The Amazon River (US /'am?z?n/ or UK /'am?z?

n/; Spanish and Portuguese: Amazonas

) in South America is the largest river by discharge of water in the world, aver
aging a discharge of about 209,000 cubic meters per second (7,381,000 cu ft/s, 2
09,000,000 liters or 55,211,960 gallons/sec), greater than the next seven larges
t independent rivers combined. The Amazon basin is the largest drainage basin in
the world, about 7,050,000 square kilometres (2,720,000 sq mi), and accounts fo
r approximately one-fifth of the world's total river flow. The portion of the ri
ver's drainage basin in Brazil alone is larger than any other river's basin. The
Amazon enters Brazil with only one-fifth of the flow it finally discharges into
the Atlantic Ocean, yet already has a greater flow at this point than the disch
arge of any other river. The Amazon also is the longest river according to a new
study.[4][5]
In its upper stretches, above its confluence with the Rio Negro, the Amazon is c
alled Solimoes in Brazil. But in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador, as well as the rest
of the Spanish-speaking world, the river is generally called the Amazon downstr
eam beginning at the confluence of the Marann and Ucayali rivers in Peru. Althoug
h the Apurmac river had been considered the most distant source of the Amazon riv
er for nearly a century, a 2014 study indicated that the Cordillera Rumi Cruz in
the Mantaro river drainage extended ~80 km farther upstream compared to Mt. Mis
mi in the Apurmac drainage; thus the Mantaro River is the most distant source of
the Amazon river.[6] Although the Mantaro-Ucayali river can be considered the "m
ost distant" source of the Amazon, the Marann contributes far more water than the
Ucayali where they join; therefore the Marann river is considered the mainstem s
ource of the Amazon.
The width of the Amazon is between 1.6 and 10 kilometres (1.0 and 6.2 mi) at low
stage, but expands during the wet season to 48 kilometres (30 mi) or more. The
river enters the Atlantic Ocean in a broad estuary about 240 kilometres (150 mi)
wide. The mouth of the main stem is 80 kilometres (50 mi).[7] Because of its va
st dimensions, it is sometimes called "The River Sea".
The total volume of water discharging from the Amazon river in a year is about 6
,591 cubic kilometers.
The largest city along the Amazon River is Manaus. Located in Brazil in the west
ern state of Amazonas, it is home to over 1.7 million people.[8] Its population
is larger than that of Belm, the major city and port at the mouth of the river at
the Atlantic Ocean.