Longest river in the world

The Nile is credited as the longest river in the world. Its main source is Lake Victoria in east central Africa. From its farthest stream in Burundi, it extends 6,695 km (4,160 miles) in length. The two longest rivers in the world are the Nile, flowing into the Mediterranean, and the Amazon, flowing into the South Atlantic. Which is the longer is more a matter of definition than simple measurement. Not until 1971 was the true source of the Amazon discovered, by Loren McIntyre (USA) in the snow-covered Andes of southern Peru. The Amazon begins with snowbound lakes and brooks-the actual source has been named Laguna McIntyre-which converge to form the Apurimac. This joins other streams to become the Ene, the Tambo and then the Ucayali. From the confluence of the Ucayali and the Marañón the river is called the Amazon for the final 3,700 km (2,300 miles) as it flows through Brazil into the Atlantic Ocean. The Amazon has several mouths, which widen towards the sea, so that the exact point where the river ends is uncertain. If the Par estuary (the most distant mouth) is counted, its length is approximately 6,750 km (4,195 miles). Records change on a daily basis and are not immediately published online. For a full list of record titles, please use our Record Application Search. (You will need to register / login for access) Comments below may relate to previous holders of this record.

Key Points: • Brahmaputra-Yarlung Tsangpo River: 2,466 Miles • Niger River: 2,611 Miles • Mackenzie River: 2,637 Miles Rivers are still incredibly important to humans, and the bigger the river, the more people it supports. That’s why we are going to examine the 15 largest rivers in the world. We’ll consider how each of these vast rivers has been a key to the civilizations it supports. What Is a River? Rivers are found all over the world ©Alexandr Vorobev/Shutterstock.com A river is a flowing body of water with defined boundaries that drains into another body of water. • • Headwaters (Source): the streams or lakes that provide water at the earliest part of the river. • Flow: refers to the water comprising the river or to the water’s direction of travel. • • Channel: the confines of the body of water. • These are just a few of the most significant parts of a river with their most basic definitions provided. However, this information should be enough to conceptualize the most important areas of these waters. How Do We Measure the Largest Rivers in the World? The largest rivers in the world are the longest rivers ©iStock.com/Ivan Aleshin When we talk about the There are two ways that we can list the • Measure the total length of major river systems • Measure the total length of individual rivers For example, the Also, these rivers are actually connected. The Missouri In my opinion, it would be a disservice to list connected river systems individually. Considering the entire le...

Where a few creeks and streams running together end and a river begins is difficult to determine, but in order to rank rivers by their length, they've got to start somewhere and a bit of arbitrary fudging has to happen in order to measure them. However, according to the So, here they are, from the Nile to the Congo — the nine longest rivers in the world: The Amazon River flows through Peru, Colombia and Brazil. Although the Nile is officially the longest river in the world, many disagree with that assessment and insist the Amazon is longer. Certainly, it's the world's largest river based on the enormous volume of water it deposits into the Atlantic Ocean every day; it has a greater output of fresh water than the next seven largest rivers combined. It also has the

Nile River's course in Egypt. The Nile drainage basin is about 3,349 million square miles, the third-largest drainage area, and includes parts of eleven countries; Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo, and Eritrea. The river has a maximum width of 2.8 kilometers and an average depth of 8-11 meters. It discharges an average of 2,830 cubic meters of water per second. Lake Nasser stretches from northern Sudan (where it is known as Lake Nubia) into southern Egypt and is the world’s second-largest artificial lake. From Nasser (below the Aswan High Dam), the Nile flows northwards to North Cairo. The river enters a delta region in North Cairo, where it splits into two distributaries, Rosetta on the west and Damietta on the east. The two distributaries empty into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile Delta contains sediments, most of which originate from the Ethiopian plateaus. The thickness of the silts varies between 50 and 70 feet and contains Africa’s most fertile soil. Climate And Hydrology Nile River flowing past the sand dunes of Aswan, Egypt. No part of the Nile experiences the true Mediterranean or tropical climate. The basin area covering Before the 20th century, little was known about the Nile’s hydrology. The only ancient records available were those that the Egyptians made regarding the river's water levels. Thus, the Nile’s periodic rise remained a mystery for the better of the 19th century until the role played by the tro...

Detailed Findings Many of the longest rivers in the world have played important roles in the development of the earliest known civilizations. Historians of ancient Mesopotamia, for example, often credit the fertility of the Tigris and Euphrates river pastures with the advent of agriculture. The steady supply of food allowed nomadic, hunter-gatherer cultures to settle into permanent communities, prompting further societal innovations such as writing and irrigation. Similar technological revolutions occurred in ancient civilizations along the Nile, the Indus River, and the Yellow River — the longest, fourth longest, and 18th longest rivers worldwide. There has been a longstanding debate among scientists as to whether the Amazon or the Nile is the longest in the world. Various studies have attributed the most distant source of the Amazon to different locations throughout South America, changing the official length of the river. When measuring the Nile from Lake Victoria, Uganda, to the Mediterranean Sea and the Amazon from the headwaters of the Ucayali-Apurímac river system in southern Peru to the Atlantic Ocean, the Nile ranks as the longest river. However, the Amazon is generally agreed to be the largest river by volume and the system that supports the most biodiversity on the planet. Methodology To identify the longest rivers in the world, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed various expert sources, primarily the Encyclopedia Britannica. Length was generally defined as the distance from...

World's longest rivers and river systems rank name length* (km) (miles) *Figures based on official sources. In countries where the metric system is used, conversions are from kilometres to miles. Conversions of the rounded figures are again rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 miles or kilometres. 1 Nile 6,650 4,132 2 Amazon–Ucayali–Apurímac 6,400 4,000 3 Yangtze 6,300 3,915 4 Mississippi–Missouri–Red Rock 5,971 3,710 5 Yenisey–Baikal–Selenga 5,540 3,442 6 Huang He (Yellow) 5,464 3,395 7 Ob–Irtysh 5,410 3,362 8 Paraná 4,880 3,032 9 Congo 4,700 2,900 10 Amur–Argun 4,444 2,761 11 Lena 4,400 2,734 12 Mekong 4,350 2,700 13 Mackenzie–Slave–Peace 4,241 2,635 14 Niger 4,200 2,600 15 Volga 3,530 2,193

The Nile River flows over 6,600 kilometers (4,100 miles) until emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. For thousands of years, the river has provided a source of irrigation to transform the dry area around it into lush agricultural land. Today, the river continues to serve as a source of irrigation, as well as an important transportation and trade route. The Nile River flows from south to north through eastern Africa. It begins in the rivers that flow into Lake Victoria (located in modern-day Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya), and empties into the Mediterranean Sea more than 6,600 kilometers (4,100 miles) to the north, making it one of the longest river in the world. The Nile River was critical to the development of ancient Egypt. In addition to Egypt, the Nile runs through or along the border of 10 other African countries, namely, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. Its three main tributaries are the White Nile, the Blue Nile, and the Atbara. The soil of the Nile River delta between El Qâhira (Cairo) and the Mediterranean Sea is rich in nutrients, due to the large silt deposits the Nile leaves behind as it flows into the sea. The banks of the Nile all along its vast length contain rich soil as well, thanks to annual flooding that deposits silt. From space, the contrast between the Nile's lush green river banks and the barren desert through which it flows is obvious. For millennia, much of Egypt's food h...