Top 10 Longest Rivers in the World

1.Nile

The Nile is famous as the longest river in the world. The river got its name from the Greek word Neilos, which means valley. The Nile floods the lands in Egypt, leaving behind black sediment. The source of the Nile is sometimes considered

to be Lake Victoria, but the lake has feeder rivers of considerable size. The Kagera River, which flows into Lake Victoria near the Tanzanian town of Bukoba, is the longest feeder, although sources do not agree on which is the longest tributary of the Kagera and hence the most distant source of the Nile itself. It is either the Ruvyironza, which emerges in Bururi Province, Burundi, or the Nyabarongo, which flows from Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda. The two feeder rivers meet near Rusumo Falls on the Rwanda-Tanzania border.

2.Amazon

 The Amazon River is the largest and longer river in the world; it’s also the main artery of the whole Amazon rainforest system and washes most of the villages and towns in the region. In its upper stretches, above the confluence of the Negro River, the Amazon is called Solimões in Brazil; however, in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador, as well as the rest of the Spanish-speaking world, the river is generally called the Amazon downstream from the confluence of the Marañón and Ucayali rivers in Peru. The Ucayali-Apurímac river system is considered the main source of the Amazon.

3.Mississippi River

 The Mississippi River is the second longest river system in the United States. Only the Missouri River is longer. The Mississippi flows 2,340 miles (3,766 kilometers) from its source in northwestern Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi and its tributaries drain almost all the plains between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. Its drainage basin is the third largest in the world, exceeded in size only by the watersheds of the Amazon and Congo Rivers.

4.Changjiang

 The Changjiang River is the largest river in the East China Sea, which directly controls the regional circulation and stratification. “The River has complex coastal geometry and abruptly-varying bathymetry. It is divided into southern and northern branches by Chongming Island. Two smaller islands are located in the mouth of the southern branch, which divides this branch into two channels. At the mouth of the river, the bottom topography features four “deep” passages connected to the southern branch. There are also two relatively deep passages linked to the northern branch.(via)

5.Ob

 Ob River is a major river in West Siberia, Russia, the country’s fourth longest. It is known to the Khanty people as the As, Yag, Kolta and Yema; to the Nenets people as the Kolta or Kuay; and to the Siberian Tatars as the Umar or Omar.The Ob is formed eight miles southwest of Biysk in Altai Krai by the confluence of the Biya and Katun rivers. Both these streams have their origin in the Altay Mountains, the Biya issuing from Lake Teletskoye, the Katun, 80 mi long, bursting out of a glacier on Mount Byelukha. The Ob zigzags west and north until it reaches 55° N, where it curves round to the northwest, and again north, wheeling finally eastwards into the Gulf of Ob, a long (600 mi) bay of the Kara Sea, which adjoins the Arctic Ocean.(via)

6.Huang Ho

 The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China (after the Yangtze) and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of 5,464 kilometers (3,395 mi). Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into the Bohai Sea. The Yellow River passes through seven present-day provinces and two autonomous regions, namely (from west to east) Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong. Major cities along the present course of the Yellow River include (from west to east) Lanzhou, Yinchuan, Wuhai, Baotou, Luoyang, Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, and Jinan. The current mouth of the Yellow River is located at Dongying, Shandong.(via)

7.Yenisei

 The Yenisei River is a 4,129-km-long (2,566-mi) waterway often considered the boundary between eastern and western Siberia; it is the fourth-longest river in Asia and the second-longest in Russia. Including its Angara, Selenga, and Ider tributaries, the Yenisei drains an area of 2,598,897 sq km (1,003,474 sq mi).The Yenisei proper is formed by the confluence of the Bolshoi, or Great, and the Maly, or Little, Yenisei, at Kyzyl in the Tannu Ola Mountains. It flows generally north to the Kara Sea of the Arctic Ocean. The river provides hydroelectric power in its upper course. Abundant mineral deposits have been found along the east bank of the river’s middle course, and petroleum is extracted near Dudinka. Igarka, on the river, is one of the largest lumber-exporting cities in Russia. The Yenisei is navigable during the summer months.(via)

8.Parana

 The Paraná River is formed by the junction of the Grande and Paranaíba rivers in south-central Brazil, and flows into the Rio de la Plata in Argentina. It is the 10th longest river in the world at 4,695km. The Upper Paraná River includesapproximately the first 3rd of the Paraná River Basin, and lies completely within Brazilian territory, except for a stretch within the Itaipu Reservoir. The upper Paraná River and its tributaries are distinguished both by their spectacular waterfalls, and the exceptional levels of freshwater biodiversity.(via)

9.Irtysh

 The Irtysh river is one of the big rivers in Asia measuring 4.284 km in length. Its first 500 km the river flows through China the next 1.700 km through Kazakh Republic and the last 2.000 km through Russia where the Irtysh flows into the Ob river. Currently the river serves as the main source for fresh water in the arid region of Kazakhstan and as well as an important waterway. The Irtysh river has also an importance for fishing.

10.Congo River

 Congo River is Africa’s most powerful river and the second most voluminous river (not counting the Madeira and Negro which are considered part of the Amazon) in the world, with 1,500,000 cubic feet of water passing out of its mouth every second. It is the fifth longest river in the world, draining a basin of nearly 1.5 million square miles.The river is best known for its role in history. Known as the heart of darkness by Joseph Conrad, the river and surrounding rainforest have long been known as the mysterious land of pygmies, mythical beasts, dreadful plagues, and cannibals. It is a land made famous by the rigorous adventures of Stanley and Livingstone, and is known as a place of brutality and violence in the days of the Arab slave and ivory trade, its long history of tribal warfare, and the ethnic violence and massacres of today.

Endelea Kufuatilia