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Rio Grande, Spanish Río Grande del Norte, or (in Mexico) Río Bravo, or Río Bravo del Norte, fifth longest river of North America, and the 20th longest in the world, forming the border between the U.S. state of Texas and Mexico. Rising as a clear, snow-fed mountain stream more than 12,000 feet (3,700 metres) above sea level in the Rocky Mountains, the Rio Grande descends across steppes and deserts, watering rich agricultural regions as it flows on its way to the Gulf of Mexico. The total length of the river is about 1,900 miles (3,060 km).

The area within the entire watershed of the Rio Grande is some 336,000 square miles (870,000 square km). Because a large proportion of the river's basin is arid or semiarid, however, only about half of the total area, or about 176,000 square miles (456,000 square km), actually contributes to the river's flow.

Physical features

From its sources in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, the Rio Grande flows to the southeast and south for 175 miles (280 km) in Colorado, southerly for about 470 miles (760 km) across New Mexico, and southeasterly for about 1,240 miles (2,000 km) between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the Gulf of Mexico.

Its early course follows a canyon through forests of spruce, fir, and aspen into the broad San Luis Valley in Colorado, after which it cuts the Rio Grande Gorge and White Rock Canyon of northern New Mexico and enters the open terrain of the Basin and Range and Mexican Plateau physiographic provinces. There, declining elevation, decreasing latitude, and increasing aridity and temperature produce a transition from a cold steppe climate with a vegetation of piñon pine, juniper, and sagebrush to a hot steppe and desert climate characterized by mesquite, creosote bush, cactus, yucca, and other desert plants. Shortly before entering the Gulf Coastal Plain, the Rio Grande cuts three canyons between 1,500 and 1,700 feet (460 and 520 metres) in depth across the faulted area occupied by the "big bend," where the Texas side of the river comprises the Big Bend National Park. Along the remainder of its course the river wanders sluggishly across the Gulf Coastal Plain to end in a fertile delta where it joins the Gulf of Mexico.

The principal tributaries of the Rio Grande are the Pecos, Devils, Chama, and Puerco rivers in the United States and the Conchos, Salado, and San Juan in Mexico. The peak of flow may occur in any month from April to October. In the upper reaches of the Rio Grande it usually is in May or June because of melting snow and occasional thunderstorms, whereas the lower portion commonly experiences its highest water levels in June or September because of the occurrence of summer thunderstorms. It has been estimated that the Rio Grande has an average annual yield of some 2.6 million acre-feet (3.2 billion cubic metres), of which about a third reached the gulf before the building of the Falcon Dam, upstream from Rio Grande City, in 1953; the river's average discharge rate is now about 3,000 cubic feet (85 cubic metres) per second.

The economy

Irrigation has been practiced in the Rio Grande basin since prehistoric times, notably among the ancestors of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. Increases in population and in the use of water made necessary the water treaties (1905-07 and 1944-45) between the United States and Mexico, as well as the Rio Grande Compact (1939) among Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, concerning shared use of the waters of the upper Rio Grande subbasin (above the site of former Fort Quitman, Texas), and the Pecos River Compact (1948) between New Mexico and Texas, concerning the Pecos above Girvin, Texas. Essentially all of the average annual production of more than three million acre-feet in the upper Rio Grande (including the 60,000 acre-feet allotted to Mexico by treaty) is consumed within this subbasin. Not only below Fort Quitman but also in many stretches of the river from the New Mexico-Colorado border to below Brownsville, Texas, there has been no surface flow at various times. In some places the depth of the river has varied from nearly 60 feet (18 metres) to a bare trickle or nothing. Below Fort Quitman the Rio Grande is renewed by the Conchos and other Mexican rivers. The Conchos, which rises high in the Sierra Madre Occidental of Chihuahua, is the Rio Grande's most important tributary: it supplies more than one-sixth of the Rio Grande's total and, with the other Mexican rivers, produces about two-thirds of the available water. A number of large springs in the area between Hot Springs in the Big Bend National Park and the town of Del Rio, Texas, including many in the bed of the river, are important and dependable producers of groundwater.

The major reservoirs in the basin are the Falcon Reservoir on the lower Rio Grande, Lake Toronto (impounded by La Boquilla Dam) on the Conchos, Elephant Butte on the Rio Grande in New Mexico, Marte Gómez (El Azúcar Dam) reservoir on the San Juan, and Venustiano Carranza (Don Martín Dam) on the Salado. The international Amistad Dam, below the confluence of Devils River, was completed in 1969 under terms of a U.S.-Mexico treaty. Considerable amounts of hydroelectricity are produced within the basin.

Excluding areas irrigated above the reservoirs, the river provides water for some 2,100,000 acres (850,000 hectares) of cropland; slightly more than half of the irrigated land is in Mexico. The leading crops raised by irrigation vary from potatoes and alfalfa in Colorado; to cotton, pecans, and grapes in southern New Mexico and in the El Paso- Juárez region of Texas and Mexico; and citrus fruits, cotton, and vegetables in the valley of the lower Rio Grande delta region in Texas and Tamaulipas.

After agriculture and animal husbandry, the leading industries of the Rio Grande area are mining (petroleum, natural gas, coal, uranium ore, silver, lead, gold, potash, and gypsum) and recreation (national and state parks and monuments, dude ranches, rafting, fishing and hunting, and summer and winter resorts). Urban communities include Monterrey, Juárez, Chihuahua, Saltillo, Matamoros, Guadalupe, Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, and San Nicolás de los Garzas in Mexico; Albuquerque and Las Cruces in New Mexico; and El Paso, Laredo, and Brownsville in Texas.

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Rio Grande | Definition, Location, Length, Map, & Facts

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Rio Grande, fifth longest river of North America, and the 20th longest in the world, forming the border between the U.S. state of Texas and Mexico. The total length of the river is about 1,900 miles (3,060 km), and the area within the entire watershed of the Rio Grande is some 336,000 square miles (870,000 square km).

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The Rio Grande is the fourth longest river in the United States, flowing approximately 1,896 miles from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico, forming part of the U.S.-Mexican border along the way. Because its length is debated it is either North America's fourth or fifth longest river.

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FABENS, Tex. - On maps, the mighty Rio Grande meanders 1,900 miles, from southern Colorado's San Juan Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico. But on the ground, farms and cities drink all but a trickle before it reaches the canal that irrigates Bobby Skov's farm outside El Paso, hundreds of miles from the gulf.

Now, shriveled by the historic drought that has consumed California and most of the Southwest, that trickle has become a moist breath.

"It's been progressively worse" since the early 2000s, Mr. Skov said during a pickup-truck tour of his spread last week, but he said his farm would muddle through - if the trend did not continue. "The jury's out on that," he said.

Drought's grip on California grabs all the headlines. But from Texas to Arizona to Colorado, the entire West is under siege by changing weather patterns that have shrunk snowpacks, raised temperatures, spurred evaporation and reduced reservoirs to record lows.

In a region that has replumbed entire river systems to build cities and farms where they would not otherwise flourish, the drought is a historic challenge, and perhaps an enduring one. Many scientists say this is the harbinger of the permanently drier and hotter West that global warming will deliver later this century. If so, the water-rationing order issued this month by Gov. Jerry Brown of California could be merely a sign of things to come.

