List of the longest rivers. Which river is the longest in the world

What is a river? This is a natural watercourse that flows in a depression that it has developed, that is, a channel. The watercourse is fed by underground and surface runoff from its basin. Today we will talk about the largest rivers that can only be found on our planet.

Amazon. The river, which is located in South America and is considered the largest in terms of the size of the basin, the length of the river system and full flow. A few years ago, it was inferior to the Nile in its length, but researchers using modern equipment found out that the Amazon is still a little longer. It turned out that its length reaches seven thousand kilometers, although this depends on the size of the sources as well. Nevertheless, the Amazon is a great river and, moreover, a few years ago was recognized as one of the natural wonders of the world.

The area of ​​the basin reaches 7.200 million kilometers, most of which belongs to Brazil, the smaller - to Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. The Amazon flows into the Atlantic Ocean, thus forming the largest delta in the world.

By the way, the Europeans, according to the surviving reports, learned about the river only in the middle of the 16th century, when the Spanish conquistadors took part in the campaign through the territory of Colombia.

Nile. It ranks second on our list. A river in Africa that originates in the East African Plateau and flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The length of the entire drainage system of the Nile today is about 6700 km, and the basin area is more than three million square kilometers, which cover countries such as Egypt, Sudan, Rwanda, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.

The Nile is the only river in North Africa that runs through the Sahara, bringing water to some of the driest and hottest places on Earth. The watercourse is provided not only due to the sources, but also due to precipitation in the southern regions. Water from the river has been used for thousands of years primarily for navigation, irrigation of fields, fishing and water supply. By the way, more than 90 percent of all Egyptians live in the coastal zone.

In the 70s of the last century, the construction of the Aswan hydroelectric complex was completed, which made it possible to get rid of constant floods. However, local residents were still not happy with these events, because with floods they received an extremely important natural fertilizer for their lands - silt. However, this is no longer a problem now.

Mississippi. A river in the United States that originates in Lake Itasca and flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Its length is about 6300 km. Its largest sources are: Arkansas, Ohio, Missouri, Red River, Des Moines. Illinois. By the way, the Missouri is considered one of the largest tributaries in the world along with the Irtysh.

The Mississippi flows through ten states at once, and it is along it that the borders are determined. So, in the middle of the channel, the boundaries of such states as Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin were established. However, over a long time, the position of the river managed to change, but the borders of the states remained unchanged. Nobody is going to change them.

The discovery of the river by Europeans took place, presumably, in 1541 - it was discovered by the Spanish navigator Hernando de Soto. And at the beginning of the 16th century, Spanish expeditions entered the delta. The first European to sail the Mississippi was Robert de la Salle in 1681.

In 1926, a great flood began, as a result of which the territories of many cities were flooded in the literal sense of the word. About 700 thousand people were affected, and the total damage from the disaster amounted to at least $400 million.

Yangtze. The river flowing in China has a length of about 6200 km. The area of ​​the basin is just under two million square kilometers. The source originates near the Tangla mountain ranges, in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau. It flows into the East China Sea in two main branches, forming a delta.

In terms of use, the Yangtze is primarily needed by local residents to irrigate their fields. In addition, the river is the main shipping route in all of China. The total length of the waterways is about 17 thousand kilometers, along which a huge number of ships constantly travel. By this parameter, by the way, the reservoir is one of the busiest waterways on the planet.

An interesting fact about the Yangtze is that the notorious chairman Mao Zedong repeatedly made swims here, and once he swam 15 kilometers in just over an hour.

Ob. Completes our list. Together with the Irtysh, this river in Western Siberia is the longest in Russia - its length reaches 5410 km. It is formed in Altai by the confluence of two rivers - Katun and Biya, flows into the Kara Sea, forming a bay called the Ob Bay.

Unlike many other large rivers, the Ob is fed mainly by snow. During the spring-summer flood, it brings the bulk of the annual runoff. The Ob is under the ice for 6-8 months. The total area of ​​its basin reaches three million square kilometers, while according to this indicator it ranks first in the territory of the Russian Federation.

For a long time, the Ob was used primarily for fishing. There was a huge amount of all kinds of fish, but over time, some of them simply disappeared. However, now there are about 50 species of fish in the river, many of which are of industrial value: muksun, peled, sturgeon, sterlet, pike, pike perch, crucian carp and so on.

Some large cities were built on the Ob, including Barnaul, Novosibirsk, Surgut, and Salekhard.

The existence of life on our planet is impossible to imagine without rivers. They are also the largest sources of fresh water for territories that have an area of ​​tens of thousands of square kilometers. It was the big rivers that became the cradles of human civilization. Today, a million people live along them. An excellent example would be the Yangtze or the Nile.
Of course, there is a dispute between separate groups of scientists and even entire countries about the longest and largest river in the world. Entire expeditions are sent in search of new sources to add several tens of kilometers to the length of the river.

The largest, largest and longest rivers in the world. List.

