Ep. 157: The Amazon River – 9 Countries in Order
Intro
Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.
I’m Jans your Mnemonic Man and today's episode we are getting back to geography and will be on probably the most famous river in the world the Amazon.
The Amazon River originates in the Andes mountains in Peru and trails right across the continent of South America before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean on the North Eastern coast of Brazil.
It has the largest flow of any river in the world and by a long way. To give you some idea or comparison, its flow is over 4 times that of the Congo. Currently, it is the second longest river in the world behind the Nile by just 250 km according to Wikipedia, with the Nile at 6,650 km and the Amazon at 6,400 km.
These figures have been hotly debated since the mid-20th century with an expedition in 2007 that included members of Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research and other organizations, which travelled to the Amazon to determine the true source and remeasure. There figures came back with the Nile at 6,853 km and the Amazon at 6,992 km, 139 km longer than the Nile.
The Amazon is an integral part of the Amazon rainforest and its role as the “lungs of the earth” supporting the highest biodiversity on the planet. Its name came from the first Spanish explorer who reported battles with female warriors whom he likened to the Amazons of Greek mythology.
Today’s mnemonic will be on the nine countries the Amazon River flows through in order (as best as possible.)
So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.
Wikipedia Summary
The Amazon River (UK: /ˈæməzən/, US: /ˈæməzɒn/; Spanish: Río Amazonas, Portuguese: Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the longest or second-longest river system in the world, a title which is disputed with the Nile.[3][19][n 2]
The headwaters of the Apurímac River on Nevado Mismi had been considered for nearly a century the Amazon basin's most distant source until a 2014 study found it to be the headwaters of the Mantaro River on the Cordillera Rumi Cruz in Peru.[24]
The Mantaro and Apurímac rivers join, and with other tributaries form the Ucayali River, which in turn meets the Marañón River upstream of Iquitos, Peru, forming what countries other than Brazil consider to be the main stem of the Amazon.
Brazilians call this section the Solimões River above its confluence with the Rio Negro[25] forming what Brazilians call the Amazon at the Meeting of Waters (Portuguese: Encontro das Águas) at Manaus, the largest city on the river.
The Amazon River has an average discharge of about 215,000–230,000 m3/s (7,600,000–8,100,000 cu ft/s)—approximately 6,591–7,570 km3 (1,581–1,816 cu mi) per year, greater than the next seven largest independent rivers combined. Two of the top ten rivers by discharge are tributaries of the Amazon river.
The Amazon represents 20% of the global riverine discharge into oceans.[26] The Amazon basin is the largest drainage basin in the world, with an area of approximately 7,000,000 km2 (2,700,000 sq mi).[3] The portion of the river's drainage basin in Brazil alone is larger than any other river's basin. The Amazon enters Brazil with only one-fifth of the flow it finally discharges into the Atlantic Ocean, yet already has a greater flow at this point than the discharge of any other river in the world.[27][28]
Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River]
Mnemonic
The Amazon River – 9 Countries in Order – Peru & Ecuador Collect Vast GaS From Brazil & Bolivia
(Picture giant fuel tankers travelling up the Amazon from Brazil and Bolivia to deliver fuel to Peru & Ecuador)
1. Peru
2. Ecuador
3. Colombia
4. Venezuela
5. Guyana
6. Suriname
7. French Guiana
8. Brazil
9. Bolivia
Five Fun Facts
1. The first fun fact is an absolute ripper and it is that the Amazon River once flowed in the opposite direction. This flow towards the Pacific Ocean occurred around 145 million years ago right up to around 65 million years ago. This was enabled by a highland area around where the Amazon’s mouth is today. However, as the Andes Mountain emerged this then reversed the waters course.
2. As mentioned in the Wikipedia article the Amazon River has the largest volume of freshwater of any river. So much so that it accounts for around 20% of all the river water that enters the sea. This incredible volume of water is so great that it alters the sea level of the Caribbean up to 3cm.
