An Amazon Journey The Amazon River stretches for 4 250 miles 6 840 km It is the second longest river in the world Thousands of animal species live in the river from piranha fish to pink river dolphins You will follow the river from its source high in the Andes Mountains to its mouth on the eastern coast of Brazil a Atlantic Caracas Ocean VENEZUELA Georgetown GUANA O SOUTH AMERICA O toget a COLOMBIA Quito Rio Negro Japura River EQUADORD Bellam Santarem River n River lautos Leticia A Janud Road Maranon River PERU unabamba Limala 1 Machu Picchu BRAZIL 1 Apurimac River OBrasilla La Paz BOLIVIA Pacific Ocean
A Mighty River The Amazon is so vast that it often seems more like a sea than a river Its width varies from 1 to 6 2 miles 1 6 to 10 km In the rainy season some places widen to more than 30 miles 48 km across On its journey it is joined by hundreds of other rivers called tributaries Where the Amazon enters the Atlantic Ocean its estuary measures 149 miles 240 km across nearly the same width as Lake Superior The Amazon Basin The area drained by the river is called the Amazon basin This covers about 40 percent of South America The Amazon basin is covered by tropical rain forest This forest is one of the richest sources of plant and animal life on Earth A Together with its tributaries the Amazon carries more water than any river in the world Naming the Amazon V The jaguar is one of millions of animal species found in the Amazon rainforest The first European to explore the Amazon was Francisco de Orellana a Spanish soldier in the 1540s Returning from his adventures Orellana told of fighting with fierce women warriors who lived in the Brazilian jungle The Spanish king Charles V later named the river Amazonas after the women warriors of Greek
