Amazon River
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Amazon river (also named Rio Amazonas in Portuguese and Spanish) is a river that flows in tropical forests of South America, mainly Brazil. It flows to the Atlantic Ocean. This river is the second longest in the world. The longest is the Nile.
What made it difficult to measure the length of the river, is that the river changes its name at some points.
The river and its tributaries essentially flow through the Rainforest. There are many cities along the river. It is the main route of traffic in the region. The biggest city on the river is Manaus, which is also the capital of the Brazillian State of Amazonas.
[edit] The Amazon as a trade route
Large ocean ships can get up the river until Manaus, which is almost 800 miles from its mouth. Smaller ocean vessels of 3,000 tons[1] and 5.5 m (18 ft) draft[2] can reach as far as Iquitos in Peru, 3,700 km (2,300 miles) from the sea. Smaller riverboats can reach 780 km (486 mi) higher as far as Achual Point. Beyond that, small boats frequently go up to the Pongo de Manseriche, just above Achual Point.