Arizona, a party to a Colorado River water-sharing compact among seven states, already is bracing for a first-ever reduction in its allotment within a couple of years should the river's main reservoir, Lake Mead, continue falling beneath its current historic low.

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As the Rio Grande continues to get drier, the farmer Bobby Skov, center, now fallows a fifth of his fields. Credit Max Whittaker for The New York Times

Since coming to office two years ago, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell has elevated water management in the West to an agency priority. "The challenge is systemic and persistent across the West," Michael Connor, the deputy secretary of the interior, said in an interview. "We need better infrastructure, better operation arrangements, better ways to share water and move water."

The perils of drought are on ample display along the Rio Grande, where a rising thirst has tested farmers, fueled environmental battles over vanishing fish and pushed a water-rights dispute between Texas and New Mexico to the Supreme Court.

But you can also see glimmers of hope. Albuquerque, the biggest New Mexico city along the Rio Grande, has cut its water consumption by a quarter in 20 years even as its population has grown by a third. Irrigation districts and farmers - which consume perhaps seven of every 10 gallons of river water - are turning to technology and ingenuity to make use of every drop of water given them.

John Fleck, a journalist and scholar at the University of New Mexico Water Resources Program who is finishing a book on the Colorado River, said no one should dismiss the gravity of the West's plight. But neither is it necessarily ruination.

"This whole running-out-of-water thing isn't really doom," he said. "When water gets short, farmers get very clever."
A Magnificent Pipe
An untamed, flash-flooding home to sturgeon and eels a century ago, much of the Rio Grande today is little more than a magnificently engineered pipe - diverted, straightened, dammed, bled by canals, linked by tunnel to the Colorado River basin in the north, surrendering its last trickle in the south to a ditch that supplies farmers near El Paso. Only miles later do Mexican tributaries renew its journey to the gulf. Its raison d'être is to sustain the booming society along its banks.

Mr. Skov, 44, is at the very end of that pipe. The canal that supplies his farm intercepts the Rio Grande near downtown El Paso, and flows through the city zoo. From parts of his 1,500 acres where he tends pecan trees and grows onions and alfalfa, he jokes, he could hit a nine-iron across the barren Rio Grande channel into Mexico.

In a perfect world, his crops could consume up to four feet of water in a growing season, and in flush times 15 years ago, the canal gave him most of that. "We'd double-crop - do onions and come back with corn after that," he said. "We used to grow a lot of chiles, a lot of jalapeños. When water was abundant you could do a variety of things."

That is a pleasant memory. Today Mr. Skov fallows a fifth of his fields, and canal water that once flowed from March to October arrives in June and vanishes as early as August. He makes up the deficit with two inches of treated water from the city sewage plant and a deluge of salty groundwater, brought up by once-abandoned wells that his grandfather dug, and that he has brought back to life.

The brackish water poisons the plants even as it saves them, cutting his yield by as much as a fifth. "It hurts germination, plant vigor, growth, root vigor, water absorption - everything negative that can happen to a plant," he said.

Then again, the alternative is worse.

Across the West, the water shortages plaguing farmers and townspeople alike share many of the same causes. Like the Sacramento River in California and the Colorado River in the Rockies, the Rio Grande gets much of its flow from melting mountain snow - and snowpacks are getting smaller, and melting faster.

Rising temperatures are the reason. The federal Bureau of Reclamation, which manages much water in the West, reported in 2013 that average temperatures in the upper Rio Grande, in Colorado and New Mexico, rose almost 2.8 degrees during the 40 years ending in 2011 - and could rise an additional four to six degrees by 2100.

The 40-year increase, twice the global average, was beyond anything seen in the last 11,300 years. Future warming "has the potential to cause significant environmental harm and change the region's hydrology," the bureau's analysis stated.

A warming climate turns some snow into rain and increases the evaporation and melting rate of what snow remains. And as drought worsens, dust and soot from parched soil and burning forests coat the snow and absorb sunlight, turbocharging the melting.

This month, federal forecasters pegged the runoff from mountain snowpack feeding the Rio Grande's northern stretches at roughly half the average logged in the final two decades of the 20th century.

"The last four or five years running, we've had a weak snowpack, early melting and really dry spring weather," said Mr. Fleck, the journalist and scholar. "The spring runoff usually peaks in early May. I think it may have peaked in March this year."

It is likely to get worse. While acknowledging that climate forecasts are inherently uncertain, the reclamation bureau's 2013 analysis concluded that the Rio Grande could lose roughly a third of its water by this century's end.

In theory, the Rio Grande is engineered and managed to absorb such a whammy with as little misery as possible for the three million people who rely on it. In practice, some users have a comparative embarrassment of water, while others like Mr. Skov are water paupers.

Oscar Escapita nets minnows in the Rio Grande in Radium Springs, N. M. Credit Max Whittaker for The New York Times

The rules for sharing the Rio Grande are even more complex than its plumbing. Irrigation districts, governments and tribal authorities, among others, all have rights to water, and some have reservoirs devoted more or less exclusively to their use.

Some even band together: In the 1970s, Albuquerque and other New Mexico cities teamed with irrigators and the federal reclamation bureau to tunnel beneath the Continental Divide, diverting 28 billion gallons of water from a Colorado River tributary to a Rio Grande reservoir every year.

Yet the biggest agreement of all, the 1938 Rio Grande Compact among Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, shows just how fraught the divvying-up process can be.

The ménage has seldom been happy; for years, Colorado reneged on its obligation to deliver Rio Grande water downstream. But the thorniest issue of all is how the accord divides Elephant Butte Reservoir, New Mexico's largest, between New Mexico and Texas.

Most of the reservoir's water belongs to one of New Mexico's biggest users of the Rio Grande - the Elephant Butte Irrigation District - and to the Texas irrigation district that parcels out river water to farmers like Mr. Skov, and to El Paso itself.

New Mexico manages the reservoir according to an agreed-on formula. In wet years, upstream users allow more water to flow past them to fill it up. In dry years, they keep more of the water to themselves, and let downstream users survive off what was stored during rainy periods.

That works perfectly in a climate where wet and dry years alternate. But over a dozen years of drought, the effect has been perverse; upstream users have more water, while at one point in 2013, Elephant Butte Reservoir shrank to 3 percent of its capacity.

"The Rio Grande Compact has been corrupted by climate," said Phil King, a New Mexico State University engineering professor who advises the Elephant Butte district.
Supreme Court Case
Yet another aspect of the Elephant Butte agreement is before the Supreme Court. Texas and New Mexico agreed to a 57-to-43 percent split of their share of the reservoir, with Texas getting the smaller amount. But New Mexico farmers then sank wells along the river's 100-mile route to Texas, soaking up groundwater that otherwise would have bolstered the river's flow.

Texas complained bitterly for years. As the drought began to bite, it threatened to go to court, and the two sides struck a deal in 2008 that effectively gave Texas access to more water. But New Mexico's attorney general sued to block it, and Texas took the dispute to the Supreme Court in 2013. Many observers believe it could win - and New Mexico could end up with even less water when it is needed most.

