About one fifth of the fresh water flowing on the Earth's surface drains through the Amazon River basin .

The Amazon is one of the world's great rainforests. The Amazon river runs 3,000 miles from the Andes to the sea, and is longer than any river but the Nile . The vast Amazon basin covers more than two and a half million square miles, more than any other rainforest.

The Amazon spreads across much of South America .
Colombia , Ecuador , Peru , Bolivia , Brazil and Venezuela all have Amazonian regions.

Amazonian Brazil boasts one of the most extraordinary and pristine ecosystems in the world — the seasonally flooded forest known as the várzea. For nearly six months of the year, waters from the mighty Amazon

River and other tributaries rise as much as 40 feet to inundate an area greater in size than the state of Florida .  

Click here to explore the Amazon River

How long is the Amazon River ? ______________________________

 In which continent will you fin the Amazon River ?

_____________________________________________

There are catfish that weigh 200 pounds in the Amazon River .

True or False _____         click here to listen to a catfish sing.

Look at the map below to answer the next 3 questions.

The Amazon River begins high in the Andes Mountains in Peru . Follow the path of the river to the Mouth.

In what direction does the river flow? ________________________________

Into what Ocean does the Amazon empty? ____________________________

In which country is the majority of the river located? ____________________

The Amazon River is surrounded by a rain forest. True or False ____________

Click here for more facts about the Amazon

The temperature in the rain forest never drops below 70 degrees.

True or false _______

June through November are wet months. True or False _______

© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Amazon River

The Amazon flows eastward about 6,400 km (4,000 mi) through South America , from the confluence of its Andean headstreams near Iquitos , Peru , to its mouth at the Atlantic Ocean north of Marajó Island , Brazil . Second in length only to Africa ’s Nile , the Amazon carries a greater volume of water than any river in the world. Navigable for almost its entire length, the Amazon provides an important commercial route through the continent. This map illustrates the route of the Amazon and shows many of its tributaries.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

For more information about the Amazon River visit the following websites: 

About Amazonia

Rainforest Facts from Raintree Products

EduWeb's Amazon Interactive

http://www.mbarron.net/Amazon/index.htm

http://www.greatestplaces.org/book_pages/amazon2.htm

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/amazonriver/amazonriver.html

http://geography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pbs.org%2Fjourneyintoamazonia%2Findex.html