The Amazon River

The longest river in the world is not as was thought until one year ago the Nile River in Africa, but the Amazon in South America. Did you know? It is important to know that this famous stream runs through the territory of 3 amazingly neighbors. Yes, we are talking about the area in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. In that sense you can imagine that a river is very extensive. Just worth mentioning that the Amazon has a total length of 6,800 kilometers, 100 more than the River Nile and is in turn, the most abundant, wide and deep in the world.
When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in South America, Vicente Yanez Pinzon commanded an expedition around the year 1,500 that came to the river, baptizing in the name of Santa Maria de La Mar Dulce and was eventually shortened to simply Mar Dulce, was also known as the Rio de la Plata. Over time, the name of the Amazon was changing, known as Rio Grande, Orellana and Mara, as they called the Indians. The name that is now known worldwide as the river was given by the Spanish expedition Francisco de Orellana, after then the Marañón River, is facing a local ethnic group which had as member’s men and women. Orellana recalled the Greek myth of the Amazon narrated by Herodotus. So he called the Amazon River, to stay finally as Amazon.
The birthplace of the Amazon is located high in the Peruvian Andes, just on the slopes of Nevado Quehuisha in Arequipa, over 5,000 meters above sea level. Then it walks the Peruvian jungle and goes into the Brazilian Amazon before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Amazon is home to many species of flora and fauna of the rainforest. Among them we have different types of trees 75.000, 150.000 species of plants, jaguars, pumas, tapirs, several species of deer, a variety of reptiles such as turtles, alligators and snakes, 1,700 species of birds, 3,000 species of fish, 4,000 species of butterflies and further 20% of primate species on the planet.
Thanks to its large volume and depth, is also a navigable river become a major trade route. The main ports are home to the Amazon city of Iquitos in Peru, Leticia in Colombia and Manaus in Brazil.