The longest tributary river in the world. Which river is the longest in the world

Water flows are extremely variable quantities. IN different years, and even seasons, their length and volume of water changes. The debate about which river is the longest in the world continues to this day. However, the TOP 10 remains unchanged, only the places change.

South America is an amazing continent where the most long river in the world, Amazon. It flows through several countries - Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. The area of ​​its basin is approximately 7.05 million km², almost the territory of Australia.

The name of the longest river in the world comes from the legendary tribes of Amazons who inhabited its banks, with whom the discoverers of the mainland, the conquistadors, had to fight. Another curious fact: in the past, the Amazon repeatedly changed the direction of its flow until it “settled” on the final version - from west to east, crossing the entire continent.

Nile (6,700 km)

For a long time it was believed that the Nile was the longest river in the world, until a new tributary of the Amazon was discovered. The sources of the Nile are in Rwanda; in total, it passes through 10 African countries. For Egypt, whose territory accounts for a significant part of the river, it is of invaluable importance. It is along its banks that more than 95% of the state’s population lives.

Missouri-Mississippi (6,275 km)

Many Americans still believe that the Mississippi is the longest river in the world. Of course, because it is almost entirely located in the United States. In fact, its length is “only” 3,734 km. And if the Missouri had not turned from a full-fledged river into a tributary of the Mississippi, it would not have seen the top 10, like its ears.

Yangtze (5,800 km)

Translated from Chinese, the name means “long river”. It is the longest in Eurasia and is located in China. The waters of the Yangtze are home to many rare and endangered species, including alligators, sturgeon and river dolphins.

Yellow River (5,464 km)

The name of this river, also located in China, translates as “yellow”. It owes this to clay sediments that wash out from its banks and give the water a yellowish-turbid tint. Moreover, the sea into which the Yellow River flows was also named.

Ob (5,410 km)

The longest river in Russia, located in Western Siberia. It does not have many tributaries and is filled mainly by melting snow. The name most likely came from the translation of the word “snow” in the language of the Komi people.

Lena (5,100 km)

The largest of the rivers located entirely on the territory of the Russian Federation, in Eastern Siberia. For most of the year, the Lena is under a thick layer of ice, so shipping is rather poorly developed, and the banks are practically uninhabited.

Amur (5,052 km)

The next one of the top 10 longest rivers in the world is also located, for the most part, in Russia. It also flows through the territory of China and Mongolia. I wonder what unofficial name in Chinese it sounds like “Heilongjiang” - black dragon river.

Congo (4,700 km)

In terms of flow, this river is second only to the Amazon. In some places its depth exceeds 250 meters. Most of the reservoir is located on the territory of the Republic of Congo. The river crosses the equator twice and flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

Mackenzie (4,240 km)

Canada, it turns out, is not only a country of lakes. The last of the 10 longest rivers in the world is located on its territory. Interestingly, it was originally called “ Disappointment" - a disappointment, but it was later renamed in honor of the discoverer, Alexander Mackenzie.

Rivers- natural drains that are part of the hydrological cycle. There are many unique bodies of water on our planet that can change their course, dry up seasonally and supply drinking water huge population. What size do you think the largest and longest rivers in the world can surprise? We will look at the deepest, longest, largest water flows, but keep in mind that rivers tend to dry up and change their dimensions. We present to your attention a rating based on the latest, current data from 2017.

Top 10 largest and longest rivers in our world

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The rating of the largest rivers on Earth opens with "Niger" - this is the most valuable body of water in the territory West Africa. The length is 4180 kilometers. In size, it is second only to the Nile and Congo, whose basins are also located on the territory of this continent.

The source of the river is located on the slope of the Leon-Liberian Upland, to be precise, in the southeastern part of Guinea. It is worth adding that the Niger flows into the Gulf of the Atlantic Ocean. Thus, a delta domain is formed. Speaking of the largest tributary, it is the Benue River.