Experts say water users should stop fighting and start preparing together for a much drier future. "Individually, the American culture of using as much water as you want has got to stop," said Pat Mulroy, a veteran Nevada water regulator who is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

On that point, at least, Texans and New Mexicans seem to agree. In many places along the Rio Grande, governments and farmers are both cutting their use of water and finding innovative ways to produce more of it.

For example, El Paso's irrigation district and water authority are building their own 400-acre rainwater basin, and in 2017, the authority plans to build an $82 million plant to recycle sewage into 10 million gallons a day of drinkable water.

El Paso now uses less water per person - about 130 gallons a day - than any city in Texas. Per-person use in Albuquerque, which won an international award in 2006 for water conservation, reached a record low last year.

John Stomp, the chief operating officer at the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, said he believed that with further conservation efforts and more cooperation among water users, the Rio Grande's users could withstand even a permanently more arid climate.

But "it won't be easy," he added. "Nothing about water is easy."

Coral Davenport contributed reporting from Washington.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Mighty Rio Grande Now a Trickle Under Siege. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

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Mighty Rio Grande Now a Trickle Under Siege

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FABENS, Tex. - On maps, the mighty Rio Grande meanders 1,900 miles, from southern Colorado's San Juan Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico. But on the ground, farms and cities drink all but a trickle before it reaches the canal that irrigates Bobby Skov's farm outside El Paso, hundreds of miles from the gulf.

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Video: Mississippi River Swells to Three Miles

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Flood waters continue to rise, threatening people's homes and lives.

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Rhine cruisers can embark on excursions in cities such as Cologne. (Photo: Ablestock.com/AbleStock.com/Getty Images )

At 820 miles, the Rhine is the longest river in western Europe, flowing through nine nations. The Rhine has served as a natural border for nations throughout European history, marking Germany's borders between Switzerland and France and also providing the Swiss borders between Liechtenstein and Austria. Approximately 58 million people live in the communities along the river, which serves as a major transport for goods throughout Europe. Vacationers who'd like to discover the Rhine's allure can explore the region by touring on land or by booking a river cruise.

Course of the Rhine

The Rhine's waters originate in the glaciers of the Swiss Alps, and the river frequently splits into separate branches that rejoin as the Rhine winds through Europe. The Upper and Lower Rhine both wind their way through Switzerland before flowing into Lake Constance and plunging over the Rhine Falls. The Rhine's longest expanse lies within Germany, and after flowing northwest into the Netherlands, the Rhine parts to form the Lower Rhine and Waal Rivers, which rejoin before reaching Rotterdam and emptying into the North Sea.

History in the Rhine River Valley

Neanderthals and early humans gravitated to the Rhine Valley, and anthropologists have discovered Neanderthal remains that are approximately 44,000 years old, along with 30,000-year-old stone artifacts from Homo sapien settlers. The Rhine was significant to the Roman Empire, who used the river to denote the northernmost frontier of their empire and established many cities along the banks of the river. Under the reign of Charlemagne, the Rhine became a focal point of trade and transportation for the member states of the Holy Roman Empire, from its formation in 800 A.D. to its dissolution in 1806.

Despoilment and Restoration

Toxic discharges of chemicals and agricultural runoff led to degradation of the Rhine over the 19th and 20th centuries. The Rhine was once a fertile fishing ground, but in the Spring 1999 edition of "Restoration and Reclamation Review," Sarah Raith notes that between 1890 and 1950, pollution had caused fish populations to dramatically decline. In 1986, the Santoz chemical plant fire in Switzerland resulted in the discharge of thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the river. In the wake of public outrage, European leaders instituted the Rhine Action Programme, which endeavored to reduce the amount of the most toxic pollutants in the river by 50 percent by 1995. The BBC notes that since the program's initiation, levels of specific pollutants have dropped by 50 to 100 percent, and salmon were again thriving in parts of the Rhine by 1997.

Cruises

Travelers who'd like to experience an intimate glimpse of the Rhine and the communities along its banks can book barge cruises from a variety of cruise operators. River barges drift down the Rhine at a relaxed pace, allowing passengers to fully enjoy the passing sights and scenery, and in his book "Stern's Guide to the Cruise Vacation," Steven Stern opines that cuisine and service on barges often compares favorably to what vacationers would experience on a major cruise line. As with traditional cruises, vacationers have the opportunity to visit many destinations along their route and can experience the sights and culture of cities such as Cologne, Strasbourg and Basel.

About the Author

Since 2006 Jim Orrill has produced reviews and essays on popular culture for publications including Lemurvision and "Sexis." Based in Western North Carolina, Orrill graduated cum laude from the University of North Carolina with a bachelor's degree in office systems.

Photo Credits

Ablestock.com/AbleStock.com/Getty Images

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Rhine cruisers can embark on excursions in cities such as Cologne. (Photo: Ablestock.com/AbleStock.com/Getty Images ) At 820 miles, the Rhine is the longest river in western Europe, flowing through nine nations. The Rhine has served as a natural border for nations throughout European history, marking Germany's borders between Switzerland and France and also providing the Swiss borders between Liechtenstein and Austria.

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As the Rhine enters Germany it becomes the border between Germany and France. Through the Rhine Gourge the landscape changes again as the river narrows to form a steep sided-valley filled with vineyards and castles overlooking the river.

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Rhine, Germany: Castle-Studded Rhine River

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Since ancient times, the Rhine has been one of the world's busiest rivers and major trading routes. Today, under the watchful eye of once-mighty castles, barges carrying thousand-ton loads and busy trains transport goods and tourists along the river.

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Indus River Facts for Kids | KidzSearch.com

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Walnuts grow along the Indus near Skardu, and poplars and apples; there are delicious melons and nectarines and apricots in the valley of Shigar, but it is difficult to send them "down-country" because they are easily spoilt in transit.

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'Nile' - Know About The World's Longest River| Animated Geographical Facts for Kids | Longest River

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West Hansen leads the first ever attempt to paddle the entire Amazon River from a newly proposed source-but not without facing the wrath of Mother Nature and gun­-toting locals.Click here to read more about West Hansen's adventure on the Amazon River

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April 23, 2009-An adventure ride down a section of China's Yangtze River could be the last before planned hydroelectric dams flood the rapids and alter the landscape.

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Emerging Explorer Alexandra Cousteau examines the pollution problems of the Ganges from human and industrial waste.

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The water of the Ganges is used extensively in agriculture in the fertile Gangetic plains. Chief crops cultivated in the area include rice, sugarcane, lentils, oil seeds, potatoes, and wheat. Along the banks of the river, the swamps and lakes provide a good growing area for crops such as legumes, chillies, mustard, sesame, sugarcane, and jute.

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The Yellow River - Grand Ancient Culture and Silty Wonders

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The Yellow River is regarded as the "Mother River of China". Learn about its tourist attractions, ancient civilizations, and its impact on China.

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This article describes the Huang He River, its facts and figures, and its past and present.

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Enjoy our awesome range of Earth facts for kids. Check out the cool trivia and have fun learning about some of our planet's most amazing features.

