographic feature is 4,080 miles long and runs from the Andes Mountains in Peru through Brazil to the Atlantic Ocean. The Amazon contains more water than any other river in the world–more than the Mississippi, the Nile, and the Yangtze combined. In one second, the Amazon pours more than 55 million gallons of water into the sea. This body of water is fed by about 15,000 tributaries and other bodies of water, by heavy tropical rains, and by the melting snow of the Andes. The Amazon drainage basin covers more than two-fifths of South America. The Amazon rain forest covers an area 12 times the size of France and is home to more species of plants and animals than anywhere else on earth.

The Amazon had many names after its discovery by Vincente Pinzon in 1500. It was finally named after the Amazons of Greek mythology because a tribe of female warriors were believed to inhabit its shores. In 1541, Spaniard Francisco de Orellana was the first to travel most of the Amazon’s length.