Located in the Xinjiang Uyghur region of China. The length of this reservoir reaches 4248 kilometers. Consequently, she is larger than the Ob itself. In total, the Ob, together with the Irtysh River, creates the longest watercourse in Russia. It ranks second in the overall ranking in terms of length in Asia.

The area of ​​the basin is 1643 thousand square kilometers. Birch trees have their origins from the border of Mongolia, as well as China. It is worth noting that this river rich in freshwater fish.

The length is 4400 kilometers. The area is 2490 thousand square kilometers. Thus, the Lena is the longest river in the territory Central Siberia. If you do not take into account the 106 kilometers of the Bykovskaya channel, the length is 4294 kilometers. A large area of ​​the reservoir passes through Irkutsk region. It is worth noting that in terms of total area Lena is considered the largest in Russia. Moreover, according to location in the regions permafrost There are no analogues to Lena in the world. Lovers of winter fishing come here from all over the world.

In wide circles, the reservoir is known as the “River of Nine Dragons”. Flows through the territory of the following states:

1. China;
2. Laos;
3. Thailand;
4. Cambodia;
5. Vietnam;
6. Myanmar.

On the Indochina Peninsula, the Mekong is the most big river, the length of which is 4500 kilometers. The area of ​​the basin is 810 thousand square kilometers. Speaking of water consumption, the figure is approximately 15,000 m³/s. Thus, it is impossible to overestimate the importance of this fresh reservoir!

Another large river located in Central Africa. The length of the large river is 4,700 kilometers. It is worth noting that it is the deepest and ranks second in terms of length in Africa. In terms of water content, it is second only to the Amazon. In the upper reaches of the Congo it exceeds the height of Kisangani.

This is a unique river that crosses the equator twice. The slope is 0.36 m/km. The total area of ​​the entire basin is 4,014,500 square kilometers. The source starts from the DRC and runs along the border with Zambia. There are other data according to which it emerges from the Chambeshi River. Depth - 230 meters.

It's about about a long river located in South America. Its length is 4880 kilometers. Affects several countries, including Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The area of ​​the Parana River is 2,582,672 square kilometers. From interesting facts The following can be highlighted:

• The Paraná flows into La Plata Bay;
• in the lower reaches of one of the longest rivers on the planet, shipping is well developed;
• in the middle reaches of the Paraná there is a border between Argentina and Paraguay;
• the title translates to " big river"from the language of the ancient Guarani Indians.

Finding a fresh body of water larger than the Yellow River is quite difficult. One of the largest rivers in China and Asia in general means “yellow” in translation, which is associated with the presence of a large amount of sediment. They give it a traditional and extraordinary yellowish tint. Not many people know that it was because of this river, which flows into the Yellow Sea, that the second body of water received its name.

The source of the Yellow River is located in the eastern part of Tibet, at an altitude of approximately 4 thousand meters. The total area is 745 thousand km².

Yangtze literally means “long river”. A truly large river located in China has a long length (6300 km), covering the territory of many Eurasian countries. One of the largest rivers on the planet is considered the third largest on Earth. Its area is 1,808,500 square kilometers.

It is worth saying that the Yangtze covers many ecosystems, while it is home to unique endemic and rare, endangered species of marine animals. In particular, river dolphins.

The ex-leader in the top of the longest rivers today is the Nile, whose length is 6853 kilometers. The source of the freshwater reservoir originates in the East African Plateau. As a result, a huge delta with an area of ​​24 thousand square kilometers is formed. For the most part, the Nile flows in the desert.

The longest water system of the Nile, according to Brazilian researchers, is inferior to the Amazon, but most experts are convinced that it is the largest. However, the length of the Nile is inferior to the main competitor in this rating, so we have placed the top in this way.

The longest river in the world- The Amazon, whose length is 6992 kilometers. The area is 7180 thousand square kilometers.

