5 curiosities about the Amazon River

In previous articles, in Science Daily Online we have talked about the Amazon forest, the largest plant ecosystem on the planet and one of the largest oxygen and carbon processor suppliers , to the point of having been qualified as "lung of the Earth" .

The Amazon rainforest, the lung of the planet

On this occasion we want to mention some extraordinary aspects of the river that crosses and feeds this basin, the Amazon.What do you know about the river Amazon? Expand your knowledge!

5 curious facts about the Amazon River

1.A river called "Santa Maria de la Mar Dulce"

It was the curious name which gave him in 1500 the first Spanish explorer of this river truly as big as a sea, Vicente Yanez Pinzon , one of the co-discoverers of America, next to Cristobal Colon.But also the different indigenous peoples that occupied its banks had different names: Paranaguazu, Guyema, Solimões, Ucayali, Apurimac , and many others, to which we would have to add those placed upon the arrival of the Europeans: Santa Maria, Maranon and Amazonas .

2.Source of the definitive name

It is said that Francisco de Orellana (1511-1546) called this river “ Amazonas ”shortly after facing an indigenous village where both men and women fought, and that I end up associating with the Greek myth of women warriors.

5 curiosities about the Amazon River

Sunset on the Amazon River

Other scholars believe that the name could be the result of an error when transcribing a similar word of the indigenous people marajoara , which meant “boat breaker”, for the violent swell or macareo present at the mouth of the great river.

3.The most abundant

If we could unite the flow of the Nile, the Yangtse and the Mississippi in a single river, even then the Amazon would continue to be the largest in the world.Near the Atlantic, the river has a volume of 200,000 cubic meters of water per second and contains one fifth of the fresh water available in the world!

It could not be otherwise, if we consider that too, With more than seven million square kilometers and over a thousand tributaries or tributaries, is the largest river basin on Earth .

5 curiosities about the Amazon River

It's not coincidentally, the two largest rivers in the world, the Amazon and the Congo, are surrounded precisely by the two largest forest ecosystems on Earth, since without a doubt the abundance of water is associated with the presence of large wooded masses, protecting aquifers and generators of more or less closed hydrological cycles (by processes such as evotranspiration ), which maintain and increase the presence of water.

5 curiosities about the Amazon River

Rio Maranon-Amazonas

4.Now it is also the longest in the world

Although Traditionally, the Nile has been considered the longest river, with 6,671 km, since 2007 there are more and more geographers who consider the Amazon as the longest river, because when joining its route with the Maranon river it reaches around 7,020 km.

5 curiosities about the Amazon River

Rio Maranon-Amazon, descending from the Andes

5.Other waters, other records

Referring to the Amazon as a freshwater sea , Yanez Pinzon was not exaggerating: the river in Its lower part is up to 10km wide, as it can be quintupled in the rainy season, its estuary is 240km wide, the main mouth 80 and the biodiversity in its waters and forests surround can compete in number with that of the world's oceans.

5 curiosities about the Amazon River

For all these things, and others that we have not mentioned (like the economic potential of the basin, for example), the Amazon River should enjoy the attention and protection of all human beings.

Did you like our article about the Amazon River? ? We recommend you read about the young man who planted a forest.

Images: Helidixon, tommy chheng, Nick Ballesteros, Casey, International Rivers, carla arena

Comments

Anna Monaro, the mystery of the "luminous" woman

What happened to Anna Monaro , this Italian woman in the early 30s, still does not have a clear explanation today.What caused this lady suffering from asthma to emanate such a unique light from her chest? We have to point out that it is not an urban legend, and that the case was deeply investigated by several doctors of the time.We have newspaper articles such as the “Illustrata Tribune” that describe the case, as well as the reports published by several doctors and even of physicists like Enrico Fermi , who dedicated to this case, about 52 pages in his work on this subject. Was a conclusion more or less clear? We give you all the information below. Anna Monaro, the enlightened woman of Pirano Year 1934. Anna Monaro is a woman of 42 years of life humble and married to a fisherman.Her health is weak, she suffers from asthma, and every day she usually takes small walks at the last minute, going to the port to accompany her husband back home. He was the March 8 of that same y...

How to be single and enjoy it to the fullest: 10 keys and great advantages

For some, not being in a relationship is an authentic opportunity to explore different paths, rediscover and take advantage of time alone or with friends, without limitations.For others, being single is a cause of grief and loneliness, about all when this sentimental status just enters the picture.Which group do you fit in? Whatever the case, the reality is that from singleness we can extract countless incredible aspects for the personal growth , so it is not a cause for misery, but quite the opposite.From this situation we learn that to be really happy with someone else, it is necessary to learn to feel comfortable with ourselves.To this end, we show you 10 keys to enjoy this stage of your life to the fullest while Cupid does his job. 10 keys and great advantages of being single Detach yourself from negativity In principle, to fully enjoy singleness is It is necessary to suppress any fatalistic idea that leads you to believe that being single will be a permanent status.If ...