1. Amazon (6992 m.) - the largest, longest and largest river in the world and South America.
Description of the Amazon River - the longest river in the world and South America.
The Amazon is the absolute record holder both in length and in full flow and basin area. For many years it was believed that the longest river in the world is the Nile, but the latest research, conducted by comparing photographs from space and computer data processing, has refuted this long-known fact. The Amazon turned out to be 140 km longer than the Nile!

In 2011, according to the results of the world competition, the Amazon was recognized as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. And this is no coincidence. The Amazon is not only the longest, largest and largest river in the world and in South America, but also a unique place on our planet, home to more than a million species of various plants and animals. According to researchers, there are 1.5 thousand species of flowers, 750 species of trees, 125 species of mammals, 400 species of birds and countless invertebrates per 10 km² of rainforest. Many of their species are not even described or identified. Up to 2,000 species of fish live in the Amazon and its tributaries, one of which is the well-known voracious predatory piranha.

The world's largest tropical rainforest is located in the basin of the longest river in the world. The climate here is hot and humid, all year round the air temperature fluctuates only within 25-28°C and it rains very often. There is practically no wind in the forest - lush vegetation does not let in gusts of air. Even during a storm, only the tops of the trees sway here, and twilight and peace reign below.

At the beginning of the 21st century, under the longest land-based river in the world, the world's longest underground river was discovered, flowing parallel to the Amazon at a depth of 4000 m. It originates in the Andes and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Its so far unofficial name is Hamza - in honor of the scientist who discovered it. The speed of the river Khamza does not exceed a few meters per year, and the width is about 400 meters.

2. Nile (6852)- the second of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the longest river in Africa.
Description of the Nile River - the second of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the longest river in Africa.
The Nile is the true "river of life", as it is the only river in North Africa that crosses the sands of the Sahara without drying up. A permanent stream is carried out due to precipitation falling in the upper reaches of the river.

Almost all the settlements of Egypt are located along the bed of the Nile and almost all economic activity is concentrated. The waters of the second longest river in the world are used for irrigation of fields and electricity production (the energy resources of the Nile are estimated at 50 GW), fishing and fish farming, water supply and navigation.

The Nile originates on the East African Plateau (Kagera River), flows through Lake Victoria (some sources indicate this particular lake as the source of the Nile River). The exit from the plateau is characterized by an abundance of rapids and waterfalls. After the confluence of the El Ghazal River, the river is called the White Nile and flows through semi-deserts and deserts to Khartoum, receives the main tributary - the Blue Nile and, under the name of the Nile proper, flows to the Mediterranean Sea, at the confluence of which forms a vast delta.

Floods in different parts of the river occur in different seasons: in the equator region - in the summer and winter seasons, in the northern part of the river - in the summer and autumn periods. To regulate the flow of one of the longest rivers in the world, dams have been built: Gebel-Auliya on the White Nile, Aswan and High Aswan. The construction of dams protected the population from annual floods. This, on the one hand, deprived agriculture of the most important natural fertilizer - silt, but, on the other hand, increased the area of ​​irrigated land and made it possible to harvest three crops a year from the fields.

3. Yangtze (5800 km) - the third of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the longest, largest and largest river in Eurasia.

Description of the Yangtze River - the third of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the longest river in Eurasia.
The Yangtze River originates in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of about 5600 km and flows through China from west to east, making a large coil to the south after Qinghai Province. The lower course of the Yangtze passes through the southern part of the Great Plain of China, where the river often divides into branches, while the width of the main channel reaches 2 km or more. In the area where it flows into the East China Sea, the Yangtze forms a large-scale delta with an area of ​​about 80 thousand km².

Four of China's five largest freshwater lakes drain into the Yangtze. The third longest river in the world has about 700 tributaries, the largest of which are the Yalongjiang, Minjiang, Jialingjiang, Tuo, Hanshui (Juhe).
The Yangtze River is of great cultural and economic importance for the country. This is China's main waterway. The total length of the waterways of the Yangtze basin exceeds 17 thousand km. The river is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The volume of freight traffic in 2005 reached 795 million tons.
The Yangtze River basin, which covers a fifth of China, is home to a third of the country's population and produces about 20% of GDP. The world's largest hydroelectric power plant, the Three Gorges HPP, was built on the longest river in Eurasia.
The Yangtze River is home to many animals, including several endangered species such as the Chinese river dolphin, Chinese alligators and Korean sturgeon. On the territory of the basin of the third largest, largest and longest river in the world, there are several nature reserves and part of the Three Parallel Rivers National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

4. Mississippi (6275 km) - the fourth of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the longest, largest and largest river in North America. Mississippi