Amazon River Facts

Check out these fun Amazon River facts for kids. Learn about where the Amazon River is located, how long it is, the wildlife that it supports and more. Enjoy our range of interesting facts about the Amazon River.

The Amazon River is located in South America. It runs through Guyana, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Peru.

The length of the Amazon River is approximately 6400 kilometres (4000 miles).

During the wet season, the Amazon River can reach over 190 kilometres (120 miles) in width.

There are no bridges that cross the Amazon, mostly because there is no need, the majority of the Amazon River runs through rainforests rather than roads or cities.

The largest city along the Amazon River is Manaus. Located in Brazil it is home to over 1.7 million people.

There are over 3000 known species of fish that live in the Amazon River, with more constantly being discovered.

Anacondas lurk in the shallow waters of the Amazon Basin, they are one of the largest snakes in the world and occasionally attack larger animals such as goats that get to close the water.

The Amazon River is also home to the piranha, a meat eating type of fish! Being carnivores, piranhas are known to attack in groups, preying on livestock that strays into the water and possibly appearing in one or two of your own nightmares!

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Amazon River Facts for Kids - Interesting Facts about the Amazon River

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Enjoy our awesome range of Earth facts for kids. Check out the cool trivia and have fun learning about some of our planet's most amazing features. Amazon River Facts Check out these fun Amazon River facts for kids. Learn about where the Amazon River is located, how long it is, the wildlife that it supports and more.

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This article describes the Nile River, its facts and figures, and its past and present.

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Besides that, it is believed that around 15 million people rely on the tributaries of the river basin to stay alive. Tributaries are streams or rivers, which will flow into the river itself. That's so cool that it helps so many people out. The Mississippi River sounds like an awesome, large and interesting river.

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Fun Facts - Experience Mississippi River

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The Mississippi River is 2,340 miles long. The Great River Road was created in 1938. The Great River Road runs through about 110 counties and parishes. In the year A.D. 1250, the ancient metropolis of Cahokia, Illinois, was home to more people than London. Iowa's 500-foot Pike's Peak was named for Zebulon Pike, who explored [...]

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7 Key Yangtze River Facts - Notable Features for Travelers

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These 7 Yangtze River facts introduce the main features and areas that are of interest to travellers: from highest plateau, via largest dam, to largest city.

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Yangtze River is quite famous and has always occupied a very important position in China's development of agriculture, economy, transportation, tourism, culture, etc. How much do you know about it? Let's learn some Yangtze River facts together.

Basic Facts of Yangtze River:

Chinese name: 长江 (Cháng Jiāng)
Other names: Yangtse/ Yangzi River
Length: over 6,300 kilometers (3,915 miles)
Source: Glacier of Jianggendiru, southwest to Geladandong Peak, the main peak of Tanggula Mountain
Source elevation: 5,820 m (19,095 ft)
Location: 24°30′-35°45′N, 90°33′-112°25′E
Influx into: East China Sea
Average runoff in estuary: 33,980 cubic meters per second (1,200,000 cubic feet per second)
Annual average runoff: 960 billion cubic meters
River basin: 1,800,000 square km (694,983 square miles)
History: 3 million years

1. Yangtze River is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world.

Yangtze River is as long as 6,397 km (3,975 miles). It is the longest river in Asia and the third longest river in the world, just after the Nile in Africa and the Amazon in South America. It runs across central China from Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the west to East China Sea in the east. This fact of Yangtze River makes it great among famous rivers.

2. The source of Yangtze River is at Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Yangtze River starts from Jianggendiru Glacier, the southwest side of Geladandong Peak, the main peak of Tanggula Mountains, where is next to Kunlun Mountains, in the back-land of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in western China. After this, it flows eastwards and pours itself into the East China Sea.

3. It is a natural dividing line of North and South China.

Strictly, the geographical dividing line of North-South China is the Qinling Mountains-Huai River. However, the Yangtze is also regarded as the natural boundary of South and North China. To the north of Yangtze River, the climate is dry with lower temperature and less rain; while to its south it is warm and humid with adequate rainfall. The main grain is wheat in the north and rice in the south, thus northern people usually eat various wheat-based food as their staple, and southern people prefer rice. Northerners are more forthright, while the southerners are moderate and gentle on the whole.

Water System Map
(Click the map to enlarge it)

4. The drainage basin of Yangtze River takes 1/5 of China's land area.

The drainage area of Yangtze River is quite large, which is 1.8 million square kilometers. The basin accounts for one fifth of total land area in China. The Yangtze River flows through 11 provincial-level administrative regions, including Qinghai, Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shanghai.

5. Major Cities along Yangtze River

The major cities along Yangtze River are Chongqing, Yichang, Wuhan, Nanjing and Shanghai. All of their agriculture, tourism, transportation and industry benefit a lot from the Yangtze. Other cities along the Yangtze include Panzhihua, Yibin, Luzhou, Jingzhou, Shashi, Shishou, Ezhou, Xianning, Huangshi, Huanggang, Yueyang, Hefei, Chaohu, Chizhou, Anqing, Tongling, Wuhu, Chuzhou, Maanshan, Jiujiang, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Jiangyin, Nantong and Taizhou.

6. Yangtze River Delta is the most prosperous and populous area in China.

The Yangtze River Delta accounts for 10% of population and 20% of GDP in China. The GDP of Shanghai reached CNY 3,268 billion in 2018. The cities with a population of over one million include Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Suzhou. Besides, it is a big granary of the country. The grain it produces covers a half of the whole nation, of which the rice accounts for 70% in the total.

7. The most popular Yangtze River cruise tour is between Chongqing and Yichang.

Yangtze Cruise

This Yangtze River fact should be remembered by those who are planning a trip. A cruise is the most popular way to tour Yangtze River. The route between Chongqing and Yichang is the most popular one. The ships are built as four-star standard or above. It takes 4 days and 3 nights from Chongqing to Yichang downstream, and 5 days and 4 nights from Yichang to Chongqing upstream. The cruise ship will pass through the Three Gorges, the gathering of Qutang Gorge, Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge, which are lined with fantastic rocks and peaks on both banks. The ship will also stop over at Three Gorges Dam, the largest dam and hydropower station in China, which benefits a lot of people. Visitors can also go for excursions to Fengdu Ghost City, Shibaozhai and Shennong Stream on the route.

See more Yangtze Cruise Tours

Gezhouba Dam, Yichang

8. There is the world's largest hydropower station, Three Gorges Dam, on the Yangtze.

Three Gorges Dam play a momentous role in flood control, electricity generation, shipping, aquaculture, tourism, irrigation, and so on. It is the world's largest hydropower station. 100 billion kWh electricity is generated in a year, which meets the daily needs of about 200 million people in a dozen of provinces. This is a fact of Yangtze River that many Chinese are proud of.

See more about Yangtze River Dam - 5 Secrets You don't Know

9. Yangtze River has more than 700 tributaries.

It's an amazing Yangtze River fact that it has over 700 tributaries. Among these tributaries, 8 have the basin area of over 50,000 square kilometers (19,305 sq mi), and 5 have a length of more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles). The tributary with the largest runoff is the Minjiang River. The tributary with the largest basin is the Jialing River. The tributaries with the longest length are Hanjiang River and Ya-lung River. Other large tributaries of Yangtze River include Wujiang River, Ruanjiang River, Xiang River and Ganjiang River.