It should be recalled that in 2011 a worldwide competition was held, within which the river received the status of one of the seven wonders of the world. For the most part, it flows in the Amazonian lowland, namely in the sublatitudinal zone. Forms a huge delta and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The area of ​​the largest river island is 100 kilometers.

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Note to tourists

The largest rivers on Earth

Measuring the exact length of a river can be very difficult. Therefore, the established length of many rivers is only an approximation. In fact, until very recently, scientists had disagreed for many years about which is the longest river in the world - the Amazon or the Nile? Finally, this long-standing dispute has been finally resolved. Read about it below.

These differences in measurements usually arise from differences of opinion about exactly where the mouth and source of the river actually are. But in our ranking we will try to adhere to the opinion of the majority of geographers on the planet. So, we present to you the 25 longest rivers in the world. This information may be useful for tourists traveling to regions of the planet where the largest rivers on Earth are located.

TOP 25 largest rivers on the planet (Video)

25. Shatt al-Arab

The Shatt al-Arab is a river in South-West Asia, only about 200 km (120 mi) long, formed by the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris at the city of Al-Qurna in Basra province in southern Iraq. Of course, this is far from being the longest river in the world. So why did the Shatt al-Arab make our list of the 25 largest rivers on the planet? The fact is that the area of ​​its basin is approximately 1 million km², including the Tigris and Euphrates basins. And this already gives us the right to include the Shatt al-Arab among the largest rivers.

24. Mackenzie

The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada with a length of 1,738 km. It flows through vast isolated areas of forest and tundra areas entirely in the north-west of the country.

23. Syrdarya

Syr Darya or Syr Darya is a river in Central Asia, which rises in the Tien Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan and carries its waters 2,212 kilometers (1,374 miles) to the remnants of the Aral Sea.

22. Murray

Murray River is Australia's longest river. Measuring 2,375 kilometers (1,476 miles) long, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps and winds its way through interior plains until it reaches the ocean.

21. Salween River

Salween means "Terrible River" in Chinese, which very accurately defines it wildlife and a violent temper. It is approximately 2,815 kilometers (1,749 miles) long. The Salween flows from the Tibetan Plateau in China to Andaman Sea V South-East Asia

20. Tocantins

Tocantins is a river in eastern South America that flows through Brazil. The length of the river is 2850 km

19. San Francisco

Sao Francisco is a river in Brazil. It is 2,914 kilometers (1,811 miles) long. The São Francisco is the longest river whose basin is located entirely within Brazil, and the fourth largest in South America.

18. Indus River

The Indus is one of the largest rivers in South Asia. It originates in the Himalayas in China and flows mainly through the north-west and Pakistan. Length of Indus - 3180 km

17. Yukon River

The Yukon is one of the main rivers in the northwest. The river's source is in British Columbia, Canada. Further, it carries its waters through the territory of the Yukon, in its lower part it flows through the American state of Alaska, and flows into the Bering Sea. The Yukon River is 3,190 km (1,980 mi) long.

16. Purus (Rio Purus)

The Purus is a tributary of the Amazon River in South America. Its basin is 63,166 km2, and the length of the Rio Purus is about 3,200 kilometers.

15. Madeira

The Madeira River is a major waterway with a length of approximately 3,250 km (2,020 mi) and is the largest tributary of the Amazon.

14. Volga

The Volga is the longest river in Europe, and it is also the largest river in Europe in terms of discharge and watersheds. It flows through the central part of Russia. The length of the Volga is 3530 km, and the area drainage basin- 1,360,000 km²

13. Mississippi

Mississippi - the main river of the USA

The Mississippi River is main river largest river system in North America. It flows entirely in, although its basin also reaches Canada. It originates in northern Minnesota and flows slowly meandering south 4,070 km (2,530 mi) to a delta in the Gulf of Mexico.