Description of the Mississippi River - the fourth of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the longest river in North America.
The Mississippi is one of the greatest rivers in the world. Together with the Missouri, it is the fourth longest river in the world and the largest, largest and longest river in North America. The Mississippi flows through ten US states from north to south. The source of the river is the Nicollette Creek River (according to other sources, Lake Itasca), the Mississippi flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The river basin (the third largest after the Amazon and Congo river basins) extends from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians and from the Great Lakes region to the Gulf of Mexico, occupying an area of ​​3268 thousand km2, which is 40% of the US area, not counting Alaska.
The length of the Mississippi River is 3950 km (according to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia) or 3774 km (Wikipedia). It takes 90 days for a drop of water to travel from the source to the mouth of the river.
Speaking of the Mississippi as the fourth longest river in the world, it should be borne in mind that we are talking about the length of the Jefferson-Missouri-Mississippi river system. In total, the length of the three rivers is 6275 kilometers. When it comes to the longest river in North America, various sources call either the Mississippi River (3774 km), or its tributary the Missouri (3767 km). In our classification of rivers by length, we proceeded from the definition of the length of the river from the source of its longest tributary to the mouth. With this approach, the Mississippi is definitely the longest river in North America.
The Mississippi is a convenient waterway from the Gulf of Mexico to the central parts of the mainland, an important transport artery of the United States, connecting the developed industrial and agricultural regions of the country. The rivers of the Mississippi system are of great economic importance. The total length of the navigable routes of the basin is over 25 thousand square meters. km. A number of large power plants have been built on the tributaries of the Mississippi.
The food of the river is mixed, snow-rain. The right tributaries bring mainly meltwater formed by snowmelt in the Rocky Mountains, the left tributaries feed the Mississippi with rain and storm water. The Mississippi regime is characterized by spring-summer floods and violent rain floods.
The longest, largest and largest river in North America is divided into three sections, the boundaries of which are the confluences of its largest tributaries, the Missouri and Ohio, into the Mississippi.
In the upper section, the river flows through shallow lakes, overcoming rocky rifts and rapids in many places, the most significant of which are in the cities of St. Minneapolis (St. Anthony Falls), Davenport and Keokak. From Minneapolis to the mouth of the Missouri, the river is sluiced; more than 20 dams are located in this section.

In the middle section, the fourth longest river in the world flows mainly in one channel. The width of the river valley, bounded by steep slopes, is 15-20 km. In the middle section, the Mississippi has an interesting feature: for 150-180 km, the dirty, muddy waters of the Missouri flow next to the relatively clear water of the Mississippi without mixing.
In the lower section, the Mississippi River flows through a vast valley, gradually widening from 25 to 70 km. The river bed is winding, with numerous branches and oxbow lakes, forming in the lower reaches a labyrinth of channels, oxbow lakes, vast floodplain swamps flooded during floods. At the end of the delta, the longest, largest and largest river in North America branches into 6 main relatively short branches 20-40 km long, flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.

5. Huang He (5464 km) - the fifth of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the second longest river in Eurasia.

Description of the Yellow River - the fifth of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the second longest river in Asia.

The Yellow River is one of the greatest rivers in the world, it is the second longest river in Asia and the fifth longest river in the world. The name of the river means "Yellow River" in Chinese. The yellow color of the waters of the river is given by the abundance of sediments, of which there are so many in the river that the sea into which it flows is called Yellow. In terms of sediment volume, the Yellow River ranks first in the world (1.3 billion tons / year).
The Yellow River originates in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of over 4,000 m, flows through the Orin-Nur and Dzharin-Nur lakes, spurs of the Kunlun and Nanshan mountain ranges. At the intersection of the Ordos and the Loess Plateau, it forms a large bend in its middle course, then through the gorges of the Shanxi Mountains it enters the Great Chinese Plain, along which it flows for about 700 km until it flows into the Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea, forming a delta in the area of ​​its confluence. According to various sources, the length of the river is from 4670 km to 5464 km, and the area of ​​​​its basin is from 745 thousand km² to 771 thousand km².

The method of feeding the Yellow River: rain, in the mountainous part of the basin it is also snow. The fifth of the longest, largest and largest rivers in the world has a monsoon regime during summer floods with a rise in water level of up to 5 m in the plains and up to 20 m in the mountains. In order to protect against floods, a system of dams with a total length of more than 5,000 km was built along the river. Breaks of dams led to catastrophic floods, accompanied by large-scale destruction and a change in the river channel (the maximum change in the channel was about 800 km). Due to the incredible catastrophic floods, the Yellow River received the nickname "Mountain of China". It is known that over the past two thousand years, the Yellow River overflowed its banks more than a thousand times, broke through dams, and at least 20 times significantly changed the trajectory of its channel. In 1931, during a flood on the Yellow River, according to various estimates, from 1,000,000 to 4,000,000 inhabitants of the North China Plain died.

But despite this, the Yellow River Basin provides about 140 million people with drinking and irrigation water. A number of hydroelectric power stations have been built on the river. Through the Grand Canal, the fifth of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world is connected to the Huaihe and Yangtze rivers.

The Yellow River flows through a total of seven modern provinces and two autonomous regions, namely the following (from west to east): Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia Hui, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong. The mouth of the Yellow River is located in Kenli County (Shandong).
The river is usually divided into three parts - the upper, middle and lower reaches. The upper course of the river runs along the northeast of the Tibetan Plateau and the Loess Plateau of northwestern China; the middle reaches include the valley between Ordos and Shaanxi and the gorges further downstream; the lower course of the river runs along the Great Chinese Plain.