5 basic laws you can learn from your cat

Not long ago we explained in Science Daily Online 5 things you can learn from your dog, so what if today we look at these fascinating, elegant and beautiful creatures with raging eyes? Because not only the Egyptians worshiped cats in the past, there are many cultures that respect and praise these little cats as gods of good luck, as protective entities.An example? Tashirojima, the island of cats, which we already talked about in our space. Discover, then, what aspects we can learn from them, without forgetting that we would also like to have your comments and everything what your sofa companion has taught you. 1.You will adore the sun above all things The warm sun that enters through a window, that Fine solar beam to take advantage of in good morning How to waste it? The sun gives us life, comforts us, helps us synthesize vitamins and no nap is truly "a good nap" if not done in front of our beloved star. The relationship that many cats have with the sun is ...

What happens in your brain when they cheat you, according to science

It turns out that having a partner that deceives us not only impacts our feelings; but also has both short and long term consequences in the chemistry of our brain .It affects everything, from the type of initial pain we experience, to the way we evaluate future partners.The neurological impact of the dwarf on the brain cannot help us recover, but it is clear that it is something with serious consequences for people whose partners commit infidelities. What happens in your brain when you get cheated, is fatal according to science The interaction between emotional experiences and physical consequences is an area of growing scientific interest For centuries, we have seen that we experience happiness and pain as something eternal and separate from the body (and, in many cases, therefore less "real" or "legit").But little by little we are building a different map of emotions in the 21st century, which among other things, shows how the sentimental rejection stim...

6 horrible Middle Ages remedies, but effective?

The remedies of the Middle Ages often seem more magical than scientific, and that is because we miss the guiding thread that guided the doctors of that time. To understand the application of treatments Medieval first you have to "get in" at the time: the doctors of the Middle Ages thought that the human body was a creation or microcosmic reflection of the universe .This belief came from the ancient Greco-Roman philosophical tradition (developed at from Hippocrates and Galen , among others), and constituted the foundation of medieval medicine. For Galen, for example, good health depended of the balance of four fundamental factors: dry, wet, cold and hot; qualities present in the four moods : the Air was associated with the blood, the Fire with the cholera-which is found in the red or yellow bile-, the phlegm was moist and cold, and was associated with an aqueous, mucous substance, black bile was cold and dry, and was the least healthy of the moods. The remedies of ...

Is it a zebra or is it a donkey? No, it's a "ceburro"

No, it is not a pun.The birth of this beautiful zeburro is the result of a hybrid cross between a zebra and a donkey. As often happens with zebras and donkeys , creating unique and sympathetic zebrasans that raise so much expectation among animal lovers. This curious phenomenon has recently originated in a small Crimean zoo, where apparently some species coexist quietly with the others, until in the end nature has played with chance to create a new tenant whom they have called «Telegraph» .If the purpose of zoos is precisely to conserve all species at risk of extinction, it seems that biology has taken a step further to offer us this little gift: the ceburro. Ceburro.The sympathetic hybrid of the zoo The ceburro born in Crimea has received the original name of «Telegraph» in honor of a newspaper of l country .As you can see in the picture his whole body is reminiscent of that of a donkey, but its legs are painted with the typical strokes of a zebra.A precious nature that, unfo...

Does your partner try to make you jealous continuously? You could be with a Narcissist without knowing it!

Life as a couple is not simple.They always have highs and lows, but there are some signs that can indicate worrying features in your partner.According to the experts, a couple who flirts with other people in front of you, talks with strangers attractive and tries if you feel inadequate, could be a narcissist and those, generally, are not the half orange that we have all sounded .Find out why this happens. If your partner tries to give you jealousy constantly, it could be quite a narcissistic New research suggests that people who have a high number of narcissistic personality traits tend to strategically induce jealousy in their partners as a way to meet certain objectives, such as obtaining control, in some cases, or to increase your self-esteem. The study was conducted by Dr.Gregory Tortoriello, a psychologist at the University of Alabama.In his research, Tortoriello points out that, like the rest of the people, Narcissists pursue goals, but they have discovered that it is...

Is it ‘too late 'to recover from climate change? Neil DeGrasse Tyson responds

In recent months it has been impossible to ignore the effects of climate change on Earth with the wave of devastating natural phenomena, increasingly aggressive and consequent.The serious material damage and human losses that have caused its passage, we they remember the vulnerability of man to the relentless power of nature. One after another, hurricanes Harvey, Maria and Irma, which have reached the highest category, 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Also, telluric movements of significant magnitudes in recent years are the clearest evidence of what we have been warned by the scientific community for decades, with studies on the impact of global warming.Will it be too late to recover from climate change? Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson has a strong position on it. Can we recover from climate change or is it too late ? Neil DeGrasse Tyson responds The scientist and astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson in an interview for CNN showed his concern in relation to recent natural eve...

The boy who loses his memory every 5 minutes

Can you imagine losing your memory every few minutes? That you couldn't remember what you just ate or did? Well, that happens to a young Chinese who loses his memory every 5 minutes.Want to know more? We'll tell you next! Remember to forget A 25-year-old Chinese boy named Chen Hongshi has a memory disorder caused by an accident of car.Do not remember what he has done in a time interval of between 5 and 10 minutes.That is why the young man has to write everything that happened during his day in order to remember the most important details. Chen's situation has the seriousness that sometimes he doesn't remember how to write a letter, so he uses a phonetic writing system that only the He knows how it works. When the sun rises, his mother Wang Miao-Choing reminds him that he is no longer the age at which he suffered the accident, 17 years and that 8 years have elapsed since that event.Give your notebook to write things Highlights of his life, such as the na...

Science Daily Online

Search This Blog