Remember how we dropped anchor on the first leg of our tour of the world’s longest rivers? Well, this trip will take us on the second leg, as we consider the remaining five of the world’s ten longest rivers.
The first five being: The Nile River, Amazon River, Yangtze River, Mississippi/Missouri Rivers, and The Yenisei River. Now, on to the last five.
6. The Huang-He or Yellow River
It has an estimated length of 5,464 kilometres. It has its source in the Bayan Har Mountains in the Tibetan plateaux of Western China; and flows through nine of that country’s provinces before emptying into the Bo Hai Sea in the Gulf of Chihli.
The Yellow River is so called because of the colour of the silts that are carried downstream in its flow basin. Also, its total basin area is about 742,443 square kilometres.
7. The Ob-Irtysh River
This is the world’s seventh-longest river at 5,410 kilometres. The Ob-Irtysh is made up of the Ob which is the main river, and its longest tributary, the River Irtysh, which springs from the melting glaciers atop the Altai Mountains on the border between Western Mongolia and China. Together, these two rivers flow into the Gulf of Ob in the Arctic Ocean, which is to the north of Russia.
The name Irtysh means White River, and the combined Ob-Irtysh is so long that the land it drains incorporates many different ecosystems including desert, grasslands, forests and swamps. Also, the Gulf of Ob which it drains into is the largest estuary in the world.
8. The Paraná River
The Paraná River is a river in South America, and flows through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some 4,880 kilometres before emptying into the South Atlantic Ocean. It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers.
The Paraná merges first with the Paraguay River, and then farther downstream with the Uruguay River to form the Rio de la Plat estuary, before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. Part of its length forms a natural border between Paraguay and Argentina, also, the second largest hydroelectric power station in the world – the Itaipu Dam – is on this river.
9. The Congo River
Another African river makes the top 10 list! The Congo River is also known as the Zaire River. In terms of volume of water discharged, it is the second largest in the world, after the Amazon, and is the world’s deepest river with measured depths in excess of 220 metres.
It rises in the highlands of northeastern Zambia between Lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. It crosses the equator twice, and its rainforest is second only to the Amazon rainforest.
The Congo River has an overall length of 4,700 kilometres, and a drainage basin of about four million square kilometres or 13% of Africa’s land mass. It is so powerful that there are over forty power stations along its course, and has the potential to supply all of sub-Saharan Africa’s electricity needs!
10. The Amur River
The river flows eastwards, forming part of the border between China and Russia. The Amur River is formed by the conjunction of the Shilka River, which rises in the Yablonovy Range in Russia, and the Argun River, which rises in Inner Mongolia, China; before discharging into the Tartar Strait in the Pacific Ocean.
In Chinese, the Amur is known as Heilong Jiang, which means Black Dragon River; and in Mongolian as Kharamuren, which means Black River. Of all the rivers in the world that have no dams along its course, it is the third longest at 4,444 kilometres, coming behind the Amazon and Lena.
See Also: Take a Tour on 10 of the World’s Longest Rivers (1)