6. River Ob (with the Irtysh)

The Ob River is one of the largest rivers not only in Russia, but throughout the world. It flows from south to north across Western Siberia almost parallel to the greatest Russian river, the Yenisei. A mighty stream flows in the north into the Kara Sea. At the confluence there is a huge bay. It is called the Gulf of Ob, and its length exceeds 800 km. This is a kind of mouth of the river, which in scientific circles is called the estuary. It is characterized by the absence of river sediments. Their creation is hindered by sea currents. In Russia, in addition to the Gulf of Ob, the Yenisei Bay can also be called an estuary.

Like all large rivers of Siberia, flowing into the Laptev Sea, the marginal sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean. To some extent, the Lena can be called a pioneer: after the melting of the glacier and the formation of flora and fauna, it was this river that was one of the first to cut a path to the sea, exploring the endless taiga expanses of Siberia.

The name “Lena”, familiar to Russian speakers, has nothing to do with a female name - it is only a derivative of the Evenk word of the Tungus-Manchurian language group “Elu-Ene”, which translates as “Big River”. The Evenk hydronym was used by the discoverer of the river, the Russian explorer Pyanda (Penda), who in 1619-1623 explored the river, following downstream from the modern region of Kirensk to Yakutsk. Like all the great rivers of Siberia, the Lena flows north, emptying into the Laptev Sea, a marginal sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean.

The question of what exactly is considered the source of the Lena is still open "the latest versions point to a mountain stream at an altitude of 1650 m. Following further along the channel, the waters of the Lena, depending on the conditions, change their character, showing all types of temperament: choleric - in at the beginning of its journey, phlegmatic in the middle reaches, sanguine in the lower reaches and melancholic in the delta.
According to the nature of the river flow, three sections are distinguished: from the source to the village of Kachug, from Kachug to Zhigansk, the middle course, and from Zhigansk to the mouth - the lower section.
Before the confluence of the Manzurka River near the village of Kachug, Lena descends along the Baikal Range and lies in the mountainous Cis-Baikal region, here her character can be compared with choleric. With small sizes in this part (width 5-7 m), the speed of its current does not fall below 9 km/h.
Further Lena follows to Ust-Kut and lower to the confluence of the rivers Chaya and Vitim, here her character becomes closer to phlegmatic. This is especially noticeable after the Olekma flows into it and a significant expansion of the channel from the village. Vestiakh to Yakutsk, where it reaches 5 km. The slopes of the river in the middle reaches are most often covered with coniferous trees with occasional meadows.
Then the river, in its imperturbable movement, expands even more, reaching 7-9 km in the channel even before the Aldan flows into it. And with Aldan and Vilyui, which enters later, the width of the Lena reaches 10 km (up to 20 in island areas), and the depth exceeds 16-20 m. strength.

11. Congo River

Congo (Zaire, Lualaba) is a river in Central Africa, mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (partially flows along its borders with the Republic of the Congo and Angola), the deepest and second longest river in Africa, the second river in terms of water content in the world after the Amazon. In the upper reaches (above the city of Kisangani) is called Lualaba. The only major river that crosses the equator twice. The basin area is 4,014,500 km². Length - 4374 km. The slope of the river is 0.36 m/km.
It originates from the settlement of Mumen.
The length of the Congo from the source of Lualaba is 4374 km (from the source of Chambeshi - over 4700 km). The basin area is 4,014,500 km². The source of the Lualaba originates in the southeast of the DRC, on a plateau near the border with Zambia. According to other sources, the source of the Congo is the Chambeshi River, which is formed between the lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika at an altitude of 1590 meters above sea level. It flows into Lake Bangweulu, flows out of it under the name Luapula, flows into Lake Mweru, flowing out of it as the Luvua River and joins Lualaba. The upper course of the Congo (Lualaba), located within the plateaus and plateaus, is characterized by the alternation of rapids and leveled pools with a calm current. The steepest drop (475 m at a distance of about 70 km) Lualaba differs in the Nzilo Gorge, with which it cuts through the southern spurs of the Mitumba Mountains. Starting from the city of Bukama, the river slowly flows, strongly meandering, along the flat bottom of the Upemba graben. Below the city of Kongolo, Lualaba breaks through the crystalline rocks by the Porte d'Anfer (Hell's Gate) gorge, forming rapids and waterfalls; further downstream, several more groups of waterfalls and rapids follow one another. Between the cities of Kindu and Ubundu the river again flows calmly in a wide valley. Just below the equator, it descends from the marginal ledges of the plateau into the Congo depression, forming the Stanley Falls.
After the Stanley Falls near the city of Kisangani, the river changes its name to the Congo. In the middle course, enclosed within the Congo Basin, the river is calm with a slight drop (on average, about 0.07 m / km). Its channel, predominantly with low and flat, often marshy shores, is a chain of lake-like extensions (up to 15 km in places), separated by relatively narrowed (up to 1.5–2 km) sections. In the central part of the Congo Basin, the floodplains of the river and its right tributaries the Ubangi and Sanga merge together, forming one of the world's largest periodically flooded areas. As one approaches the western edge of the basin, the appearance of the river changes: here it is compressed between high (100 m and more) and steep bedrock banks, narrowing in places to less than 1 km; depths increase (often up to 20-30 m), the current speeds up. This narrow section, the so-called Channel, passes into the lake-like extension of the Stanley Pool (about 30 km long, up to 25 km wide), which ends the middle reaches of the Congo.
In the lower reaches of the Congo, it breaks through to the ocean through the South Guinean Plateau in a deep (up to 500 m) gorge. The width of the channel here decreases to 400-500 meters, in some places to 220-250 meters. For 350 km between the cities of Kinshasa and Matadi, the river descends to 270 m, forming about 70 rapids and waterfalls, united under the general name of the Livingstone waterfalls. Depths in this section are 230 m or more, making the Congo the deepest river in the world. At Matadi, the Congo enters the coastal lowland, the channel widens to 1–2 km, the depths in the fairway reach 25–30 m. increases again towards the mouth, where it is 9.8 km. The top and middle part of the estuary are occupied by an actively developing young delta. The continuation of the estuary is the underwater canyon of the Congo with a total length of at least 800 km.