12. Niger River

The Niger is the third longest river in Africa, behind only the Nile and the Congo (also known as Zaire). Its main tributary is the Benue River. The length of the Niger is 4180 km, the basin area is 2,118,000 km²

11. Mekong

Mekong is a river in Southeast Asia. The Mekong flows through China, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is the 11th longest river in the world and the 7th longest in the world. Its estimated length is 4,350 km (2,703 mi)

10. Lena

Lena is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers flowing into the Northern Arctic Ocean(the other two are the Ob and Yenisei rivers). The Lena is the 10th longest river (4400 km) in the world and has the 9th largest watershed area (2490 thousand km²).

9. Cupid

The Amur is the ninth longest river in the world. Together with its tributaries, its length is 4500 km. It is located on the border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (Manchuria).

8. Congo

Length African river The Congo is more than 4,700 km from the source of the Chambesi. The Congo is the deepest river in Africa, and the second deepest river in the world after the Amazon. The area of ​​the Congo Basin is 4,014,500 km². Interestingly, the Congo is the only large river on the planet that crosses the equator twice.

7. Parana

The Paraná is a river in south-central South America, passing through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. According to some sources, its length is 4,880 kilometers (3,030 miles). The Paraná is the second longest river in South America after the Amazon.

6. Yenisei

The Yenisei is the largest river system flowing into the Arctic Ocean. The source of the Yenisei originates in Mongolia and heads north to discharge its waters into the Yenisei Bay Kara Sea. Length waterway: Ider - Selenga - Baikal - Angara - Yenisei - 5075 km.

5. Ob

The Ob River is one of the main rivers in Western Siberia in Russia and is the fifth largest river in the world. If we take its length together with the Irtysh tributary, it will be 5410 km. This is the westernmost of the three great Siberian rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean (the other two are the Yenisei and Lena rivers).

4. Yellow River

The Yellow River or Yellow River is the second largest river in the world after the Yangtze and the fourth longest in the world with an estimated length of 5,464 kilometers (3,395 miles).

3. Yangtze

The Yangtze River is the longest river in Asia, and the third longest in the world. It flows 6,418 kilometers (3,988 miles) from glaciers in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in Qinghai province east through southwestern, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai.

2. Nile

For a long time, the water system of the Nile River was considered the longest on planet Earth. But in 2013 it was found that the longest river system near the Amazon in South America. Its length is 6992 kilometers, while the length of the Nile with its longest tributary is 6852 kilometers

1. Amazon

The Amazon is the longest river in the world

After all, the Amazon in South America is the first longest river in the world. Its length from the main source of the Marañon is about 6992 km, which is some 140 kilometers longer than the African Nile. The Amazon watershed, as has long been known, is the largest in the world and is equal to an area of ​​7,180 thousand km².

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Without rivers it is impossible to imagine the existence of life on earth, which are the largest sources fresh water for territories of tens of thousands of square kilometers. It was the big rivers that became the cradles greatest civilizations humanity, and now hundreds of millions of people live along them, a typical example would be the Nile and the Yangtze. As always, there is an ongoing debate between individual groups of scientists and entire countries about which is the longest river on earth. Why do they send out entire expeditions to search for new sources in order to add several tens of kilometers to the length of the river? Meet the ten longest rivers on earth, where out of ten rivers, four flow through the territory of Russia.

10. Lena

Lena is 4,400 kilometers long, the basin of which is entirely located on Russian territory. The source of the river begins from a small lake a few kilometers from Lake Baikal at an altitude of 2,020 meters above sea level and flows into the Laptev Sea. Local peoples called the river Elyu-Ene, which translated into Russian meant “big river”, over time it was transformed into the more memorable “Lena”. The height of the river varies greatly depending on the time of year, reaching a peak in the summer-autumn period during the melting of snow and ice, and the rainy season.

9. Amur - Argun

The length of the Amur and Argun river system is 4,444 kilometers, most of which runs along the border of China and Russia. The source of the river is in the mountains of the Greater Khingan and flows into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The depth of the Amur has very large seasonal fluctuations, because 75% of the river's flow is rainwater, most of which falls in the autumn-summer period.