10. Yangtze River has great influence on Chinese culture since ancient times.

The same as the Yellow River, Yangtze River is also the cradle of Chinese civilization and reputed "Mother River" of China. Yangtze River gestated Hemudu Culture in its lower reaches about 7,000 years ago. Later, it gave birth to southern Chinese cultures, like Chu Culture, Wu and Yue Culture, etc. It has provided water for the lives of people and for irrigating crops. It has been a natural route of transportation. It still breeds one third of Chinese population nowadays.

Further Reading
How serious is the Yangtze River pollution?
Yangtze River History: Past and Present

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Yangtze River is quite famous and has always occupied a very important position in China's development of agriculture, economy, transportation, tourism, culture, etc. How much do you know about it? Let's learn some Yangtze River facts together.

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The River Nile is about 6,670 km (4,160 miles) in length and is the longest river in Africa and in the world. Although it is generally associated with Egypt, only 22% of the Nile's course runs through Egypt.

In Egypt, the River Nile creates a fertile green valley across the desert. It was by the banks of the river that one of the oldest civilizations in the world began. The ancient Egyptians lived and farmed along the Nile, using the soil to produce food for themselves and their animals.

Quick facts about the River Nile

Approx 6,695 kilometers
(4,160 miles)

1. Where is the River Nile? Location of the

2. Where is the source of the River Nile? Source

3. Which two main rivers flow into the River Nile? Map of the Nile river

4. Why did the Ancient Egyptians live near the River Nile?
Why live near Nile?

5. Why was the Nile River so important to the Ancient Egyptians? Why important?

6. What else did the Nile provide for the Ancient Egyptians?

7. What was the area next to the River Nile Called?
Black land and Red land

8. When did the Nile flood? Flooding

9. Why did the Nile Flood?

10. Why does the Nile not flood now ?

11. Who was the Nile God? God

12. Interesting facts about the River Nile
Facts about the Nile

Where is the River Nile?

The River Nile is in Africa. It originates in Burundi, south of the equator, and flows northward through northeastern Africa, eventually flowing through Egypt and finally draining into the Mediterranean Sea.

Map of the River Nile from space
Notice that the land is green on either side of the Nile.

Where is the source of the River Nile?

Lake Victoria, Africa's biggest lake, is generally thought of as the source of the River Nile. On the northern edge of the lake, water pours over a waterfall, known as Ripon Falls, into a narrow opening which some people believe is the beginning of the River Nile.
The true source of the River Nile
Ripon Falls may be the starting-point of the river, but the many streams that flow into Lake Victoria could claim to be the true source.

Much of Lake Victoria is surrounded by mountains with streams tumbling down into the lake. The largest tributary of Lake Victoria is the Kagera river. The Kagera and its tributary the Ruvubu, with its headwaters in Burundi, is now considered to be the true source of the Nile. It is from here that the Nile is measured as the world's longest river.

What are the two main rivers that flow into the River Nile?

The River Nile is formed from the White Nile, which originates at Lake Victoria and the Blue Nile, which originates at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. These rivers meet in Sudan and then go on their long journey northwards towards the sea.

The White Nile is a lot bigger than the Blue Nile, but because of losses along the way the it only contributes about 15% to the flow of the combined Nile. The Blue Nile, rising in Ethiopia, contributes about 85% to the flow of the Nile that passes through Egypt to the Mediterranean.
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Why did the Ancient Egyptians live near the River Nile?

Most Egyptians lived near the Nile as it provided water, food, transportation and excellent soil for growing food.

Why was the Nile River so important to the Ancient Egyptians?

Ancient Egypt could not have existed without the river Nile. Since rainfall is almost non-existent in Egypt, the floods provided the only source of moisture to sustain crops.

Every year, heavy summer rain in the Ethiopian highlands, sent a torrent of water that overflowed the banks of the Nile. When the floods went down it left thick rich mud ( black silt) which was excellent soil to plant seeds in after it had been ploughed.

The ancient Egyptians could grow crops only in the mud left behind when the Nile flooded. So they all had fields all along the River Nile.
Find out about Egyptian Farming

What else did the Nile provide for the Ancient Egyptians?

Reeds, called papyrus, grew along side the Nile. The Egyptians made paper and boats from the reeds.
Find out about Egyptian Writing

The Nile also gave the ancient Egyptians food. They used spears and nets to catch fish. They would also use the nets to catch birds that flew close to the surface of the water.

Another way the Nile helped the ancient Egyptians was in trade. The Nile was the quickest and easiest way to travel from place to place.
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What was the area next to the River Nile called?

This area was known as the Black Land. Further away from the river was the Red Land, a region of inhospitable desert.

When did the Nile flood?

The River Nile flooded every year between June and September, in a season the Egyptians called akhet - the inundation.

Why did the Nile Flood?

Melting snow and heavy summer rain in the Ethiopian Mountains sent a torrent of water causing the banks of the River Nile in Egypt to overflow on the flat desert land.

Why does the Nile not flood now ?

The construction of the Aswan Dam in the 1960's meant that from 1970 the annual flood was controlled.
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Who was the Nile God?

Hapi was the Nile god. Honouring a god was very important, so when a flood came the Egyptians would thank Hapi for bringing fertility to the land.

Interesting Facts about the River Nile:

The Nile River is the longest river in the world.

The Nile flows into the Mediterranean Sea.

The largest source of the Nile is Lake Victoria.

The Nile has a length of about 6,695 kilometers (4,160 miles).

Its average discharge is 3.1 million litres (680,000 gallons) per second.

The Nile basin is huge and includes parts of Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo (Kinshasa), Kenya.

The name Nile comes from the Greek "neilos", which means valley.

The Ancient Egyptians called the river Ar or Aur (black) because of the colour of the sediment left after the river's annual flood.

Further Infomation

Nile River
A fantastic resource about the Nile.
Fact File of the River Nile

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The River Nile is about 6,670 km (4,160 miles) in length and is the longest river in Africa and in the world. Although it is generally associated with Egypt, only 22% of the Nile's course runs through Egypt. In Egypt, the River Nile creates a fertile green valley across the desert.

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Enjoy our awesome range of Earth facts for kids. Check out the cool trivia and have fun learning about some of our planet's most amazing features.

Nile River Facts

Check out these fun Nile River facts for kids. Learn about where the Nile River is located, its relationship to Ancient Egypt, how long it is, the agriculture it supports and more. Enjoy our range of interesting facts about the Nile River.

The length of the Nile River is approximately 6650 kilometres (4132 miles). It is believed to be the longest river in the world.

Located in Africa, the Nile River lies in the following countries: Kenya, Eritrea, Congo, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

The Nile River has huge significance in regards to Ancient Egypt. Most of Ancient Egypt's historical sites are located along the banks of the Nile River including cities such as Luxor and Cairo.