12. Mackenzie River

Mackenzie (English and French Mackenzie, slave Deh Cho - “big river”) is the largest river in Canada and the entire American north with a length of 1738 km. Named after Alexander Mackenzie, who discovered it.
It is a navigable river, the length of the navigable routes of the entire Mackenzie river system is 2200 km - from Waterways on the Athabasca River to the port of Taktoyaktuk on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. The largest settlements are Aklavik, Inuvik, Fort Norman, Fort Providence and the Norman Wells oilfield center.
It was discovered and first passed by A. Mackenzie from June 29 to July 14, 1789. It was originally called the Disappointment River (Eng. Disappointment, "Disappointment" or "Discontent").
tributaries
R. Drank
R. Liard
R. Big Bear
R. Arctic Red River
R. Carcaju
R. Ruth
R. mountain
R. Hare Indian

The beginning of the Mackenzie River is considered to be the source from the Great Slave Lake, the large Canadian lakes Woollaston, Clare, Athabasca and Great Bear also belong to the river basin. The last lake is connected with the river through the Bolshaya Medvezhya tributary. The average flow of water at the mouth of the river is ≈10,700 m³/s, which puts the river on this indicator in second place among the rivers of North America after the Mississippi. Mackenzie's relatively low water content is due to the blocking effect of the Rocky Mountains to the west, which reduce the influence of the Pacific Ocean in the lower part of its catchment.
The Mackenzie, like more than half of Canada's rivers, belong to the Arctic Ocean basin. The food of the Arctic rivers is mainly snow and rain. In the central and northern regions of the country, rivers and lakes are covered with ice for 5 to 9 months. Mackenzie freezes in September - October, opens in May, in the lower reaches - in early June; snow and rain food; spring-summer flood.
The river valley is formed by strata of alluvial and water-glacial deposits, heavily swamped, covered with spruce forest.

13. Niger River
Niger (French Niger, English Niger [ˈnaɪdʒər], Yoruba Niger, Ọya) is the most important river in West Africa. The length is 4180 km, the basin area is 2,117,700 km², the third in Africa after the Nile and the Congo in terms of these parameters.
The source of the river is located on the slopes of the Leono-Liberian Upland in southeastern Guinea. The height of the source is 745 m above sea level. The river flows through the territory of Mali, Niger, along the border with Benin, and then through the territory of Nigeria. It flows into the Gulf of Guinea of ​​the Atlantic Ocean, forming a delta in the confluence area. The largest tributary of the Niger is the Benue River.
The exact origin of the name of the river is unknown, and among researchers there has long been a dispute on this matter.
A popular opinion is that the name of the river comes from the Tuareg nehier-ren - "river, flowing water." According to one hypothesis, the name of the river comes in turn from the words "jaegerev n'egerev", which in Tamashek (one of the Tuareg languages) means "great river" or "river of rivers". So called Niger and some other peoples who lived on its shores.
There is also a hypothesis according to which the Latin word niger, that is, "black", is a derivative of the name of the river. Such a hypothesis admits that historically the words "Niger" and "Negro" have the same root, since the latter also comes from the word "black".
The natives living near the coast call the river differently in separate sections of the course: Joliba (in the Mandingo language - “big river”), Mayo, Eghirreu, Izo, Quorra (Kuarra, Kovara), Baki-n-ruu, etc. etc., but at the same time, the vast majority of these names in translation mean "river".
The source is located on the slopes of the Leono-Liberian Upland in southeastern Guinea. In the upper course, the river is called Dzholiba. The river flows northeast, crossing the border with Mali. In the upper and lower reaches of the Niger there are rapids, flowing mainly in a narrow valley. In the middle reaches of the Niger, it has the character of a flat river. From the Guinean city of Kurusa to the Malian capital of Bamako, and also below the city of Segou, the Niger flows through a wide valley and is navigable. Below the Malian city of Ke Masina, the Niger divides into several branches, forming an inland delta. In the Inner Delta region, the Niger Valley is heavily swamped. Previously, in this place, the Niger flowed into an endorheic lake. In the Timbuktu region, numerous branches merge into one channel. The river then flows east along the southern border of the Sahara for 300 km. Near the town of Burem, the Niger turns to the southeast and flows in a wide valley to the very mouth, navigable. The river flows through the territory of Niger, where there are numerous dry riverbeds (wadis) that once flowed into Niger, along the border of Benin, then flows through Nigeria and flows into the Gulf of Guinea, forming a vast delta with an area of ​​24 thousand km². The longest arm of the delta is the Nun, but the deeper Forcados arm is used for navigation.
Major tributaries of the Niger: Milo, Bani (right); Sokoto, Kaduna and Benue (left).
The Niger is a relatively “clean” river, compared to the Nile, the turbidity of its water is about ten times less. This is due to the fact that the upper reaches of the Niger pass through rocky terrain and do not carry much silt. Like the Nile, the Niger floods every year. It starts in September, peaks in November, and finishes by May.
An unusual feature of the river is the so-called Inner Niger Delta, formed at the site of a strong decrease in the longitudinal channel slope. The area is an area of ​​multi-channel channel, marches and lakes the size of Belgium. It has a length of 425 km with an average width of 87 km. Seasonal floods make the inland delta extremely favorable for fishing and agriculture.
Niger loses about two-thirds of its flow in the section of the inner delta between Segou and Timbuktu due to evaporation and seepage. Even the waters of the Bani River flowing into the delta near the city of Mopti are not enough to compensate for these losses. Average losses are estimated at 31 km³/year (which varies greatly from year to year).
After the inner delta, many tributaries flow into the Niger, but evaporative losses are still very large. The volume of water entering Nigeria in the Yola region was estimated at 25 km³/year before the 1980s and 13.5 km³/year during the eighties. The most important tributary of the Niger is the Benue, which merges with it at Lokoji. The volume of inflows into Nigeria is six times greater than the volume of Niger itself when it enters the country. By the Niger Delta, the flow rate of Niger increases to 177 km³ / year (data until the 1980s, during the eighties - 147.3 km³ / year.

