Amazon Basin

The Amazonian basin, where ten of the twenty largest rivers in the world are to be found, extends through South America over an area of 6 million km2 and represents one fifth of the entire fresh water reserves of the planet. The Brazilian part of this basin is equivalent to the area of 15 European countries. The rivers, rising and falling with the rains, are almost the only mode of transport in the region, which has over 20,000 kilometers of navigable waterways.

The river Amazonas is the longest in the world and the largest in terms of volume of water. Beginning in Peru under the name Vilcanota, it becomes the Solimões on entering Brazil, and after uniting with the river Negro at Manaus it continues to the Atlantic Ocean as the Amazonas. At some points it is 10 kilometers wide and 100 meters deep.