GEOG101: World Regional Geography

The Amazon River drains this vast region, which covers more than 35 percent of the continent. Its headwaters are in the Andes mountains to the west at about 6.635 m. It travels about 6,400 km before it empties into the Atlantic Ocean to the east, near the port city of Belém.

The Amazon accounts for 20 percent of the total water the world's rivers carry to oceans. A river's drainage basin is the land where precipitation collects and drains off, feeding the flow of the river and its tributaries. Drainage basins are separated by areas of higher elevation, as shown in Figure 5.3.