LONGEST RIVER

Compiled by Chilman Sahni

The source of the Nile was discovered by Europeans in 1858 when British explorer John Hanning Speke reached Lake Victoria Nyanza, in what is now Burundi. Almost a hundred years later, in 1953, the source of the Amazon was identified as a stream called Huarco flowing from the Misuie glacier in the Peruvian Andes Mountains. By following the Amazon from its source and up the Rio Pará it is possible to sail for 6,750km, which is slightly more than the length of the Nile. But the geogr5aphers do not consider the entire route to be part of the Amazon basin, so the Nile, with an overall length of 6,695km, is considered the world’s longest river.

            RIVER                                      FLOWS THROUGH/ LENGTH (km)

1. Nile*                                          Burundi, Dem. Rep. of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya,               Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda. / 6,695km
2. Amazon                                Peru, Brazil/6,448
3. Chang Jiang (Yangtze)      China/ 6,378
4. Huang He (Yellow)             China/ 5,464
5. Amur                              China, Russia/ 4,415

*In 2006 THE British and New Zealand "Ascend the Nile" team completed a journey from the mouth to the source of the river. By using Global Positioning they measured their journey and came up with a total length 107km longer than the official figure.

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