Facts about rivers

27 Interesting Facts About Rivers

All civilizations on Earth were born around rivers, so their importance for humanity can’t be overestimated. This is water, food, transport artery, and natural border… Nothing got changed nowadays, now rivers are extremely important for both the economy and industry. And people, perhaps, should treat these veins of our planet more carefully…

Top facts about rivers

  • The longest river in the world is the Amazon. For a long time, the first place in this category was held by the Nile, but detailed studies have shown that the Amazon is a little longer.
  • The world’s most full-flowing river is also Amazon. By the way, there’s an underground river under Amazon, at a depth of about 2.5 miles (4 km). It has a similar length, but it’s 100 times wider.
  • The length of the world’s shortest river is only 118 feet (36 meters). It’s called D River and it’s located in Oregon, United States.
  • Saudi Arabia is the only modern state that is not located on the island and at the same time doesn’t have any permanent river on its territory. All local rivers dry out in summer.
  • The most meandering river in the world called Pyana flows through Russia. The distance from the source to the mouth in a straight line does not exceed 16.6 miles (30 km), but thanks to the bends of the river bed the length of Pyana reaches 250 miles (400 km).
  • Another Russian river, the Ural, divides Europe and Asia, and its left and right banks belong to different parts of the world.
Facts about rivers
Amazon, the greatest river
  • Only one bridge was built across the Amazon.
  • The Catatumbo River in Venezuela attracts a huge number of lightning strikes for unknown reasons. Up to 450,000 lightning strikes fall at its mouth annually, and that’s a real phenomenon.
  • The Nile River flowing through Africa was frozen and covered with ice twice in the entire history of observations.
  • La Plata is the widest river in the world if we talk about the maximum width at least in one place. The width of La Plata reaches 137 miles (220 km).
  • The Arctic ocean would be much colder if it were not for the heat brought into it by the waters of Siberian rivers.
  • USSR authorities have had a plan to reverse some of the rivers of Siberia. Fortunately, the project was never implemented.
  • Once during a powerful earthquake waters of the Mississippi River started to flow in the opposite direction for a while.
  • During the rainy season, the Indian river Kosi is paving a new riverbed annually, crushing everything in its path.
  • The length of the Nile and Amazon exceeds 3700 miles (6000 km).
  • The cleanest river on Earth is the Irtysh flowing through Russia, Kazakhstan, and China.

  • The Congo River in Africa is the deepest one, with a maximum depth of 755 feet (230 meters).
  • Finnland is often called “a river land” because it has an incredible amount of rivers.
  • World rivers carry about 16 billion tons of rocks and debris into the seas and oceans annually.
  • More rivers flow into the Atlantic than into any other one.
  • Congo is the only river that crosses the equator twice.
River
Irtysh, the cleanest huge river
  • During the full moon due to the influence of tidal forces on the Amazon, waves up to 4 meters (13 feet) high can be observed.
  • In the early 20th century, American engineers turned back the Chicago river.
  • The Royal River in Australia is the dirtiest one in the world. All organic life here is extinct.
  • In some countries, such as Malta, rivers arise only temporarily, after heavy rains, for example, but they dry up quickly.
  • The Nile is the oldest river on Earth.
  • Every year for several days in the evenings you can watch the fireballs flying out of the waters of the Mekong river, rushing into the sky. The reason for their occurrence is still not clear.

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Top Facts