106. Interesting Facts about the Amazon River

Interesting Facts about the Amazon River:

1. The source of the Amazon River is Lago Villafro in the Andes Mountains, Peru.

2. The Amazon River is the principle path of transportation for people and produce with transport ranging from balsa rafts and dugout canoes to hand-built wooden rivercraft and modern steel hulled craft.

3. The Amazon is the major South American river based in the Amazon basin. It surrounds the Amazon Rainforest and covers territory belonging to nine nations: Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

4. It is characterized by extensive forested areas that become flooded every rainy season.

5. It is the second longest river in the World approximately 6400 kilometres (4000 miles) – only the Nile, in Africa, is longer.

6. Because it is so vast, it is sometimes called The River Sea.

7. Anaconda snake is found in shallow waters in the Amazon Basin.

8. Vicente Yanez Pinzon was the first European to sail into the waters in 1500. The first European to travel the length of the Amazon River was Francisco de Orellana in 1542.

9. It has over 1,100 tributaries, 17 of which are over 1,500 kilometres long. A tributary is a stream, or smaller river, that flows into a main river.

10. The Amazon River fact is home to the piranha – a deadly meat eating fish.