The Amazon River - Facts, History and Wildlife
The Amazon River - Facts, History and Wildlife
History
At first, the river was known by the name Maranon and some parts of this river are still known by that name. Spanish and Portuguese people called it Rio Amazonas. There is significant evidence that the land around the river was occupied by many Pre-Columbian Indigenous Settlements. It is also believed that they lived here about 11,000 years ago. These people used to burn the land area around the river, a method they called selective cultivation. This helped soil to become rich in minerals and nutrients.
About four centuries ago, Europeans sailed here for the first time and they called this river by different names like Mar Dulce, Amazonas etc. Later, many expeditions were led by famous explorers from different countries in search of Cinnamon Trees. Among all these explorers, Pedro Teixeira was the first European to travel the entire length of the river.
From 1646 to 1655, many Portuguese and Brazilian explorers led expeditions to mouth of the river and in their mission, they investigated a large number of its tributaries, covering a distance of 11,000 Km.
In the late 1600s, a number of colonial and regional settlements were established around the river and its tributaries. Most of the scientific, biological and zoological exploration of the river and its tributaries took place from the beginning of 18th century to the first half of 19th century. As the time passed, large-scale development took place in the 20th Century around the river.
Origin
There have been disputes regarding the main source of Amazon River. Earlier, explorers named Nevado Miski Peak as the most distant source of the river but after the geographical expedition conducted in 2014, Rio Mantaro Drainage has been identified as the most distant source of the river.
Amazon river is basically divided into two major parts - the Upper Amazon or Solimoes and the Lower Amazon. The Upper Amazon covers the flood plains and river systems in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. The Lower Amazon starts from a point where dark color waters of Rio Negro combines with sandy color waters of Rio Solimoes.
Now there are disputes regarding the mouth of the river too. But most people believe that the inundated land named Marajo` Vereza` in eastern Brazil is the mouth of the river. Check out the satellite image of the mouth of the river. It is here where this large river discharges its water into the Atlantic Ocean. As already stated, Amazon is the second longest river in the world and it's entire length is more than 6,500 Kilometers. During the wet season, the width of the river exceed 120 miles. Geology and Watershed
Amazon Basin is the largest in the world and its most significant source is situated in the Inter-Andean Plateau. The river itself and its tributaries can be easily identified because of the extensive forest area that becomes flooded every rainy season. Also not all of its tributaries flood at same time of the year. Some start flooding in the month of November while others start in the month of February.
The river originated between 11.5 and 12 million years ago and changed its shape as the time passed. About 2.45 million years ago in the early Pleistocene period, the river transformed to its present shape.
Amazon rain forests emerged about 10 to 11 million years ago because of the flow of river's waters through the sandstone. The Amazon river is now draining the largest and most extensive forest area that will ever exist on this Planet.
Flora of the Amazon
A wide variety of plant species with medicinal and other uses are found in the Amazon Basin and River. Trees in the Amazon basin have vines and broad leaves as a result of which they provide shelter to a large number of animal species. Approximately 3,000 different kind of fruits grow in these rain forests. Many plants like Wasai, Lapacho, Cordoncillo etc. are used to cure diseases like cancer, viral infections and are important for kidney health.
Amazon Rain forests exports include rubber, Brazil nuts, cacao beans and other extracted goods like Gold and lumber. These rain forests also provide efficient amount of wood and forest produce to the local villagers and companies.
Wildlife
Fishes
Coming to the wildlife in amazon basin, almost one-third of all known species of animals are found in these rain forests. More than 3,000 species of fish are found in the Amazon river. The river also provide home to crabs and turtles. It is also inhabited by the largest species of river dolphins in the world, known as Boto. Boto uses echolocation to hunt and navigate the depth of river. Amazon and its tributaries are also inhabited by Giant Otter and Tucuxi, another species of dolphin.
Out of the wide variety of fish found in the Amazon basin, the most feared one is the Piranha. An omnivorous fish that attacks and feed on other animals and sometimes Humans also. They travel in large groups called Shoal. Numerous Species of Piranhas are found in the Amazon basin. Electric eel, Stingrays and near about 100 species of electric fishes are also found in the Amazon Basin. Reptiles
When we talk about the reptiles found in the Amazon river, the number one which comes to our mind is the largest snake in the world and is known globally by the name of Green Anaconda. Anacondas are mainly found in shallow waters and spend most of its time beneath the surface. Usually they don't attack humans but you never know what may happen if you ever encounter an Anaconda.
The river is also inhabited by famous predators and cousins of crocodile, the Black Caimans. There is always a war between Anacondas and Caimans. Besides Black Caimans, other Crocodillian species are also found in the Amazon Basin.
Other Species
Amazon river also provide shelter to a large variety of birds and butterflies. Different species of ant bird, ant shrike, ant wren etc. are found in the Amazon. Papilionidae, Riodinidae, Lycaenidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae etc. are some of the famous species of butterflies found in this region. Freshwater microbes also inhabit the Amazon River and the famous ones include actino bacteria, betaproteo bateria, crenarchoeota, gammaproteo bacteria.
Conclusion
Amazon river has more than 11,00 tributaries and few of them are more than 1000 km in length. It is really a nice place for tourism as well as adventure. I hope that after reading this post you are pretty much excited to visit this place and experience all these wonderful things for real. Hope you guys enjoyed reading it. Appreciate our hard work by leaving a Comment. Good bye everyone.
Author : Puneet Anand
Comments
Post a Comment