In 2004, the White Nile Expedition became the first to navigate the entire length of the Nile River. The expedition began in Uganda and finished in Rosetta, taking four months and two weeks to complete.

The Nile Delta in Northern Egypt is where the Nile River drains in to the Mediterranean Sea. It is around 160 kilometres (100 miles) in length and spreads out over 240 kilometres (149 miles) of coastline. It is rich in agriculture and has been farmed for thousands of years.

Around 40 million people (half of Egypt's population) live in the Nile Delta region.

In 1787, the famous Rosetta stone was found in the Nile Delta in the city of Rosetta. This Ancient Egyptian artifact played a key role in modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

The Aswan High Dam was built in 1970 to help regulate flooding of the Nile River. Before the Aswan Dam was built, years that featured high levels of water could wipe out crops while years of low level water could produce famines and drought. The dam helps control these water levels.

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Nile River Facts for Kids - Interesting Facts about the Nile River

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Enjoy our awesome range of Earth facts for kids. Check out the cool trivia and have fun learning about some of our planet's most amazing features. Nile River Facts Check out these fun Nile River facts for kids. Learn about where the Nile River is located, its relationship to Ancient Egypt, how long it is, the agriculture it supports and more.

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Fact Monster - A Trusted Reference Site for Kids

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Fact Monster is a free reference site for students, teachers, and parents. Get homework help and find facts on thousands of subjects, including sports, entertainment, geography, history, biography, education, and health.

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National Geographic

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A river is a large, natural stream of flowing water. Rivers are found on every continent and on nearly every kind of land. Some flow all year round. Others flow seasonally or during wet years. A river may be only kilometers long, or it may span much of a continent.

The longest rivers in the world are the Nile in Africa and the Amazon in South America. Both rivers flow through many countries. For centuries, scientists have debated which river is longer. Measuring a river is difficult because it is hard to pinpoint its exact beginning and end. Also, the length of rivers can change as they meander, are dammed, or their deltas grow and recede.

The Amazon is estimated to be between 6,259 kilometers (3,903 miles) and 6,800 kilometers (4,225 miles) long. The Nile is estimated to be between 5,499 kilometers (3,437 miles) and 6,690 kilometers (4,180 miles) long. There is no debate, however, that the Amazon carries more water than any other river on Earth. Approximately one-fifth of all the freshwater entering the oceans comes from the Amazon.

Rivers are important for many reasons. One of the most important things they do is carry large quantities of water from the land to the ocean. There, seawater constantly evaporates. The resulting water vapor forms clouds. Clouds carry moisture over land and release it as precipitation. This freshwater feeds rivers and smaller streams. The movement of water between land, ocean, and air is called the water cycle. The water cycle constantly replenishes Earth's supply of freshwater, which is essential for almost all living things.

Anatomy of a River

No two rivers are exactly alike. Yet all rivers have certain features in common and go through similar stages as they age.

The beginning of a river is called its source or headwaters. The source may be a melting glacier, such as the Gangotri Glacier, the source of the Ganges River in Asia. The source could be melting snow, such as the snows of the Andes, which feed the Amazon River. A river's source could be a lake with an outflowing stream, such as Lake Itasca in the U.S. state of Minnesota, the source of the Mississippi River. A spring bubbling out of the ground can also be the headwaters of a river. The source of the Danube River is a spring in the Black Forest of Germany.

From its source, a river flows downhill as a small stream. Precipitation and groundwater add to the river's flow. It is also fed by other streams, called tributaries. For instance, the Amazon River receives water from more than 1,000 tributaries. Together, a river and its tributaries make up a river system. A river system is also called a drainage basin or watershed. A river's watershed includes the river, all its tributaries, and any groundwater resources in the area.

The end of a river is its mouth. Here, the river empties into another body of water-a larger river, a lake, or the ocean. Many of the largest rivers empty into the ocean.

The flowing water of a river has great power to carve and shape the landscape. Many landforms, like the Grand Canyon in the U.S. state of Arizona, were sculpted by rivers over time. This process is called weathering or erosion.

The energy of flowing river water comes from the force of gravity, which pulls the water downward. The steeper the slope of a river, the faster the river moves and the more energy it has.

The movement of water in a river is called a current. The current is usually strongest near the river's source. Storms can also increase the current. A swift current can move even large boulders. These break apart, and the pieces that are carried in the moving water scrape and dig into the river bottom, or bed.

Little by little, a river tears away rocks and soil along its bed, and carries them downstream. The river carves a narrow, V-shaped valley. Rapids and waterfalls are common to rivers, particularly near their sources.

Eventually, the river flows to lower land. As the slope of its course flattens, the river cuts less deeply into its bed. Instead, it begins to wind from side to side in looping bends called meanders. This action widens the river valley.

At the same time, the river begins to leave behind some of the rocks, sand, and other solid material it collected upstream. This material is called sediment. Once the sediment is deposited, it is called alluvium. Alluvium may contain a great deal of eroded topsoil from upstream and from the banks of its meanders. Because of this, a river deposits very fertile soil on its flood plain. A flood plain is the area next to the river that is subject to flooding.

The deepest part of a river bed is called a channel. The channel is usually located in the middle of a river. Here, the current is often strong. In large rivers, ships travel in channels. Engineers may dredge, or dig, deeper channels so more water can flow through the river or the river can transport larger ships.

Near the end of its journey, the river slows and may appear to move sluggishly. It has less energy to cut into the land, and it can no longer carry a heavy load of sediment. Where the river meets the ocean or a lake, it may deposit so much sediment that new land, a delta, is formed.

Not all rivers have deltas. The Amazon does not have a true delta, for instance. The strength of the tides and currents of the Atlantic Ocean prevent the build-up of sediment. Deltas almost always have fertile soil. The Nile Delta and the Ganges Delta are the chief agricultural areas for Egypt and Bangladesh, for instance.

Rivers Through History

Rivers have always been important to people. In prehistoric times, people settled along the banks of rivers, where they found fish to eat and water for drinking, cooking, and bathing.

Later, people learned that the fertile soil along rivers is good for growing crops. The world's first great civilizations arose in the fertile flood plains of the Nile in Egypt, the Indus in southern Asia, the Tigris and the Euphrates in the Middle East, and the Huang (Yellow) in China.

Centuries later, rivers provided routes for trade, exploration, and settlement. The Volga River in Eastern Europe allowed Scandinavian and Russian cultures, near the source of the river, to trade goods and ideas with Persian cultures, near the mouth of the Volga in southern Europe. The Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York is named after English explorer Henry Hudson, who used the river to explore what was then the New World.

When towns and industries developed, the rushing water of rivers supplied power to operate machinery. Hundreds of factories operated mills powered by the Thames in England, the Mississippi in the United States, and the Ruhr in Germany.

Rivers remain important today. If you look at a world map, you will see that many well-known cities are on rivers. Great river cities include New York City, New York; Buenos Aires, Argentina; London, England; Cairo, Egypt; Kolkata, India; and Shanghai, China. In fact, rivers are usually the oldest parts of cities. Paris, France, for instance, was named after the Iron Age people known as the Parisii, who lived on the islands and banks of the Seine River, which flows through the city.

