Posted on 06/17/2007 7:45:47 PM PDT by blam
Amazon 'outgrows Nile'
By Andrew Downie in Rio de Janeiro
Last Updated: 1:09am BST 18/06/2007
Brazilian scientists claim to have found a new source of the river Amazon that extends its length to beat the Nile as the longest river in the world.
Scientists discovered the new source at the top of the snow-capped Mismi mountain in neighbouring southern Peru, not in the north of the country as was previously believed.
The discovery adds about 284km (176 miles) to the Amazon. This takes the river to 6,800km (4,225 miles) - 105km (65 miles) longer than the Nile - according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the body that sponsored the expedition.
"Today we can consider the river Amazon the longest river in the world," said Guido Gelli, the IBGE's director of Geosciences.
The claim is sure to fuel the long-standing discussion between Brazil and Egypt over which of the two rivers is the world's longest.
Although the Amazon is recognised the greater of the rivers because of the volume of fresh water it funnels into the sea, the Nile was believed to have been the longest.
In this era of rabid water rights wars, it’s amazing they just now figured this out.
I would think this is the kind of thing they could have figured out with Google Earth...
If I’m reading Google Earth correctly, it looks like this would eventually join the Amazon just west of Manaus and so would be “Amazon” for the last 800 or so miles.
"Mine's longer."
No, Mine's longer!"
Look you, mine's longer!!
Sounds like a couple of 10th grade boys.
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