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Where is the farthest source of the Amazon River? You can't imagine this amazing discovery!
The Amazon is considered the world's largest river by volume and the first or second longest river system, a title that is disputed with the Nile. In the past, the most distant source of the Amazon basin was thought to be the source of the Apurímac River in Peru. However, until 2014, a study surprisingly discovered that the real source should be the source of the Mantaro River in the Rumi Cruz Mountains of Peru. The discovery surprised river scholars around the world.
"The source of the Amazon River is not limited to the geographical knowledge that you and I are familiar with. New research has overturned our long-held concepts."
The Amazon River basin covers an area of approximately 7 million square kilometers and is the largest drainage basin in the world. Even when the Amazon River enters Brazil, it flows at only one-fifth of its flow, but this flow is already greater than that of any other river in the world. Geographers have conducted in-depth research on this remarkable phenomenon and put forward many hypotheses.
When talking about the origin of the name of the Amazon River, historians usually mention that in the 16th century, the Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana was attacked by local female warriors during his expedition. These women reminded him of The Amazon female warrior in Greek mythology, so he named the river "Amazon River".
"Every story related to this river is a piece of history waiting to be discovered."
The formation of the Amazon River also has a long geological history. According to research, over the past millions of years, the Amazon River's flow direction was exactly the opposite of what it is now, when the river flowed from west to east until the formation of the Andes Mountains blocked its flow to the Pacific and redirected it to the Atlantic Ocean. This, coupled with the research results of archaeologists, further confirms that a highly complex indigenous culture once existed in the Amazon Basin.
Many archaeological finds indicate that the Amazon Basin already had multiple large-scale indigenous societies before the Inca Empire. These societies took advantage of the environment and developed highly complex technologies to support more than 3 million indigenous people. These cultures modified the ecology of the forest through methods such as selective farming and fire, creating what is now known as the "black soil" area, allowing the land to be more efficiently farmed on a large scale.
“Our knowledge of the Amazon Basin is just the tip of the iceberg, and countless histories and cultures remain to be explored.”
However, since Europeans first landed in the Amazon, this fertile land has encountered unprecedented development pressure. The Brazilian government launched a frenzy of development in this area in the mid-20th century. Countless immigrants moved in, seriously changing the local ecology. The construction of dams now part of development plans in the Amazon basin has raised huge concerns about biodiversity conservation, with scientists warning the changes could have irreparable impacts on local societies and the environment.
In this vast and mysterious land, the Amazon River continues to change our understanding of the natural world. As new discoveries continue to appear, we need to re-examine the knowledge we once thought we knew. Faced with these changes, how many secrets are hidden in this natural behemoth?
