25 interesting facts about rivers

All civilizations on Earth originated around rivers, so their importance to humanity cannot be overestimated. This is water, and food, and a transport artery, and a natural border… Nowadays, by the way, little has changed — rivers are important for both the economy and industry. And people, perhaps, should be more attentive to these veins of our planet…

Facts about rivers

1. The longest river in the world — Amazon. For a long time, the Nile held the palm in this nomination, but detailed studies have shown that the Amazon is a little longer.
2. The world’s most full-flowing river — also Amazon. Under it, by the way, at a depth of about four kilometers, an underground river flows of similar length, but a hundred times wider (interesting facts about the Amazon river).
3. The shortest river in the world, located in the United States, is only 36 meters.
4. Saudi Arabia — the only modern state that is not located on an island and at the same time does not have a single permanent river on its territory.
5. River Ural, separates Europe and Asia — its shores belong to different continents.
6. Only a single bridge has been built across the Amazon.
7. The Catatumbo River in Venezuela, for some unknown reason, attracts a huge amount of lightning — about 450 thousand lightning strikes fall at its mouth every year (interesting facts about lightning).
8. The Nile flowing through Africa has frozen and covered with ice twice in the entire history of observations.
9. La Plata — the widest river in the world, if we talk about the maximum width in at least one place. The width of La Plata reaches 220 kilometers.
10. The Arctic Ocean would be much colder if it were not for the warmth that the waters of Siberian rivers bring to it.
11. During a massive earthquake, the waters of the Mississippi River once turned back for a while (interesting facts about earthquakes).
12. The Indian river Kosi every year in the rainy season makes a new course for itself, crushing everything in its path.
13. The length of both the Nile and the Amazon exceeds 6 thousand kilometers.
14. The cleanest river on Earth — The Irtysh, a tributary of the Ob River.
15. The Congo River flowing through Africa — the deepest, with a maximum depth of 230 meters.
16. The country with the most rivers flowing through its lands — Finland, where there are over 650.
17. Every year, rivers carry about 16 billion tons of stones, debris and various debris into the seas and oceans (interesting facts about the seas and oceans).
18. More rivers flow into the Atlantic Ocean than any other.
19. Congo — the only river that crosses the equator twice.
20. During the full moon, waves up to 4 meters high can be observed in the Amazon due to the influence of tidal forces.
21. At the beginning of the 20th century, American engineers turned back the Chicago River.
22. The Royal River in Australia — the dirtiest in the world. It lacks any organic life at all.
23. In some countries, such as Malta, rivers appear only temporarily — after heavy rains, for example, but they dry up quickly (interesting facts about Malta).
24. Nile — the oldest river on Earth.
25. Fireballs flying out of the waters of the Mekong River can be observed annually for several days in the evenings, rushing into the sky. The reason for their occurrence has not yet been solved.