8. Congo - Chambeshi

The Congo and Chambeshi river system has a total length of 4,700 kilometers and its sources are located near Lake Tanganyika at an altitude of 1,760 meters. The banks of the river are very swampy, and the mouth has a large number of expansions in the form of lakes. By the way, this is the only large river in the world that crosses the equator twice, plus it has the most large area in a world of flooded land during a flood.

7. Ob - Irtysh

The Ob and Irtysh river system, which flows through China, Kazakhstan and Russia, has a length of 5,410 kilometers. The source of the river is in mountain system Mongolian Altai on the border of Mongolia with China and flows into the Kara Sea. By the way, the length of the Irtysh exceeds the length of the Ob several times and is 4.248 kilometers.

6. Yellow River

The Yellow River, whose name is translated into Russian as “Yellow River,” has a length of 5,464 kilometers. The river got its name from its yellow water and light brown sediment on its banks. The source of the river is in the Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of 4,000 meters. The Yellow River flows into the Yellow Sea, which actually has yellow because of river water. The river is one of the two arteries of life in China, however, due to disregard for the environment, one third of the river’s waters are unsuitable for use.

5. Yenisei – Angara – Selenga

The largest river in Russia, or rather the system of three rivers Yenisei, Angara and Selenga, has a length of 5.539 kilometers. The source of the river is located on the territory of Mongolia in the Khangai Mountains, turning into the full-flowing Selenga River which flows into Lake Baikal. The Angara flows out of the lake (by the way, this is the only river flowing from Baikal) and flows into the Yenisei, which in turn, having covered 3,500 kilometers, flows into the Kara Sea. After the construction of several hydroelectric power stations, 500 kilometers of the river below Krasnoyarsk does not freeze all year round, which became a real environmental disaster for the region.

4. Mississippi - Missouri

The Mississippi and Missouri river system, with a length of 6,275 kilometers, is the largest in North America, which flows only through the United States, although it should be noted that a small part of the river basin is located in Canada. The river originates in the rocky mountains and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Separately, Mississippi and Missouri are just over 3,000 kilometers long. In recent decades, the waters of the Mississippi have been heavily polluted due to the active use of chemicals in agriculture, which became a real environmental disaster for the Gulf of Mexico, where the river flows.

3. Yangtze

The Yangtze River, whose name is translated from Chinese as “long river,” is, in full accordance with its name, one of the three longest rivers in the world, with a length of 6,300 kilometers. It takes its origins in the Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of 5,000 meters. About a third of China's population lives in the Yangtze basin, which itself occupies one-fifth of the country's territory. Endangered species of fish and mammals live here, so certain sections of the river have been turned into nature reserves.

2. Nile

The Nile has a length of 6,852 kilometers, the sources of which are located on the East African Plateau at an altitude of 2000 meters, where water flows almost all year round. heavy rains and flows into the Mediterranean Sea. In the upper reaches, the tributaries Bahr el-Ghazal and Achwa, Sobat, Blue Nile and Atbara flow into the river, and for the last 3,000 kilometers the Nile flows through the desert and has no tributaries. By the way, the Nile is a real source of life for Egypt, along which 97% of the country’s population lives.

1. Amazon

For a long time, the Amazon was considered the second largest river in the world, however, it was recently recognized as the longest river in the world. The beginning of the Ucayali River was taken as the starting point; as a result, the river now officially has a length of more than 7,000 kilometers. The river also has the largest delta in the world with an area of ​​about 100 thousand square kilometers, in the center of which is the largest river island in the world, Marajo, with an area of ​​40 thousand square kilometers (this is no less than the area of ​​Switzerland). The Amazon takes its origins in the Peruvian Andes highlands, crosses South America and flows into the Atlantic Ocean.