Friday Fun Fact #3: The Amazon River

# The Amazon River, located in the central northern part of South America, along with its tributaries, runs through seven different countries: Guyana, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Peru.

# The Amazon River is approx. 6400 km long. It is the second longest in the world, beaten only by the Nile river in N. E. Africa.

# During the wet season there are parts of the river which reach 190 km. wide.

# The Amazon River is the only home of the pink dolphin.

# This river contains 1/5 of the worlds fresh water.

# Its source is in the Andes mountains in Peru, and it flows into the Atlantic ocean.

# This river has no bridges.

# The mouth of the Amazon river is over 320 km wide and contains the world's largest freshwater island, Marajó Island.

#  It was named by Francisco de Orellana, a Spanish explorer who led the first expedition to explore the river. On this expedition he was attacked by "mighty female fighters" called Amazons, after the female fighters which appear in Greek mythology.

Amazon meanders