Top 5 Longest rivers in the World
Posted on 05. Jan, 2010 by admin in Nature, Travel
No 5. The Yenisey – 3,434 miles
One of the main rivers in Russia, the Yenisey rises in Mongolia and flows generally northward, 
along the edge of the Western Siberian plain to the Kara Sea. It is the greatest river system flowing into the Arctic Ocean. The middle section is controlled by a series of massive hydroelectric dams fuelling significant Russian primary industry. The upper reaches, subject to rapids and flooding, pass through sparsely populated areas and the lower reaches the desolate Tundra area of the Arctic. The maximum depth of Yenisei River is 80 feet (24 m) and average depth is 45 feet (14 m)
No 4. Mississippi-Missouri-Red Rock – 3,870 miles
The Mississipps River is the largest River in the United States . 
The river originates at Lake Itasca in Minnesota and flows slowly southward terminating 95 river miles below New Orleans, Louisiana where it begins to flow to the Gulf of Mexico. Along with its major tributary, the Missouri River, the drainage basin covers 1,247,300 square miles in 31 US states and 2 Canadian Provinces It stretches from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Appalachian Mountains in the east, to the Canada-U.S. border on the north, including most of the Great Plains. The depth ranges between 3 feet at the headwaters in Minnesota, to 200 feet at the Algiers Point in New Orleans.
No 3 Yangtze - 3,917 miles
The Yangtze or Chang Jiang river is the largest in Asia
. Rising in the Tanggula Mountains in west-central China, it flows southeast before turning northeast and then generally east across south-central and east-central China to the East China Sea near Shanghai. The river receives the waters of many tributaries, among which the Yalong River is the largest and contributes the most water .The Yangtze then widens to between 1,000 and 1,300 feet, reaching depths often exceeding 30 feet. In narrower gorges the water width decreases by almost half, but the depth increases sharply.
No2. The Amazon – 3,980 miles
The Amazon river in South America is the second longest river in the world and by volume it is the largest.
It is also the widest at upto 10 kilometres in some areas. The Amazon produces approximately 20 percent of all the water that the world’s rivers pour into the oceans on its own. It runs from the Andes Mountains in Peru through Brazil to the Atlantic Ocean. The Amazon collects water from just over 40 percent of South America’s Landmass, through the thousands of tributaries that join the main branch of the Amazon river. Of these tributaries, 17 are over 1600(1000 miles) kilometres long. It is also home to over 2,000 different species of fish, an extreme number for any given area.
No 1 The Nile - 4,135 miles
The River Nile is is the longest river in Africa and in the
world. Although it is generally associated with Egypt, only 22% of the Nile’s course runs through Egypt. It originates in Burundi , south of the equator, and flows northward through northeastern Africa, eventually flowing through Egypt and finally draining into the Mediterranean Sea. The River Nile is formed from the White Nile, which originates at Lake Victoria and the Blue Nile, which originates at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. These rivers meet in Sudan and then go on their long journey northwards towards the sea. The White Nile is a lot bigger than the Blue Nile, but because of losses along the way the it only contributes about 15% to the flow of the combined Nile. The Blue Nile, rising in Ethiopia, contributes about 85% to the flow of the Nile that passes through Egypt to the Mediterranean.
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