This one of the largest rivers in Europe is also the ancestral home of the birth of civilization. The Danube is the sacred river of the Slavs. She is often mentioned in songs, fairy tales, legends and traditions of all Slavic peoples. In addition, the history of the Celts, Thracians, Illyrians and Greeks is connected with the history of the Danube. In ancient times, the Greeks called the Danube the same as the Thracians who lived along the banks of this river - Istres. And only later, already in Roman times, its modern name was assigned to the river, which was pronounced and written as Danubius. In the 7th century BC, the Greeks founded a colony south of the river delta and called it Istria.
The ancients looked for the sources of the river at the beginning of the Riphean mountains. Then far to the north, and later in the country of the Celts in the Hercynian Forest. But already in the year 15 BC, during the reign of Tiberius, the true sources of the Danube were established: it begins on the massif now called the Black Forest with two sources at a height of 1 kilometer.
Since the reign of Augustus, the Danube has become the border of the Roman state with the northern barbarians.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE DANUBE
Danube (Roman Dunărea, Hungarian Duna, German Donau, Serbian Dunav, Slovak Dunaj, Bulgarian Dunav, Croatian Dunav, Ukrainian Danube, Latin Danubius, Danuvius, other Greek Ίστρος) is the second the length of the river in Europe (after the Volga), the "international" river, the longest river in the European Union.
Length - 2960 km.

The river takes its source in Germany, in the mountains of the Black Forest. Further, the Danube flows or is the border of ten states: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine; passing through such capitals of Central and Eastern Europe as Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade. In addition to these ten countries, the Danube drainage basin covers the territories of another nine European states. The Danube flows into the Black Sea, forming a delta in Romania and Ukraine; the Romanian part of which is included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The Russian name of the river goes back to Praslav. *Dunajь, which was borrowed through the Gothic. *Dōnawi from Celtic. Danuvius. The Polish scientist Jan Rozvadovsky suggested that the Slavs originally called the Dnieper with the word *Dunajь (as can be heard in Ukrainian and Belarusian folklore). K. Moshinsky supported this assumption, believing that when part of the Slavs migrated to the vicinity of the Danube, whose name was originally borrowed as *Dunavъ / *Dunavь, the name was transferred from the previously known river. T. Ler-Splavinsky objected to Moshinsky, who pointed out that the word "Danube" and its derivatives are called a dozen rivers and streams in the territory of the spread of Slavic languages, in addition, this word functions as an appellative in Polish and Ukrainian dialects. In this regard, Ler-Splavinsky restores the common noun *dunajь "big water" for the Proto-Slavic language, which comes from Proto-I.e. *dhouna. The conclusions of Lera-Splavinsky were ignored in the work of V. N. Toporov and O. N. Trubachev “Linguistic analysis of the hydronyms of the Upper Dnieper”, deriving the hydronym “Dunaets”, found in the Slavic lands from the name of the Danube, for which this work was criticized by Z. Golomb .