3. The Amazon River is also home to the very unique Amazon River Dolphin which is also known as the Pink River Dolphin or boto. It is just one of four species of “true” river dolphins that live exclusively in freshwater habitats. It is estimated to have evolved around 18 million years ago but unfortunately is now considered endangered due to human activities such as damming, pollution, and fishing.
4. Now, when we think of rivers our minds generally go to the bridges, we build over them to enable human travel and industry. Remarkably no bridges cross the Amazon River. This is due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the river can rise to over 30 feet and triple in width due to seasonal variations. Secondly, the Amazon’s River banks are unstable and erode with seasonal inundation making construction on unstable floodplains another barrier.
5. The Amazon has a big brother. The Hamza River which is located 4 kilometres under the Amazon River. It flows in the same direction from west to east and is much wider, ranging from 200 – 400km.
6. We finish off with a very odd fact where a father and his two sons decided to canoe all the way to the Amazon River from Canada! This happened back in 1980, when Don Starkell and his two sons, Dana and Jeff left Winnipeg in search of the Amazon. When they arrived in Mexico one of the sons (Jeff) abandoned the trip but Don and Dana continued on and nearly two years later reached their destination the Amazon River. By the end of the trip, they had canoed over 12,000 miles!
Now, just speaking of the Amazon I once had a friend who turned his back on modern life and a great job and became a missionary. Anyway, he ended up in South America in the Amazon teaching English to the indigenous tribesman.
When apparently, one day they were paddling down the Amazon and the missionary was pointing to objects and naming them in English. He points to the river and says “This is a river,” he points to the forest and says “This is a forest,” he points to the trees and says “This is a tree.” Anyway, this goes on until a little further down the river he sees a couple making love by the river bank.
Anyway, the missionary blushes and says to the tribesman “They are riding a bicycle.” When all of a sudden one of the tribesmen grabs his bow and arrow and starts shooting at the guy. Anyway, the missionary is horrified and says “What the hell are you doing?”
The tribesman replied, “He’s riding my bike!”
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Three Question Quiz
Q.1. There are more species of fish in the Amazon River than in the entire Atlantic Ocean. Is that True or False
Q.2. What percentage of South America does the Amazon River drainage basin cover? Options are 20%, 40%, or 60%
Q.3. What sort of creatures normally found in marine waters can be found in the Amazon? Options are stingrays, great white sharks, or giant squid
Bonus Q. About how long is the Amazon River? Options are approximately 3,000 miles, 4,000 miles, or 5,000 miles
Mnemonic Recap
The Amazon River – 9 Countries in Order – Peru & Ecuador Collect Vast GaS From Brazil & Bolivia
(Picture giant fuel tankers travelling up the Amazon from Brazil and Bolivia to deliver fuel to Peru & Ecuador)
1. Peru
2. Ecuador
3. Colombia
4. Venezuela
5. Guyana
6. Suriname
7. French Guiana
8. Brazil
9. Bolivia
Three Question Quiz Answers
Q.1. There are more species of fish in the Amazon River than in the entire Atlantic Ocean. Is that True or False
A. True. The Amazon contains over 5,000 species of fish
Q.2. What percentage of South America does the Amazon River drainage basin cover? Options are 20%, 40%, or 60%
A. 40%. An area of about 2,720,000 square miles.
Q.3. What sort of creatures normally found in marine waters can be found in the Amazon? Options are stingrays, great white sharks, or giant squid
A. Stingrays. Apparently, they got trapped when the Andes rose and as a result, adapted to the environment
Bonus Q. About how long is the Amazon River? Options are approximately 3,000 miles, 4,000 miles, or 5,000 miles
A. 4,000 miles or around 6,440 km
Word of the Week
Kafkaesque
[ kahf-kuh-esk ]
adjective
marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity
Example
The Kafkaesque method they use to measure the length of rivers is somewhat perplexing.
Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]
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References
https://geography.name/amazon-river/
https://www.treehugger.com/facts-about-the-amazon-river-5185025
https://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/Geography/Amazon-River-349297.html
https://upjoke.com/amazon-river-jokes
https://www.britannica.com/place/Amazon-River/Physical-features