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Final Essay
History of Amazonian
The largest river in the world is by far the Amazon River. Located in South America, the Amazon is the largest river volume wise, but may actually not be the longest. There is an ongoing dispute as to whether the Nile or the Amazon is longer. According to Encarta, The River is either named after the Amazons, who were women warriors of Greek mythology that lived in this region, or as some scholars believe, the name Amazon comes from the Native American word “Amassona.” Amassona means “boat destroyer.” The mouths of the Amazon are located on the Northeast corner of South America, and it flows through Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela, and Columbia. This river accounts for twenty percent of the Earth’s fresh water supply. Every year the river empties tons of solid particles (which contains tons of fish food) into the ocean. According to Wikipedia, there are over 3,000 species of fish in the Amazon River, but some scientists believe that that number could rise to as high as 5,000. The infamous Piranha, Anaconda snake, and 200 lb. catfish (40 lbs. in the US) call the Amazon home. Vicente Yanez-Pinzon was the first person to sail into the Amazon in 1500.
An interesting fact about the Amazon is that no bridge spans the river across the 6000 plus km. Today in the 21st century it is surprising to note that the humans have made little impact on the Amazon. Much of the territory that surrounds the Amazon has yet to even be explored by humans. That is one of the reasons for so many new species discoveries. Extremescience.com explains some of the reasons why the Amazon got so big. Since the Amazon is located very near the equator, it is located on a tropical part of Earth, where on average about an inch of rain falls each day. Tons of that water falls onto the land surrounding the river (Amazon River drainage basin). This water runs down to the lowest point, which happens to be the Amazon...