Rivers continue to provide transportation routes, water for drinking and for irrigating farmland, and power for homes and industries.

Rivers of Europe

The longest river in Europe is the Volga. It flows approximately 3,685 kilometers (2,290 miles) across Russia and empties into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has been used for centuries to transport timber from northern forests, grain from farms along its valley, and manufactured goods. The river is also known for its sturgeon, a type of large fish whose eggs are used to make a famous delicacy-Russian caviar.

The Thames, in England, is one of Europe's most historic rivers. Along its banks stands the city of London, a bustling urban area for more than a thousand years. By 100 CE, London had already become an important Roman settlement and trading post. Because of its location on the river and near the seacoast, London became England's principal city and trade center.

Europe's busiest river is the Rhine, which runs from the Alps in Switzerland, through Germany and the Netherlands, and empties into the North Sea. It flows through many industrial and farming regions and carries barges laden with farm products, coal, iron ore, and a variety of manufactured goods.

Rivers of Asia

Asia's longest and most important river is the Yangtze, in China. It flows from the Dangla Mountains, between Tibet and China's Qinghai province. It empties in the East China Sea 6,300 kilometers (3,915 miles) later. The Yangtze is a highway for trade through the world's most populous country.

The Yangtze is also an agricultural river. Its valley is a major rice-growing region, and its water is used to irrigate fields. Many Chinese live on the river in houseboats or sailboats called junks.

The Yangtze River is the home of the world's most powerful hydroelectric power plant, the Three Gorges Dam. Eventually, the plant will be able to constantly produce 22,500 megawatts of power. China's rural population will have access to affordable electricity for homes, businesses, schools, and hospitals. Creating the Three Gorges Dam was one of the largest engineering feats in history. Engineers dammed the Yangtze, creating a 39.3-cubic-kilometer (31.9 million acre-foot) reservoir, or artificial lake.

The Ganges is the greatest river on Asia's Indian subcontinent. It is sacred to the millions of followers of the Hindu religion. For thousands of years, Hindus have worshipped the river as a goddess, Ganga Ma (Mother Ganges). Hindus believe the river's water purifies the soul and heals the body. Millions of people use the Ganges every day for bathing, drinking, and industry.

The historic Tigris and Euphrates river system flows from Turkey through Syria and Iraq and into the Persian Gulf. The rivers lie in an area called the Fertile Crescent. The region between the two rivers, known as Mesopotamia, is the so-called "cradle of civilization." The earliest evidence of civilization and agriculture-farming and domestication of animals-appears in the Fertile Crescent.

Rivers of North America

In North America, rivers served as highways for native tribes and, later, for European explorers.

French explorers began traveling the St. Lawrence and other rivers of Canada in the 1500s. They found an abundance of fish and other wildlife, and they encountered Native American tribes who hunted beaver. The explorers took beaver pelts back to Europe, where they were used to make fashionable hats. Soon, hunters explored and traveled networks of rivers in North America in search of beaver pelts. The establishment of trading posts along the rivers later opened the way for permanent European settlers.

The St. Lawrence River is still a major waterway. The river, which empties into the Atlantic, is linked to the Great Lakes by the St. Lawrence Seaway-a series of canals, locks, dams, and lakes. The St. Lawrence Seaway allows oceangoing ships to enter the interior of the continent.

The Mississippi is the chief river of North America. It flows approximately 3,766 kilometers (2,340 miles) through the heart of the United States, from its source in Minnesota to its delta in Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico.

Spanish and French explorers first traveled the Mississippi in the 1500s and 1600s. In 1803, the United States bought almost the entire Mississippi River Valley from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase. After that, the Mississippi was widely traveled by traders and settlers on rafts, boats, and barges.

With the introduction of the steamboat, a new, industrial, era began on the Mississippi. Paddle wheelers carried trade goods up and down the river. Soon, workboats were joined by cruise ships and other luxurious passenger vessels. Writer Mark Twain, who was once a steamboat pilot on the river, described this era in his book Life on the Mississippi.

Over time, the Mississippi increased in importance as a trade route. Today, it carries cargo ships and barges in lines that may extend for more than a kilometer. Large quantities of petroleum, coal, and other bulky goods are conveyed on the river by massive barges pushed by powerful towboats.

North America's Colorado River is famous for forming the Grand Canyon in Arizona. For millions of years, the river has cut its way through layers of rock to carve the canyon. Long ago, the river flowed through a flat plain. Then the Earth's crust began to rise, lifting the land. The river began cutting into the land. The Grand Canyon is now about one and a half kilometers (one mile) deep at its deepest point, and 29 kilometers (18 miles) wide at its widest.

Rivers of South America

The strength of the Amazon River in South America dwarfs all other rivers on the planet. The amount of water flowing through the Amazon is greater than the amount carried by the Mississippi, the Yangtze, and the Nile combined.

The Amazon begins as an icy stream high in the Andes mountains of Peru. It flows through Brazil and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The Amazon and its tributaries drain a basin that covers an area equal to three-fourths of the contiguous United States.

The first Europeans to see the Amazon were Spanish explorers, who traveled it in the 1500s. They encountered a group of natives who all appeared to be women, or so the story goes. The explorers called the people Amazons, after female warriors described in Greek mythology. The name Amazon was later given to the river.

For much of its course, the Amazon flows through the world's largest tropical rain forest. The region has abundant and unusual wildlife, including flesh-eating fish called piranhas; huge fish called pirarucu, which can weigh more than 125 kilograms (275 pounds); and giant snakes called anacondas.

Some Amazon tribes remain independent of Western culture. The Tagaeri people, for instance, continue to live a nomadic life based around the Amazon and its tributaries in the rain forest of Ecuador. Because of the demand for timber from the rain forest, the land of the indigenous people of the Amazon is shrinking. Today, there are fewer than 100 Tagaeri living in the rain forest.

Rivers provide energy to many South American communities. The Itaipú Dam crosses the Paraná River on the Brazil-Paraguay border. Construction of the dam required the labor of thousands of workers and cost more than $12 billion. The dam's power plant can regularly produce some 12,600 megawatts of electricity. The huge reservoir formed by the dam supplies water for drinking and for irrigation.

Rivers of Africa

Africa's two largest rivers are the Nile and the Congo.

One tributary of the Nile, the White Nile, flows from tiny streams in the mountains of Burundi through Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake. The other tributary, the Blue Nile, begins in Lake Tana, Ethiopia. The two join at Khartoum, Sudan. The Nile then flows through the Sahara Desert in Sudan and Egypt, and empties into the Mediterranean Sea. Because the area where the tributaries meet is close to the two sources of the Nile, the area is called the Upper Nile, even though it is farther south geographically. The Lower Nile runs through Egypt.

One of the earliest civilizations in the world developed along the Lower Nile. Ancient Egyptian civilization arose about 5,000 years ago. It was directly related to the Nile and its annual flooding. Each year, the river overflowed, spreading rich sediment across its broad flood plain. This made the land extremely fertile. Egyptian farmers were able to grow plentiful crops. In fact, ancient Egyptians called their land Kemet, which means "Black Land," because of the rich, black soil deposited by the river.