A river in Germany with steep cliffs, fragrant vineyards, ancient castles perched on almost every peak. It is shrouded in numerous myths and legends, including the beautiful siren Lorelei.
The main river in Germany is one of the most important shipping routes of the Western European states. Born in the Swiss Alps and occupying a basin of 224.4 thousand km2, the full-flowing river subsequently flows into the North Sea.
The Rhine from a geographical point of view The Rhine is one of the best known, longest and busiest rivers in Europe.
It originates, as already mentioned, in the Alps. The river covers most of Switzerland, all of Liechtenstein, as well as a large area in Germany and the Netherlands, areas in eastern France, western Austria.
There are many cities along the picturesque banks of the mighty river.
Rhine - a river in Germany, whose name comes from the Celtic word renos ("raging stream"), arises as a noisy and seething stream, raging in deep gorges. Its mighty current stops a little when the river path passes through Lake Boden. Further, the stream keeps its way west to Basel.
There the river turns north and enters the Rhine Graben, the fault zone of the East African plateau, located between the Vosges mountains in the west and the Black Forest in the east. Along the settlements of Bingen and Bonn stretches the picturesque Rhine Valley (North German Plain). The largest cities located on the banks of the Rhine (a river in Germany) are Cologne and Düsseldorf.
Rotterdam, the leading port in continental Europe, is located near the mouth of the river. At the border with the Netherlands, the stream divides into two parallel delta arms, Lek and Val, crossing a wide and slightly swampy plain.

city ​​of Cologne and Cologne Cathedral

river cruises

The picturesque Rhine (a river in Germany), along the banks of which numerous medieval castles and towers are comfortably located, is a real attraction in several states at once. The Rhine shines with indescribable beauty in the evenings, especially on New Year's Eve, at this time a huge number of tourists and travelers come here who want to enjoy the wonderful spectacle of a romantic show with amazing fireworks with their own eyes.
A variety of boarding houses offer their services for temporary stay of tourists, where you can rent a cozy room, as well as many bars and restaurants.
Shipping
The shipping company was launched along the Rhine at the beginning of the 19th century, namely in 1817. From Basel to Kehl, shipping and shipping are not used on a large scale; ships with a carrying capacity of not more than 400 centners can pass through this area. From Kehl to Plittersdorf, ships can reach 2-3 thousand centners, and, starting from these places, shipping acquires considerable commercial importance.
Vessels weighing up to 12 thousand centners can pass to Mannheim. Tributaries of the Rhine River The Rhine is the largest river in Germany - about 1233 km long, of which 865 km - in Germany. It is considered one of the most important waterways in Europe. The Rhine (a river in Germany) flows into a large number of large, as well as small rivers.
The main tributary from Alsace, Illinois, joins it at Strasbourg. The shorter rivers Dreisam and Kinzig, which flow into the Rhine, flow out of the Black Forest. The Neckar, which flows through the gorge to Heidelberg, enters the Rhine at Mannheim.
The Middle Rhine is the most exciting and romantic part of the river. High banks cover the vineyards to the village of Koblenz, where another tributary, the Moselle, joins the Rhine.

On the right bank, where the most beautiful fortress of Ehrenbreitstein rises, the river Lahn flows into a mighty water artery. Below the city of Bonn, the Rhine valley opens into a wide plain, where the ancient city of Cologne is conveniently located on the left bank of the river. The longest river in Europe The longest river (Rhine) on the map of Europe passes through the territory or borders with states such as Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France and the Netherlands. Its length is more than a thousand kilometers.
The Rhine flows through six countries and is culturally and historically one of the largest and deepest rivers on the continent. It is also the most important industrial and transport artery in the world. The main river in Germany also plays an important role in trade communications. Despite the fact that almost along its entire length there are parallel railway tracks. The Rhine is a river that flows through the most densely populated and rich in natural resources and developed industry in European countries.

27.03.2013

There are many wonderful things in the world long rivers, but which one is longest river in the world? And this is a complex issue that causes a lot of controversy and controversy. Scientists have been discussing this issue for a long time, arguing about the exact length of the rivers, because for this it is necessary to know exactly where the river begins and where it ends, there are still disputes about whether it is necessary to take into account the tributaries of the rivers. And the most famous dispute between scientists is which river is longer than the Nile or the Amazon, they changed places several times. But today, scientists seem to agree, although not completely ... This is what10 longest rivers in the world.

10. Congo River - 4,700 km

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The water system is the Atlantic Ocean. The deepest and second longest (after the Nile) river in Africa. The only river that crosses the equator twice. A major navigable artery and source of fishing. It is famous for the seven-step Stanley Falls and the cascade of Livingston Falls. The novels of J. Conrad "Heart of Darkness" and M. Crichton "Congo" are dedicated to the river.

9. Amur River - 5,052 km

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Ranked ninth in the top 10 longest rivers in the world, Amur, which flows through the territories of Russia, China and Mongolia. The water system is the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The Chinese call it the Black Dragon River, which, according to legend, lives in its waters. It has an unusually rich ichthyofauna. There are up to 139 subspecies of fish here. The richest salmon river in Eurasia.

