The River Amazon

The River Amazon rises in the Andes in Peru, only 120 miles from the Pacific Ocean. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean 4,000 miles away on the other side of the continent. Its mouth is 200 miles wide.

The Amazon is probably not the longest river in the world, but it contains by far the largest volume of water. From its mouth flows one fifth of all the river water on Earth — as much water in one day as flows from the mouth of the Thames in one year.

After the Amazon, the river with the largest volume of water is the Congo. But both of the main tributaries of the Amazon, the Negro and the Madeira, contain more water than the Congo.

The Amazon flows through the largest forest in the world. This forest covers an area ten times the size of France. It is 100 million years old, ten thousand times older than the temperate forests of Europe and North America.

Level: Beginner

Book: English First Book

Year: 1970