Egyptians also used the Nile as a major transportation route to both the Mediterranean and the African interior. The Pschent, or double crown worn by Egyptian monarchs, combined symbolism from both the Upper Nile and Lower Nile. A tall, white crown shaped like a bowling pin represented the lands of the Upper Nile. This crown was combined with a pointy red crown that had a curly wire protruding from the front. The red color symbolized the red soils of Lower Egypt, while the curly wire represented a honeybee. When putting on the Pschent, an Egyptian ruler assumed leadership for the entire Nile.

The Nile provided enterprising Egyptians with material to form a powerful civilization. From papyrus, a tall reed that grew in the river, Egyptians made a sort of paper, as well as rope, cloth, and baskets. Egyptians also built great cities, temples, and monuments along the river, including tombs for their monarchs, or pharaohs. Many of these ancient monuments are still standing.

The Congo River flows across the middle of Africa, through a huge equatorial rain forest, before emptying in the Atlantic Ocean. The Congo is second only to the Amazon in terms of water flow. It is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths of more than 230 meters (750 feet). Huge urban areas, including the capital cities of Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, sit on the banks of the river.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the river is the principal highway for transporting goods such as cotton, coffee, and sugar. Boats traveling the river range from dugout canoes to large freighters.

The river also supplies an abundance of fish to central Africa. Fishermen use baskets and nets hung from high poles across rushing falls and rapids to catch fish. They also use more traditional nets operated from either onshore or on boats.

Rivers of Australia

Much of Australia is arid, but rivers still run through it. Australia's principal rivers are the Murray and the Darling, both in the southeastern part of the continent. The Murray flows some 2,590 kilometers (1,610 miles) from the Snowy Mountains to a lagoon on the Indian Ocean. Near the town of Wentworth, the Murray is joined by the Darling, a 2,739-kilometer (1,702-mile) river that flows from the highlands of the eastern coast.

Indigenous Australians placed great importance on the Murray River. The Murray valley had the greatest population density on the continent before the arrival of Europeans in the 1600s.

By the mid-1800s, European farmers had settled along both rivers and some of their tributaries. Most Australian farmers raised sheep and cattle. Riverboats began plying the waters, and towns grew up along the banks.

Much of Australia's farmland still lies within the Murray-Darling basin, where river water irrigates some 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres). The region is the chief supplier of the country's agricultural exports-wool, beef, wheat, and oranges.

Polluted Rivers

For centuries, people have depended on rivers for many things. Rivers have provided waterways for shipping, convenient construction sites for cities, and fertile land for farming. Such extensive use of rivers has contributed to their pollution. River pollution has come from directly dumping garbage and sewage, disposal of toxic wastes from factories, and agricultural runoff containing fertilizers and pesticides.

By the 1960s, many of the world's rivers were so polluted that fish and other wildlife could no longer survive in them. Their waters became unsafe for drinking, swimming, and other uses. One of the most famous examples of a polluted river was the Cuyahoga. The Cuyahoga is a busy river in the U.S. state of Ohio that empties into Lake Erie. It is a major highway for goods and services from the Midwest to the Great Lakes. In 1969, the oily pollution in the Cuyahoga was so great that the river actually caught fire-something it had done more than a dozen times in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Since the 1969 fire, stricter laws have helped clean up polluted rivers. The laws have restricted the substances factories can dump into rivers, limited the amount of agricultural runoff, banned toxic pesticides such as DDT, and required treatment of sewage.

Although the situation in some parts of the world has improved, serious problems remain. The Citarum River in Indonesia, for instance, is often cited as the most polluted river in the world. Textile factories near the Citarum dump toxic wastes into the river. The garbage floating on top of the river is so thick that water is invisible.

Even after communities have limited river pollution, toxic chemicals may remain. Many pollutants take years to dissolve. The pollutants also build up in the river's wildlife. Toxic chemicals may cling to algae, which are eaten by insects or fish, which are then eaten by larger fish or people. At each stage of the river's food web, the amount of the toxic chemical increases.

In parts of North America and Europe, there is also the severe problem of acid rain. Acid rain develops when emissions from factories and vehicles mix with moisture in the air. The acid that forms can be toxic for many living things. Acid rain falls as rain and snow. It builds up in glaciers, streams, and lakes, polluting water and killing wildlife.

Environmentalists, governments, and communities are trying to understand and solve these pollution problems. To provide safe drinking water and habitats where fish and other wildlife can thrive, rivers must be kept clean.

Dams

A dam is a barrier that stops or diverts the flow of water along a river. Humans have built dams for thousands of years.

Dams are built for many purposes. Some dams prevent flooding or allow people to develop or "reclaim" land previously submerged by a river. Other dams are used to change a river's course for the benefit of development or agriculture. Still others provide water supplies for nearby rural or urban areas. Many dams are used to provide electricity to local communities.

In 1882, the world's first hydroelectric power plant was built on the Fox River in the U.S. city of Appleton, Wisconsin. Since then, thousands of hydroelectric plants have been built on rivers all over the world. These plants harness the energy of flowing water to produce electricity. About 7 percent of all power in the United States, and 19 percent of power in the world, comes from hydroelectric plants. China is the world's largest producer of hydroelectric power.

Hydroelectric power is renewable because water is constantly replenished through precipitation. Because hydroelectric plants do not burn fossil fuels, they do not emit pollution or greenhouse gases. However, hydroelectric power does have some negative effects on the environment.

Dams and hydroelectric plants change the flow and temperature of rivers. These changes to the ecosystem can harm fish and other wildlife that live in or near the river. And although hydroelectric plants do not release greenhouse gases, rotting vegetation trapped in the dams' reservoirs can produce them. Decaying plant material emits carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.

Dams also have an effect on people living near the rivers. For example, more than 1.3 million people had to move from their homes to make way for China's Three Gorges Dam and its reservoir. Human rights organizations claim that many of these people did not receive the compensation they were promised in return for being displaced.

In addition, dams can affect fish populations and the fertility of flood plains. Fish may not be able to migrate and spawn. Farmers that depended on the fertile flooding may be cut off from the river by a dam. This can harm the livelihood of fishermen and farmers who live along the river, as well as consumers who must pay higher prices for food.

Dams with very large reservoirs may also trigger earthquakes. Earthquakes happen when two or more of the tectonic plates that make up Earth's crust slide against each other. The weight of the water in the reservoirs can cause existing cracks, or faults, in these plates to slip and create an earthquake.

River Management

River management is the process of balancing the needs of many stakeholders, or communities that depend on rivers. Rivers provide natural habitats for fish, birds, and other wildlife. They also provide recreation areas and sporting opportunities such as fishing and kayaking.

Industries also depend on rivers. Rivers transport goods and people across continents. They provide affordable power for millions of homes and businesses.

Farmers and agribusinesses often rely on rivers for transportation. Rivers also supply water for irrigation.

River managers must consider the needs of all the current and future stakeholders.

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A river is a large, natural stream of flowing water. Rivers are found on every continent and on nearly every kind of land. Some flow all year round. Others flow seasonally or during wet years. A river may be only kilometers long, or it may span much of a continent.

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