The World's Great Rivers

The rivers of the Americas include some of the largest on Earth by volume and drainage area. The Amazon, flowing primarily through Brazil and Peru, discharges more fresh water into the ocean than any other river in the world - by most estimates, more than the next several largest rivers combined - and drains a basin of roughly 7 million square kilometers, an area encompassing about 40 percent of South America and supporting the largest tropical rainforest on the planet. In North America, the Mississippi River and its principal tributary, the Missouri, together form a combined system stretching well over 3,700 kilometers, the longest river system on the continent, draining all or part of 31 U.S. states and a small part of Canada before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. Further south, the Parana River flows through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina, and together with the Uruguay River forms the Rio de la Plata estuary before reaching the Atlantic Ocean; the Parana-Rio de la Plata system drains a basin covering large portions of southeastern South America and is a critical corridor for regional trade and agriculture.