Course of the Amazon

The Amazon River, which carries a greater volume of water than any other river in the world, is a meandering system of channels for much of its course through the South American rain forest. The river drains a vast region that nearly spans the continent, from its source in the Andes to its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean in a broad estuary about 240 km (about 150 mi) wide. The river and its tributaries help support a rain forest ecology that contains more species of flora and fauna than any other ecosystem.

Claudia Parks/The Stock Market

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Brazil; Amazon

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