8. Lena River - 5,100 km

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It flows into the Laptev Sea. The name of the river is not associated with a popular female name, but with the Evenki word "Elu-Yene" - "big river". It differs from other Russian rivers in its ice regime and powerful ice jams, which causes global floods. The banks of the Lena are poorly populated.

7. The Ob River with the Irtysh - 5,410 km

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It flows into the Kara Sea. The area of ​​the water basin is 2,990 thousand sq. km. The third most water-bearing river in Russia after the Yenisei and Lena. In the southern part of the Ob, the Novosibirsk Reservoir was built - a reservoir of water reserves and a popular recreation area.

6. Yellow River - 5,464 km

"Yellow River". The name is justified by the color of the water, which is caused by the abundance of river sediment. It flows into the Yellow Sea. The average flow of water in the river is 2000 cubic meters per second. In 11 AD The Yellow River made a breakthrough in a new direction, which caused a tremendous environmental and humanitarian catastrophe and led to the fall of the Xin dynasty. In 1938, the Kuomintang troops organized the largest flood of the Yellow River in order to stop the advance of the Japanese troops. It is the second largest river in China.

5. Yenisei River - 5,539 km

Ranked fifth in the top 10 longest rivers in the world, Yenisei. The name comes from the Evenki "Ionessi" - "big water". Siberians affectionately call her Yenisei-father. It flows into the Kara Sea. The confluence of the Greater and Lesser Yenisei in Kyzyl is the geographical center of Asia. The ill-conceived construction of hydroelectric power plants on the river and a mining and chemical plant in Krasnoyarsk have led to climate change and other serious environmental consequences in this area.

4. Mississippi - 6,275 km

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It originates in Lake Ithaca in Minnesota and flows into the Gulf of Mexico. It is divided into the Upper and Lower Mississippi. The most full-flowing tributary is the Ohio River. The longest tributary is the Missouri River. It is famous for the grandiose bridges built across it. She was a source of inspiration for many writers and musicians, such as M. Twain, W. Faulkner, J. Cash.

3. Yangtze River - 6,300 km

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longest I and the high-water river of Eurasia. The cradle of Chinese civilization and the main waterway of this country. There are two endangered animal species in the river - the Chinese allegator and the Chinese paddlefish. On July 16, 1966, the Great Mao swam 15 km in 65 minutes on the river, which made an indelible impression on the locals and signaled the start of the Cultural Revolution.

2. River Nile - 6852 km

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The sacred river, which was worshiped by the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and many African peoples. In her honor, a temple was built in Nilopolis and the festival of Niloa is held. It originates in the East African Plateau and flows into the Mediterranean Sea. It plays a huge role in the development of agriculture in the surrounding lands. Cruises on the Nile are a very popular tourist route.

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1. Amazon - 6,992 km

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The longest river in the world formed by the confluence of the Maranion and Ucayali rivers. It flows through the territories of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean. At a depth of 4,000 kilometers, a unidirectional underground river, the Hamza, flows under it. In 2011 recognized as one of the natural wonders of the world. Nourishes the ecosystem of the Amazonian selva. It is also considered the most dangerous river in the world. But still it is the greatest river.

Previously, the longest river on the planet was considered the Nile, whose length from source to mouth is 6670 kilometers. Awesome number! But now the Amazon has become the “record holder” - after they began to measure its length from the source of the Ucayali River flowing into it, the length of the river was a huge 6992 kilometers - this is more than the radius of the Earth!

Where is the Amazon located?

The Amazon River is located in the north of mainland South America. It covers the territory of several states: Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana. Refers to the Atlantic Ocean basin.

The world's longest river, the Amazon, boasts other numbers as well: it has the largest basin area in the world - its tributaries irrigate approximately 7.2 million square kilometers! It is also the most water-bearing river in the world, it carries 200 thousand cubic meters of water into the ocean - in a minute it carries so much water into the ocean that two liters could be allocated for each of the inhabitants of the Earth. It is scary to imagine how much it will be in a year, and of all the fresh water of the world flowing into the oceans, it is the fifth part that flows through the Amazon. The river flows into the ocean with such force that it displaces salt water from it for a distance of 200 kilometers, creating a kind of fresh sea around the mouth.

Amazon - a river or a fresh sea?

I would like to call it a sea for another reason - the width of the river is so great that not everywhere you can see the opposite shore, as if it were a real sea. And during the flood, the width of the river can reach fifty kilometers - largely because of the floods, not a single bridge has been built across the Amazon. But the depth is not so impressive - in wide places it is usually 60-70 meters, in narrow places it can reach 130. Due to the location of the river on the equator, it is strongly influenced by seasons, moreover, of both hemispheres, and this leads to an interesting effect: the right tributaries are filled with water, while the left ones become scarce, then vice versa - because of which the life of the Amazon is compared to the beating of the heart.

Flora and fauna of the Amazon

The nature of the Amazon is striking in its diversity: according to scientists, for every 10 square kilometers there are 1,500 species of flowers, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 1,254 species of mammals - and even invertebrates cannot be counted. The river itself is home to 30 times more fish species than all of Europe combined. All this rampage is so great that many of the species living here have not yet been studied.

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